Property Service Contract Dispute Between a Fujian Property Management Company and Homeowners

Case Summary

Plaintiff Fujian Property Service Co., Ltd. entered into a "Preliminary Property Service Contract" with Defendant Lin, an owner in Xiamen Community, agreeing that Plaintiff would provide property services and that fees would be calculated at 2.8 yuan per square meter per month, payable quarterly. Starting from 1 of 2023, Defendant refused to pay property fees, citing inadequate cleaning, lax security management, and delayed maintenance of public facilities. As of 6 of 2024, Defendant had accumulated unpaid fees totaling 12600 yuan. After multiple failed collection attempts, Plaintiff filed a lawsuit requesting payment of the outstanding fees and liquidated damages.

Key Dispute

1.Has the plaintiff fully fulfilled all obligations under the property service contract?

2.Is the defendant's defense of withholding property fees due to inadequate property services valid?

3.Does the liquidated damages claimed by the plaintiff comply with the contract agreement and applicable laws?

Case Strategy

1.Fixed property service contracts, community property service records, cleaning and security shift schedules, public facility maintenance logs, property fee payment notices, and communication records between both parties as core evidence.

2.The plaintiff has provided evidence demonstrating full compliance with the contract by delivering all agreed-upon property services, including cleaning, security, and public facility maintenance. The specific issues raised by the defendant constitute minor defects rather than fundamental breaches of contract; therefore, the defendant cannot withhold payment of the entire property management fee on this basis.

3.The plaintiff has promptly addressed the service deficiencies raised by the defendant and fulfilled its property management obligations.

4.Calculate the liquidated damages for the defendant's late property fee payments based on the standard specified in the contract.

Processing Result

The court ruled that the defendant shall pay the plaintiff the outstanding property management fees of 12600 yuan, along with overdue payment penalties calculated at 0.04% per day on the quarterly outstanding property management fees, from the due date of each quarter's fees until the date of full payment. The defendant shall bear all litigation costs in this case.

Similar Case Consultation