B.C. judge says undisclosed murder is reason to renege on mansion purchase
VANCOUVER — The former owner of a mansion in Vancouver’s exclusive Shaughnessy neighbourhood must repay a $300,000 deposit after the sale of the property fell through because she didn’t tell the buyer about a suspected gang-related murder of her son-in-law at the front gate of the home.
In a British Columbia Supreme Court decision issued last week, Justice Paul Pearlman said the would-be purchaser of the six-bedroom, 10 bathroom mansion was the victim of a “fraudulent misrepresentation.”
Feng Yun Shao backed out of an offer to buy the 9,000-square-foot mansion in 2009, just days after she had agreed to pay about $6.1 million for the property after forwarding the deposit.
Court documents show she was told the 84-year-old owner, Mei Zhen Wang, had moved back to Guangzhou, China, and her daughter, who lived in the house, wanted to move to West Vancouver to be closer to her child’s school.