54: So, where did the money go?

Wen Yuhe was still in a daze, and hearing Zhou Yun’s words, she quickly said, “Oh, oh, okay.”

However, this Lawyer Zhou is indeed very professional…

Grandpa Li next to him greeted Zhou Yun and asked him to sit down, saying with a smile, “Lawyer Zhou, my conditions here aren’t very good, please sit here, I’ll pour you a glass of water.”

The so-called seating arrangement was actually just a few small stools.

Zhou Yun smiled and nodded, sitting down directly. If he didn’t sit down at this moment, it might make the two elderly people overthink things.

After sitting down, Wen Yuhe spoke, “Lawyer Zhou, is there anything else you need to ask about the case? Also, how do you charge for your fees?”

Zhou Yun thought for a moment and said, “There are indeed still some questions about the case, but you don’t need to worry about the fees. I estimate you can’t afford much money right now.”

“So, for your case, for now, we can sign a full-risk contingency agreement.”

Seeing that the other party seemed not to understand, Zhou Yun explained again, “It means you don’t have to pay me anything first.”

“Then, after the case is concluded, if I can help you recover the money, you just give me a certain percentage. If the money cannot be recovered, you don’t have to pay, and I will bear the risk.”

“If you think this is acceptable, then we can sign the contract.”

Contingency fees are divided into full-risk and partial-risk. The former means no money is collected directly, and all risks are borne by the lawyer.

The latter involves paying a portion of the fee upfront, then agreeing on a percentage of the winnings, with both sides sharing the risk.

Zhou Yun didn’t care about this small lawyer’s fee, and looking at Wen Yuhe’s situation, he knew she simply couldn’t afford it.

Anyway, he had the system’s compensation, so as long as this case could be handled well, money was nothing.

Wen Yuhe was stunned again. She never expected this Zhou Lawyer to propose such a method.

“Zhou Lawyer, I… I don’t have to pay a single penny now?”

Zhou Yun patiently nodded, “That’s right, you don’t have to pay a single penny. I’ve also checked your community, and the current situation, even with guaranteed delivery, is quite difficult.”

“So we need to assess the situation. If there’s truly no hope of delivery, then I will do my best to get your money back, understand?”

“Therefore, you don’t have to pay a single penny. Once the money is recovered, you can pay me. How about ten percent?”

Contingency fees used to go as high as thirty percent, but that was later cut. Now the maximum is eighteen percent.

It’s based on the amount of your claim. For example, for claims under one million, the maximum is eighteen percent.

For claims between one million and five million, the maximum is fifteen percent. In short, it varies. If a lawyer offers a contingency fee and immediately asks for a percentage above eighteen percent, that’s certainly a violation.

Wen Yuhe didn’t hesitate and quickly nodded, “No problem, Lawyer Zhou, I’ll sign right now!”

Zhou Yun immediately took out his phone. Nowadays, many contracts can be signed electronically, with e-signatures and a one to two-second video.

Here, Wen Yuhe would sign the electronic contract and record a video, and the law firm could then stamp it. After that, a complete electronic contract could be sent to Wen Yuhe.

It has the same legal effect as a paper contract.

Seeing Zhou Yun take out his phone, Grandpa Li on the side became a little anxious. He had hesitated before, worried about high legal fees. Now that he knew he didn’t have to pay, he definitely wanted to protect his rights too.

But he was an honest man and was thinking a lot at the moment, worried that if he also said he wanted to protect his rights, the other party might think he was taking advantage.

However, he really wanted to say it, so he stood there, his face flushed.

Finally, Wen Yuhe spoke, “Well, Lawyer Zhou, look at my neighbor, Grandpa Li. His family’s situation isn’t good either. He’s already been sued by the Bank because he can’t repay his loan.”

“He can’t pay now, and it’s affected his credit. What do you think about this…?”

Zhou Yun smiled upon hearing this and said, “Alright, no problem. Anyway, doing one case is doing one, and doing two is doing two.”

“Grandpa Li, right? If you want to protect your rights, you’ll also need to prepare some documents. Let Ms. Wen tell you about it. Let’s try to be quick.”

Grandpa Li was overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly responded, “Okay, thank you, Lawyer Zhou, thank you very much.”

Zhou Yun waved his hand, indicating it was nothing, and after some thought, still reminded them, “Also, let me mention again, I can handle your cases on a contingency basis now, but it cannot exceed ten people. If it exceeds that, you’ll have to pay normal lawyer fees.”

“I’m telling you this because we don’t know if the rights protection will be successful.”

The “Opinions on Further Standardizing Lawyer Service Fees” has many restrictions on contingency fees.

