Illegal courtyard homes that have just been finished in Xihuangfa village, Daxing district. [Photo/China Daily]

Buyers of several dozen 270-square-meter courtyard homes in suburban Beijing who picked up their dream properties for less than a million yuan may have felt like the deal was too good to be true. They discovered this month it was.

The buyers, who leapt on the homes in the Jinjiefang development near the South Sixth Ring Road in Xihuangfa village, Yufa town, Daxing district, have been told their homes were illegally built on land slated for tourism development and must be torn down.

To make matters worse, it is doubtful they will get a refund.

The buyers were told they would be given two certificates when they bought their homes. A certificate that gave them the right to use the home for their lifetime. And a certificate proclaiming them "honorary villagers" from the village committee. The second certificate, they were told, would mean they would be in line for compensation if the homes ended up being demolished.

However, two other important certificates were not included - a certificate of house property rights issued by the State and a tax invoice.

"If you could get these two as well, the price would not have been so cheap," said a saleswoman surnamed Zhang in an interview with Beijing Times on Nov 22.

Zhang said the first phase of construction, 15 courtyard homes covering 2.4 hectares, is now finished. The homes sold for 800,000 yuan each. The second phase is now selling. Those homeowners were due to take possession in August 2011.

However, the homes have since been declared illegally built by both the village and the township.

The person in charge of the development, a man named Ji, told Beijing Times on Nov 23 that he believed the land he developed was slated for construction. Ji said the official seals on the two certificates given to purchasers were genuine and had been stamped by the former leaders of the village.

"The biggest advantage of buying our houses is you can enjoy the right to use the property forever," the newspaper quoted Ji as saying.

The newspaper spoke with the ex-director of Xihuangfa village committee, a man surnamed Li, who said Ji paid 3 million yuan "four to five years ago" to be able to use the land for the next 30 years.

But Wang Xiuyan, director of the communications office of Yufa town, told METRO on Monday that the homes should never have been built. He said the local government is negotiating with the developers to get them demolished.

Wang said the land that was built upon is slated for tourism development. The township government said it sent several written warnings to try to get the building work halted but the letters were not heeded.

"The township government has never approved the land for commercial construction," said Wang. "We have reported the case to the district level. If the developers don't comply, they will be forced to do so sooner or later."

Cheng Quan, a law expert with 5i5j property agency, warned that there are a lot of risks involved in buying real estate without the usual certificates that guarantee property rights issued by the State.

"These certificates mean you are entitled to many rights," Cheng said.

"Without the certificates, such houses are not registered on national land resources and with the housing administration bureau and the purchasers are not protected by law."