Buying property in China: due diligence and scams every foreign buyer should know

China is a market where the paperwork, not the building, decides whether you own what you paid for. This article is a checklist of what to verify before money moves and the typical risks. It is general information, not legal advice. It rests on law-firm notes, news reports and local-government documents seen through search summaries, and the rules differ between cities and change, so confirm everything with a lawyer licensed in China. Whether a foreigner may buy at all is covered in who can buy and how, and what you actually hold is in land-use rights explained. We have no listings in China and sell nothing there.

Start with the title

Under the Civil Code, as summarised by a legal analysis, a real right in a property arises when it is entered in the state register. Signing a contract and paying in full does not by itself make you the owner. So the first check is the real estate title certificate and the registry record behind it:

• Who is the registered owner, and does the name match the person selling?
• Is the unit mortgaged or otherwise encumbered? A lien must be cleared, or the seller must discharge it from the proceeds, before transfer.
• What is the stated use, and the remaining term of the land-use right?
• Is the seller a company or a person, and are there co-owners such as a spouse whose consent is needed?

We could not find an official description of how a foreigner queries the registry. Ask your Chinese lawyer to pull the record from the local real estate registration centre and read it with you, and do not rely on a copy supplied by the seller or an agent. Commercial notes also recommend a contractual warranty that there are no undisclosed encumbrances, with an indemnity if one appears.

New buildings: the presale permit and the money

Most new homes in China are sold before completion. Before signing, check the presale permit, the land and construction permits for the plot, the developer's licence and how far the project has progressed. Presale funds are meant to go into a supervised escrow account and be used to finish the building, but compliance has been uneven, according to S&P Global and Chinese press from 2022. Several cities tightened their own rules then.

On 28 August 2026 the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the financial regulator issued a joint circular moving the market towards sales of completed homes, as reported by CGTN and Caixin. According to those reports, projects still sold before completion should have the main structure topped out, projects that already held planning permits before the circular keep the old rules, local authorities must tighten supervision of presale funds, and mortgages on presold homes are released only after the project is registered as complete. We have not read the Chinese text, so ask your lawyer which rules apply to your project's permit date.

Our general guidance on checking a developer is in how to verify a developer abroad, and the market picture is in prices, yield and developer risks.

Housing you cannot lawfully buy

A widespread category is so-called small-property-right housing: homes built by villagers on collectively owned rural land and sold to outsiders. The Lincoln Institute and a policy briefing describe it as unlawful under the Land Administration Law, because only the state may convert rural land to urban use. Buyers receive a contract with the village committee, not a title certificate, and courts do not honour it. A 2020 VOA report described demolitions in one case, usually without compensation. The same institute estimates tens of millions of such units, but no official statistics exist. The rule of thumb is simple: no registered title certificate from the housing authority means no ownership.

Area: what you pay for and what you get

Chinese homes are sold by gross floor area, which is the interior area plus a share of common space such as stairwells, lift shafts and lobbies. According to a 2022 summary, there is no statutory cap on that share. One developer's estimate puts residential common-area coefficients at roughly 18 to 25 percent, and some projects have been reported above that. Ask for the surveyor's report with the gross, interior and common-area figures for your unit, and make sure the contract states the interior area and the coefficient, not only the gross figure. Heating and management fees are often charged on the gross area.

Tenants, schools and promises

• Tenants in place. A commercial legal guide describes the principle that a sale does not end an existing lease, so a buyer may take the unit with a tenant. Read the lease and ask for vacant possession in the contract if you want it.
• School districts. Enrolment has long been tied to property and to local household registration, which pushed up the price of "school-district" homes. Rules have changed and differ by city: Xi'an, for example, banned promises of school admission in sales contracts and advertising in 2018, and Beijing's Haidian district moved to district-wide coordination, per Asia Times and Caixin. Do not pay a premium for a promise. Ask the local education bureau.

Agents and the payment channel

A national opinion issued on 27 April 2023 by the housing ministry and the market regulator says agency fees are negotiated, encourages tiered pricing and calls for strict fee display and the filing of agencies, according to Chinese press summaries. We did not find its provisions on dual agency or on where funds may be held, so ask any agent in writing whom they act for and how they are paid. For resales, local rules in several cities require the buyer's money to go into a supervised account and bar agencies from collecting or paying funds through other accounts. These rules are local, so ask which applies. Never pay a deposit to a private account or an agent's personal account: see why a deposit before title checks is the costliest mistake.

Scams

We found no official warning about fake listings aimed at foreign buyers of Chinese property, and we do not claim that one exists. The patterns documented for foreigners renting in China are instructive: a landlord who says they are abroad and will post the keys after you pay, and units registered for office use but let as homes, according to SmartShanghai, and fake landlords and fake embassy staff in a bilingual guide from an insurer. The general schemes are in property scams abroad and cloned agency websites and fake agent profiles.

Red flags:

• A price well below comparable units, with urgency to pay a deposit.
• A seller or agent who cannot show the title certificate, or shows only a photo.
• Payment requested to a personal or foreign account.
• No registered title for the unit, or a "village" or "collective" contract.
• Pressure to avoid a lawyer or to sign in a language you cannot read.

Documents and lawyers

China joined the Apostille Convention, in force from 7 November 2023, so a foreign public document with an apostille is accepted without consular legalisation, according to Clyde & Co and others. A private document such as a power of attorney still needs notarisation first, and embassies warn that an apostille does not guarantee acceptance, so check requirements with the receiving authority. See apostille and legalisation and power of attorney for buying abroad. Use a lawyer licensed in China, appointed by you and not by the agent or the developer: notary or lawyer, who you need abroad. Money transfers and mortgages are in mortgages and capital controls, and the full set of guides is in China and Hong Kong property for foreigners.

FAQ

Is a signed contract enough to be the owner? No. According to a legal analysis of the Civil Code, ownership arises when the entry is made in the register, so the registration is the step to verify.

Can I check the title myself from abroad? We found no official route for a foreign buyer. Ask a Chinese lawyer to pull the record and explain it.

Is a "village" apartment cheaper and equivalent? It is generally treated as unlawful housing without a title certificate and with no court protection, so no.

What this means for a normal buyer

• Verify the registered title and any liens before paying anything.
• For a new build, check the presale permit, the escrow of funds and the permit date against the 2026 rules.
• Avoid anything without a registered title certificate, including village and collective housing.
• Pay only through supervised or lawyer-controlled channels, never to personal accounts.
• Appoint your own lawyer licensed in China and keep documents notarised and apostilled.

If you want an independent view on a shortlist, D.H. Realting works from Warsaw as an independent consultant that can bring in a local lawyer; ask how we are paid, as you would ask anyone.