Collective litigation is strictly prohibited from using contingency fees.

Everyone understands why this is prohibited.

As for what constitutes collective litigation, most major laws have no clear definition. Only a set of industry guidelines formulated by the National Lawyers Association itself states that joint litigation involving more than ten people is collective litigation.

Zhou Yun certainly wouldn’t Court trouble. He now indeed had a protective charm thanks to Manager Ma’s stab, but there were definitely many people watching him, hoping to see him make a mistake.

This was absolutely certain.

And among those watching him, fellow professionals accounted for the largest proportion, because fellow professionals are the biggest enemies.

A classic example: doctors in Korea collectively resigned. Why? Because medical schools were expanding enrollment.

Why would they resign if medical schools expanded enrollment? Because if there were more doctors, everyone’s income would not be as good as before.

This has nothing to do with anything else; it’s purely a matter of self-interest.

Fellow professionals are the biggest rivals.

In short, Zhou Yun had to make the situation clear: if they kept bringing more people in, protecting their rights would become increasingly difficult.

In the case of collective litigation, the Court might consider other factors…

Zhou Yun thought for a moment and then asked, “How many families are still living in this building?”

Wen Yuhe thought for a moment and said, “There are five more families. I’ve called them all in the group before, but few people were willing to come…”

Although everyone talks about protecting their rights together, now, basically, many people have lost their motivation.

For instance, when they came to break in and occupy the building this time, Wen Yuhe also appealed in the group, because the online video creator who moved into the unfinished building with her daughter had already successfully protected her rights.

So, if more of them came together, they might also be able to exert pressure.

Unfortunately, no one was willing to come.

Zhou Yun nodded, “Okay, then call those five families too.”

This was the limit of his current ability.

After all, being able to live under such conditions meant they were truly pushed to a dead end.

At this time, it was best to lend a helping hand. In his previous life, he might not have, but in this life with the system, Zhou Yun was willing to do some things.

Wen Yuhe looked a little surprised, but still nodded, then walked to the side and started calling people in the group.

These seven households who moved into the unfinished building had a small group where they promised to help each other.

“@everyone, does anyone want to protect their rights? The lawyer I hired has arrived. He’s prepared to do a contingency fee arrangement, meaning you don’t have to pay now, only after winning the lawsuit.”

“I think this is an opportunity, everyone can come and try.”

Soon, the other families saw the message, and most were half-believing, half-doubting, but since it didn’t cost anything, everyone was willing to try.

It took a whole afternoon for Zhou Yun to finalize the contracts here and collect all the relevant evidence and materials.

The half-believing families came over, initially thinking the lawyer was too young, but after learning he was the lawyer who was stabbed online, they immediately became enthusiastic.

Everyone was talking animatedly, and Zhou Yun waved his hand, saying, “Please don’t rush, everyone. Let me ask you again, have you ever dealt with a supervised account before?”

Everyone looked at each other, and a middle-aged man spoke, “Lawyer Zhou, we went to the Bank before, and the Bank said that supervised accounts are all managed by the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, and they just follow others’ instructions.”

“Then we went to the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau, but we couldn’t find the person in charge. We waited there for a long time, and finally, someone told us they couldn’t manage this matter either.”

“What do you say about this…?”

Zhou Yun said upon hearing this, “Then you’ve been given the runaround. Your method is problematic. Since you want to protect your rights, we must follow the procedures, step by step.”

“Look, you want to know who is responsible for the supervised account, right? You don’t need to ask like that. You can directly send a letter requesting information disclosure.”

“The supervised account is closely related to your interests, so you are interested parties. When you apply for the disclosure of information about the supervised account, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau must respond to you according to procedures, understand?”

This is also a common problem in rights protection for many people now. If you just go and ask directly, no one will be willing to take responsibility.

But if you follow the procedures, it’s different. If you follow the procedures, the other party must also respond to you according to the procedures.

Even if they don’t want to give it, that’s fine. Once the time is up, you can file an administrative reconsideration or an administrative lawsuit.

Once it reaches the litigation stage, no matter what, the other party must provide an explanation. This is an advantage of legal channels.

After a brief explanation, Zhou Yun began to inquire about other issues.

Another hour passed like this, and Zhou Yun finally said, “Alright, I understand everyone’s thoughts. Tomorrow, I will prepare to begin protecting your rights.”

“As I told you before, if anyone from the developer contacts you in the middle, no matter what they say, do not agree, understand?”

“Everything must go through me. This is not me wanting to make my own decisions, but given the current situation, the developer’s credibility is gone.”

“I have already written this into the contract, everyone knows that, right?”

Having been a lawyer for many years in his previous life, he had seen too many things.

