• Document Number：No. 29 [2004] of the Civil Division I of the Supreme People's Court
• Area of Law： Contract
• Level of Authority： Documents of Judicial Interpretation Nature
• Date issued：07-26-2005
• Effective Date：07-26-2005
• Issuing Authority： Supreme People's Court
• Status： Effective

Reply of the Supreme People's Court on Whether the Leasee Who leases Part of a Residential Property May Have the Preemption Right When the Lessor Sells the Residential Property in Its Entirety
(No. 29 [2004] of the Civil Division I of the Supreme People's Court)
The Higher People's Court of Jiangsu Province:
With regard to the issue concerning whether a leasee who leases part of a residential property may have the preemption right when the lessor sells the residential property in its entirety as requested by you for instruction, now there are no clear provisions for this issue in laws and judicial interpretations. Upon deliberation, now you may take into full account the following two aspects in the handling of such cases:
First, in respect of the use functions of a residential property, if the part of a residential property leased by the leasee and the other part of the residential property is divisible, and their use functions are relatively independent, the lessee's preemption right shall only be limited to the leased part of the residential property; if the part of a residential property leased by the leasee and the other part of the residential property is indivisible, and the integrity of their use functions is rather obvious, the leasor shall have the preemption right for the entirety of the residential property.
Second, in respect of the proportion of the part of a residential property leased by the leasee in the entirety of the residential property, if the part of a residential property leased by the leasee has accounted for more than half of the residential property sold by the leasor in its entirety, the leasee shall have the preemption right for the residential property sold by the leasor in its entirety; otherewise, it is not appropriate to decide that the lessee has the preemption right for the entirety of the residential property.
You shall properly handle such cases in light of above factors and according to the specific circumstances of these cases.
July 26, 2005