上海消保委调查房产中介乱象

 　　Reporter:

　　The investigation¹ has been jointly² conducted by the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission and a group of local lawyers.

　　They launched the probe amid a spike³ in complaints about real estate companies to the commission last year, which went from 40 in 2014 to around 600 last year.

　　Most of the complaints revolve⁴ around sketchy⁵ business practices.

　　In one case, Huang paid 2.8 million yuan in a down payment for a 4 million yuan apartment in Shanghai's Hongkou District.

　　上海消保委调查房产中介乱象

　　But it later turned out the apartment was under a seizure⁶ order from a local court, as the owner owed around 150 million yuan in business-related debt.

　　Huang says his real estate broker⁷ assured him the owner was in a strong financial position and was selling the apartment to buy a better one.

　　But he says that all changed after he signed his purchase agreement.

　　"After the contract was signed, they showed me a rewritten house ownership report, which showed the house had been used as collateral⁸ to borrow money. I refused to continue with the contract, but they warned I would lose my collateral if I backed out of the contract."He says the company, Lianjia, has refused to accept responsibility.

　　Instead, he says the firm has offered to lend him more than 1 million yuan to keep the deal alive.

　　But in doing so, he says the firm wanted roughly 20 percent annual interest, which is far above market rates.

　　In the end, this would have put the property above market value.

　　Legal observer Jian Feng says Huang's case is a clear violation⁹ of the regulations governing loans.

　　He says cases like this are a sign that more government oversight¹⁰ may be needed.

　　"It's very dangerous when companies like this run their operations without registering these types of financial products or doing so without approvals. But it's begging the question of which government department is responsible in monitoring this kind of situation. It's a new question."The undercover investigation has also revealed wide-spread accusations¹¹ of real estate agencies lying about prices and other information, as well as advertising¹² properties already sold.

　　Other instances have seen prospective¹³ buyers not being allowed to meet with the owners of the properties, telephone harassment¹⁴ and the imposition of additional fees.

　　Tang Jiansheng with the Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission says the combination of these types of issues is creating a major problem for the real estate sector¹⁶ in Shanghai.

　　"The satisfaction rate in the Real Estate Agents & Brokers¹⁷ Industry is unbelievably low. The root causes of the complaints are the lack of integrity and the lack of rules in the sector."Municipal authorities in Shanghai are reportedly looking into ways of trying to better-regulate the city's real estate sector.

　　For CRI, this is Luo Bin¹⁵.

 

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

3 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

4 revolve   

vi.(使)旋转；循环出现

参考例句：

• The planets revolve around the sun.行星绕着太阳运转。
• The wheels began to revolve slowly.车轮开始慢慢转动。

5 sketchy   

adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的

参考例句：

• The material he supplied is too sketchy.他提供的材料过于简略。
• Details of what actually happened are still sketchy.对于已发生事实的详细情况知道的仍然有限。

6 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

7 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

8 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

9 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

10 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

11 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

12 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

13 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

14 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

15 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

16 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

17 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分