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Nick Squires

After weeks of stalemate, a Chinese couple who bought a house without being informed it had been the scene of a savage triple murder were told yesterday  they will not be forced to go through with the deal.

Ellen Lin and Derek Kwok,  originally from Taiwan, put down a deposit of A$80,000 (HK$455,700) on the  $800,000 house in Ryde, a sought-after suburb in Sydney, in August.

But they were horrified when they learned from media reports that the house had previously been owned by the Filipino-born Gonzales family.

Sef Gonzales,  a 19-year-old student with a taste for fast cars and call girls, bludgeoned to death his father, mother and sister in July 2001 in a bid to obtain his inheritance early.

Gonzales had tried to convince police that the murders were racially motivated by spraying racist graffiti on the walls of the house, including a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. He is now serving three life sentences in prison.

As soon as they found out about the house's gruesome history, Ms Lin and Mr Kwok called off the deal and demanded the return of their deposit.

Devout Buddhists, they argued that the two-storey home had bad fung shui and would bring misfortune to them and their son, three.

But the estate agency that  showed them the house, LJ Hooker, washed its hands of responsibility, arguing that the return of the deposit was a decision for the property's owner, Gonzales' grandmother.

The case transfixed property-mad Australia, with the local media dubbing the home 'the house of horror' and 'the haunted house'. With the 10 per cent deposit paid, the balance of the sale price had been due this week.

To the relief of Ms Lin and Mr Kwok, LJ Hooker  yesterday said  they would be released from the contract and would have their deposit refunded.

'The basis of the past weeks' negotiations is that LJ Hooker will make an ex gratia payment of $80,000 to the purchasers,' senior company executive Michael Davoren said.  'The vendors will not enforce the contract they have with the purchasers.'



Chinese couple relieved to escape from house of horror sale contract