TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Consumers' Foundation (消費者文教基金會), a consumer advocacy group, unveiled alarming findings Wednesday (Sept. 3) from its investigation into 33 real estate projects across Taipei and New Taipei City. The foundation revealed during a press conference that numerous developers required consumers to pay deposits or leave identification copies before allowing contract reviews at home, violating fundamental consumer protection principles. These practices impose illegal additional conditions on prospective homebuyers seeking to exercise their legal review rights.
Hsu Hung-yu (許宏宇), the foundation's managing supervisor, emphasized that the Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法) requires businesses to provide contracts with a minimum 30-day review period. Violators face substantial fines ranging from NT$30,000 (around US$977) to NT$300,000 (around US$9,771), while the Ministry of the Interior (內政部) mandates at least five days. Hsu noted that some projects failed to implement adequate contract review periods, potentially breaching Fair Trade Act provisions by imposing unfair conditions.
Hsu pointed out that some projects only permitted consumers to browse or photograph contracts on-site rather than taking them home. While this practice technically complies with formal legal requirements, it significantly undermines the effectiveness of the mandated review period for prospective buyers. However, Hsu acknowledged that some developers provided contracts clearly or allowed consumers to take them home for thorough review. He confirmed that all investigated projects complied with the legal requirement to retain 5% of the total purchase price as a reserve for house acceptance inspections.
Sun Chen-i (孫振義), the foundation's housing committee convener, urged the government to establish proactive inspection mechanisms targeting real estate developers. He called for strict penalties under the Consumer Protection Act and Fair Trade Act for project developers who refuse to provide contracts or impose unreasonable conditions on buyers. Sun advocated for creating a public list of violators, while Chairman Teng Wei-chung (鄧惟中) urged consumers to insist on exercising their review rights without accepting conditional limitations, make full use of review periods, and consult experts for thorough contract understanding. ◼