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Photo by Gerry Kahrmann / PNG

“We are seeing these court actions because there are so many of these private arrangements, where people have to turn to others for financing,” Usher said. “Or, they might have debts coming due in another country.”

Usher said B.C. judges are increasingly being asked in civil cases to unwind complex property ownership disputes.

“We really don’t know the ownership of property in B.C., and now we have judges commenting,” Usher said. “It is inevitable that these cases will start to impact the market place.”

Chang’s claim says that defendant Xing Xua Hua agreed to buy her Kitsilano home in June 2016, for $3.9 million. Hua, who currently owns four homes in Vancouver, paid Chang a deposit of $190,000. Hua was to complete the purchase of Chang’s home by the end of September 2016. But Hua asked Chang to extend the closing into October 2016, and offered an additional $500,000 deposit.

Chang agreed to the sale extension, her claim says, but she never received the additional deposit funds, and determined the sale had collapsed.

In November 2016, she sued Hua, claiming losses and damages from the collapsed deal.

In a response, Hua claimed that after the purchase deal wasn’t completed in October 2016, Hua’s son, named Hua Wang, offered to buy Chang’s home for $3.9 million. But Chang did not accept the offer from Hua Wang, filings say.

In June 2017, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled in Chang’s favour. The judge ordered Hua to pay Chang damages of $583,000, plus legal costs for the case. Chang was also given a mortgage against a Shaughnessy home on the 2000-block West 19th Ave owned by Hua to secure the judgment.