Before you sign for a new home, read how an area difference is handled, and photograph the promises on the brochure, the advertisements, and the model

If the contract does not agree otherwise, and the area registered after handover differs from the contract by 3% or less, the price is settled on the actual area, with the extra returned or the shortfall paid. If the difference is over 3%, you can return the home, and the developer returns the money plus interest within 30 days. A promise in an advertisement that is specific about the homes and the facilities in the compound, and that affects whether you buy, counts even if it was not written into the contract.

Cost

No money. Read two more clauses before you sign, and take photographs and screenshots while you are at it.

Benefit

The ministry regulation states that where the price is by area, the contract must say how an area difference is handled. If the contract does not say, the following applies. "Where the absolute value of the area-difference ratio is within 3% (including 3%), the price is settled on the actual area." Over 3%, you have the right to return the home. If you return it, the developer must, within 30 days of the day you ask, return the price already paid, and pay interest at the same time. If you do not return it and the registered area is larger than the contract, you pay for the part within 3%, the developer bears the part over 3%, and the property right is yours. If the registered area is smaller than the contract, the developer returns the part within 3%, and returns double the part over 3%. On advertisements, the Supreme People's Court's judicial interpretation states: sales advertisements and promotional material are generally only an invitation to negotiate. They are not a contract. But a statement by the developer about homes and supporting facilities inside the scope of the development plan, if it is specific and definite, and if it has a major effect on whether you sign and on the price, counts as contract content. "That statement and promise, even if not written into the commercial-housing sale contract, shall still be contract content," and breaking it means liability for breach.

Notes

3% is the default when the contract says nothing. If the contract writes something else, the contract governs, so when you sign, read whether that clause widens the band. An off-plan home priced by the unit must have a floor plan attached to the contract, stating the tolerance on the dimensions. The advertising rule covers only homes and facilities inside the scope of the development plan. Things outside that scope are not in this rule. When the judicial interpretation was amended in 2020, the old article on area difference was deleted. The basis now is this ministry regulation. If the developer will not accept it, you have to sue. Ordinary first-instance procedure starts at 6 months. Lawyer fees are generally yours.

Sources · 2

1. 建设部 (2001). 商品房销售管理办法（建设部令第 88 号，第十八、十九、二十条）. gov.cn/gongbao/content/2002/content_70143.htm
2. 最高人民法院 (2020 修正). 关于审理商品房买卖合同纠纷案件适用法律若干问题的解释（第三条）. court.gov.cn/fabu/xiangqing/282621.html