Woman loses deposit on US$11 million Vancouver mansion, after abandoning purchase because Big Circle Boys triad boss Raymond Huang was murdered there
- Canadian court ruled that the gangster’s family had no obligation to reveal the unsolved 2007 killing
- Judge said it was ‘cultural stereotyping’ to expect a Chinese property seller to disclose a violent death at a home
Even on a Vancouver street where homes routinely change hands for eight-figure sums, the mansion at 3899 Cartier stands out as a genuine trophy.
Surrounded by high hedges, its pavements lined with cherry and chestnut trees, the stately 8,054 square foot home occupies a 20,000 square foot lot that is five times the standard size.
But property investor Shao Feng Yun wanted nothing to do with the mansion after finding out that notorious triad boss Raymond Huang Hong Chao was shot dead outside the front gate in 2007, in an unsolved gangland hit.
On Tuesday, a British Columbia court ruled that Shao was not entitled to the return of her C$300,000 (US$220,000) deposit on the property, after she pulled out of a 2009 deal to buy the home when she heard about its bloody past.
The owner, Huang’s elderly Chinese mother-in-law Wang Mei Zhen, “had no reason to know that the fact of the murder would be material to the buyer”, the BC Court of Appeal ruled, overturning a trial court decision that the seller fraudulently misrepresented the property by omitting mention of Huang’s slaying.