Some people are very trusting. If the other party breaches the contract, they want to sue.

But halfway through the lawsuit, the other party calls, says a lot of nice things, makes a lot of promises, or sends gifts and writes an agreement, and they feel that the other party is sincere, so they withdraw the lawsuit.

It sounds absurd, but there really are many such people.

But if you think carefully, what is the difference between a so-called agreement not approved by the Court and the previous contract?

If the other party doesn’t fulfill it, you still have to sue again. The other party’s goal is to drag you out.

Either don’t do it, or do it thoroughly. Since you’ve already prepared to protect your rights, you must be determined to go all the way. At this point, promises are all false.

Only the money in your hand and the house delivered to you are real!

Everyone nodded in unison.

With everything clarified, Zhou Yun immediately left the unfinished building and went to the hotel he had booked to stay.

He would begin protecting their rights tomorrow.

First, Zhou Yun planned to confirm whether the funds from these seven households were indeed deposited into the Bank’s supervised account!

This step was very important because only then could the responsibility of the first step be clearly defined.

Many people do not check these details when buying a house, such as where their money is deposited.

Generally, for properties with all five certificates, the presale permit at the sales office will show that your money is only considered to have entered the supervised account if it goes into that specific account.

However, many real estate companies start playing tricks at this step, asking you to deposit the money into other company accounts.

Clearly, money deposited into other accounts can be freely misappropriated by the company.

And if this money is deposited into other accounts, the Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau has no responsibility, because their responsibility is to monitor the money in that supervised account.

They can’t do anything about money that isn’t there.

Zhou Yun opened the local Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau’s website and quickly found the presale permit inquiry portal.

Then, he entered the corresponding project name according to the records on the purchase contract.

The project Wen Yuhe bought was called “Ziyu Shancheng.” Although the developer was not a national-level large developer, it was well-known locally.

It was called Xingguang Real Estate Development Co., Ltd.

Soon, Zhou Yun found the presale permit and saw the corresponding supervised account.

He took out the seven receipts from the seven households and began to compare them one by one.

Anyone could do this work; it’s just that many people don’t know the intricacies involved, and you don’t learn it in school; it’s considered everyday experience.

The comparison results came out: out of the seven households, only Wen Yuhe and another household surnamed Liu had their money deposited into the supervised account.

The remaining five households, including Grandpa Li, had their money deposited into other accounts.

This situation was more complicated and had to be handled as two separate cases.

Throughout the entire night, Zhou Yun slowly thought and prepared. He was still young, and if he really couldn’t hold on, he could directly exchange for a bottle of medicine.

Time quickly reached the next morning. Zhou Yun finished washing up, grabbed his bag, and left. He had two things to do today.

The first thing was to go to the local Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau and apply for the disclosure of supervised account information!

This application seemed simple, but it was actually difficult for non-professionals to handle.

First, you had to state the specific reasons, and second, you had to clearly write down all the content you wanted to be disclosed.

And here, there was a lot of content that needed to be disclosed.

For example, the “Presale Funds Supervision Agreement” must exist. Without it, the supervised account cannot be established.

This agreement is very important because it will clearly record the parties involved in the supervision.

Because although the state has established the supervised account, there are no specific laws to regulate it…

Yes, real estate has been on a downward trend since its boom, but there are still no specific and clear laws regarding supervised accounts.

The only existing one is the “Measures for the Administration of Urban Commercial Housing Presale,” Article 4 of which stipulates that the construction administrative department or real estate administrative department of the municipal and county people’s governments is responsible for the administration of urban commercial housing presale within its administrative area.

Beyond that, there are specific regulations for each locality, which are very complex, with each place having its own rules.

Therefore, this agreement is essential and will definitely be used for subsequent rights protection.

Then there’s the “Fund Usage Plan and Revision Records.” The name might differ, but it’s the same thing: it specifies how far the construction of the building has progressed and how much money can be withdrawn.

Finally, and most importantly, the detailed statement of presale fund supervision.

This is the most important and intuitive content: how much money is in the supervised account, how much the developer transferred out and for what reasons, and what the funds were used for.

In addition to applying for disclosure, Zhou Yun also planned to sue the Bank!

Suing the Bank was mainly to obtain the corresponding investigation order, to investigate which account of the developer the Bank’s loan was deposited into!

The money for buying a house with a loan is divided into two parts: a down payment and a Bank loan.

If the down payment was deposited incorrectly, well, we ordinary people might not understand, but what about these loans? Which account did you deposit them into? Was it a supervised account?

On this point, Zhou Yun was certain that the Bank would generally deposit the loan into the same account where the down payment was made!

There had been many similar cases in his previous life!