A man has been sentenced to prison for eight months for selling a house without telling the buyer that someone had committed suicide there, local media reported yesterday.
The Banciao District Court handed down the sentence to Lee Chiong-chi (李炯祺) on Saturday because he did not tell the buyer surnamed Chang (張) that it was a “violent house” — a term meaning that an unnatural death, murder or suicide had occurred at the house, the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) reported.
Lee bought the house in August 2006 for only NT$4.68 million (US$140,000) because a lodger had committed suicide in the house by burning charcoal in the bathroom. One month later, he sold it to Chang through a real estate agent for NT$5.45 million.
Lee ticked “no” to the clause on official papers that asked if the house was a “violent house.”
After the Chang family moved into the house, neighbors told them about the suicide and they became frightened. Chang said his little daughter could not sleep well at night and the family slept on sofas in the living room and dared not use the bathroom, the scene of the suicide.
When Chang questioned Lee, he lied, saying that the lodger burnt charcoal in the bathroom but died in hospital, so the house was not a “violent house.”
In addition to the jail sentence, the Banciao District Court ordered Lee to take back the “violent house” and return the money to Chang.
Taiwan custom says that a house in which someone has died an unnatural death — being killed or having committed suicide — is haunted. Most people are afraid to live in such a house.
Under Taiwanese law, sellers must inform the buyer of such incidents. If this does not occur, the sale contract is invalid and the buyer can get his money back and sue the house seller for fraud.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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