Husband Sells House Unilaterally and Breaches Contract, Should the Wife Bear the Breach of Contract Liability?

The husband, without the wife's knowledge,擅自 sold the jointly-owned house to another person, and after the sale, he regretted it and delayed in cooperating with the buyer to transfer the property. The buyer listed both the husband and wife as co-defendants, demanding the return of the purchase price and the payment of liquidated damages. Should the wife, who was unaware of the transaction, be held liable for the breach of contract?

Basic Case Details

Li Mou and Huang Mou are a married couple. Li Mou entered into a "House Purchase and Sale Agreement" with Zhang Mou without Huang Mou's knowledge.

The agreement stipulated that Zhang Mou would purchase the jointly-owned property, a house located in a local residential community, valued at 525,000 yuan. After the contract was signed, Zhang Mou paid the initial payment of 375,000 yuan, allowing Li Mou and Huang Mou to repay the mortgage loan from the bank, and Zhang Mou would pay the remaining balance of 150,000 yuan in a lump sum after the transfer of property registration. If Li Mou breached the contract, he would have to return the initial payment of 375,000 yuan and pay 30% of the total contract amount as liquidated damages.

On the day the contract was signed, Zhang Mou paid the initial payment, but Li Mou failed to comply with the agreement by not returning the mortgage loan to the bank and did not fulfill the contractual obligations.

As a result, Zhang Mou sued both Li Mou and Huang Mou in court, seeking to terminate the "House Purchase and Sale Agreement" and requiring the defendants to return the initial payment of 375,000 yuan and pay liquidated damages of 157,500 yuan.

Upon investigation, it was confirmed that the house was registered in the names of Li Mou and Huang Mou, and was jointly owned by the couple. During the trial, all parties confirmed that Huang Mou had not signed or stamped on the contract, and only Li Mou's signature was present on the buyer's side.

Court Decision

After the court's review, it was determined that the contract between Li Mou and Zhang Mou was a true expression of their intentions, and thus the contract was legally binding on the two parties.

However, the house in question was jointly owned by Li Mou and Huang Mou, and Huang Mou had not signed or stamped on the contract nor given any recognition. Therefore, Li Mou's act of selling the house was unauthorized. Moreover, according to the principle of "he who asserts must prove," the plaintiff did not submit evidence to prove that Huang Mou was aware of the transaction and received or used the initial payment made by the buyer. Therefore, the contract was not legally binding on Huang Mou.

In summary, the court ruled to terminate the contract between the plaintiff Zhang Mou and the defendant Li Mou, and ordered Li Mou to repay the initial payment of 375,000 yuan and pay liquidated damages of 157,500 yuan to the plaintiff.

After the judgment was announced, neither party appealed the decision.

Dawhua Analysis

Jointly-owned houses are an important part of family property and a common subject of sale in the real estate market.

When purchasing a house, the buyer should pay attention to reviewing the ownership of the house. Once a dispute arises, it can cause losses to the buyer and affect the normal order of real estate transactions.

In the above case, Li Mou sold the jointly-owned house without Huang Mou's knowledge, which is considered unauthorized in civil law. However, since the buyer was unaware of the unauthorized nature and had reasonable grounds to believe that Li Mou had the right to dispose of the house and paid a reasonable consideration, the buyer is considered a good faith third party. Therefore, the court ruled that the contract in question was valid, and the husband, Li Mou, should be solely responsible to the seller.

The outcome of this case protected the contract rights of the good faith third party Zhang Mou and effectively avoided the risks associated with the transaction of jointly-owned houses.

Therefore, when purchasing a house, if it is discovered that the house is jointly owned by a married couple, both parties should be required to be present for signing and to show their marriage certificate; if one party is unable to be present, a legally valid written authorization should be provided as well.

It is worth noting that in cases similar to this, if the buyer is a good faith third party and has completed the real estate registration, the buyer can obtain ownership of the house.