As the real estate industry enters a period of profound adjustment, disputes over commercial housing sales have become one of the core legal risks faced by developers. How to review and optimize the entire front-end process of sales, delivery and maintenance from the terminal perspective of dispute resolution, and build a solid legal risk firewall, is an essential course that the legal and business teams of branded real estate enterprises urgently need to master at present.
On September 23, 2025, at the invitation of Shanghai Lujiazui (Group) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Lujiazui Group”), Lawyers Wang Xuechao and Huang Xinlin, partners of Hongqiao Zhenghan, conducted a special training on the theme of “Legal Risk Prevention and Control of Commercial Housing Sales Disputes from the Perspective of Dispute Resolution”.
Lawyer Huang Xinlin
Lawyer Huang Xinlin started with actual cases of false advertising and focused on the three core risk stages in the life cycle of commercial housing.
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In the sales stage, she focused on analyzing the identification criteria for “false advertising” and “reduced standards and configuration”, clarified under what circumstances promotional content may constitute a contractual offer, and discussed the validity of standard clauses such as “everything is subject to actual delivery”, so as to draw a clear boundary for the compliance of marketing activities.
In the delivery stage, she conducted an in-depth analysis of the response strategies for “area discrepancies” and “refusal to take delivery due to quality issues”, clarified the difference between “general quality defects” and “serious quality deficiencies”, and pointed out that general defects do not constitute a legal ground for homebuyers to refuse to take delivery of the property.
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In the maintenance stage, she systematically sorted out the developer’s warranty obligations and liability boundaries. By analyzing exceptional circumstances such as “developers still need to be liable for hidden defects beyond the warranty period”, she broke the simple perception of “no liability after expiration”, and emphasized that for serious quality deficiencies, even if the warranty liability expires due to the lapse of the warranty period, there is still a potential risk of being liable for defect warranty within a reasonable period.
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After an in-depth analysis of the three risk stages, Lawyer Wang Xuechao cleverly put forward a profound proposition: “In the relationship of commercial housing sales, homebuyers are often regarded as a ‘vulnerable group’; once litigation proceedings are initiated, who is the real ‘vulnerable group’?” The raising of this question triggered deep reflection among all participants.
Partner Lawyer Wang Xuechao
Lawyer Wang Xuechao pointed out that in court, evidence and rules are the key to determining the outcome. Since developers have advantages in information, resources and document management, the law often imposes stricter burden of proof on them. Therefore, establishing a sound internal quality management and evidence retention mechanism, and achieving efficient collaboration between the front-end business and back-end legal teams, is the foundation for real estate enterprises to cope with litigation.
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Lawyer Wang Xuechao also noted that entrusted appraisal is also a scientific tool to determine the outcome of a case, and its conclusions often directly determine the direction of the case. By comparing the validity differences between judicial appraisals and unilateral appraisals entrusted by parties, he discussed the necessity for real estate enterprises to entrust appraisals on their own before litigation.
Finally, Lawyer Wang Xuechao emphasized that excellent risk prevention and control is by no means a “stopgap measure”, but requires the construction of a full-cycle risk control system running through the entire project. A systematic management closed loop is formed from pre-event prevention, in-event control to post-event resolution.
This training featured practical content and abundant cases, including not only the interpretation of legal provisions but also the sharing of practical strategies, fully demonstrating the professional depth and practical experience of Hongqiao Zhenghan Law Firm in the field of commercial housing transaction dispute services. Participants all stated that the training was of great guiding significance for improving the risk awareness of front-line business personnel and the dispute handling ability of legal personnel.
Founded in 1990, Lujiazui Group is a solely state-owned enterprise established with the approval of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and given key support. Headquartered in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, it is mainly responsible for the land development and comprehensive operation of the Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone, the only national-level development zone named after “finance and trade” in China. It has a first-class qualification for real estate development with a registered capital of 4.7 billion yuan. Its core subsidiary, Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co., Ltd. (stock code: 600663), was listed in 1992, holding over 2.9 million square meters of operating properties, with businesses covering real estate leasing, sales and property management.
Hongqiao Zhenghan specializes in complex dispute resolution, and has long acted in a large number of complex and difficult commercial cases, cross-border dispute resolution cases, as well as market-oriented asset and debt restructuring cases including bankruptcy. It provides professional dispute resolution services for large financial institutions, listed companies, governments and well-known enterprises. It has been consecutively awarded as National Excellent Law Firm, Shanghai Top Ten Law Firms, and Tier 1 in Corporate and Commercial Law by Chambers; it has also won awards such as Excellent Law Firm in Domestic/Cross-Border Dispute Resolution and Banking & Finance by China Business Law Journal. Adopting the LockStep partnership model, Hongqiao Zhenghan has built the entire firm into an integrated management lawyer team with clear professional division of labor to meet and exceed customer service needs.