# Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 2/Purchase of Property

Purchase of Property 天地買賣 t‘ien ti mai mai.
The middleman to find a purchaser first writes a t‘o yo 託約 as an evidence of willingness to sell the property. In this deed the size of the house or the extent of the land offered for sale, and also the price wanted, must be stated. If the owner is at all an unreliable person he will probably be made to write a yün yo 允約 or a deed of willingness to sell, which he will have to sign in the presence of witnesses, lest he should turn round and blame the middlemen and get them into trouble.
The price should be fixed in the presence of the seller, purchaser and middlemen, 三面定價 san mien ting chia, but it is more commonly settled in the tea shop by the middlemen alone. After the price has been agreed upon, ​which is generally about half what was originally asked for, a small sum of money is paid down as an earnest and an agreement to that effect drawn up, li ting yo 立定約.
To draw up the permanent agreement, from which there is no departure, is called li ta 大 yo; in this agreement are included such details as shang t‘ien tsao tso chih chien 上天造作之件 all that heaven produces connected with the land, such as trees, flowers, shrubs, fishes and wild animals; also jên kung 人工 tsao tso chih chien, all that man has made belonging to the building, etc.
It is very important that the kind of money to be used should be fixed. The middlemen see the amount in full paid over to the seller of the property, who takes the money with his own hands.
To give taxes according to the old standard under the changed name is shui tsai yüan liang 稅載原糧.
The buyer is allowed to take over the tenants and farm the land, chiao tien kuo ching 交佃過耕. The tenants have generally to be present when the money is paid over and their deposit on the land or houses deducted from the price which remains in the hands of the purchaser. A small feast is prepared for the middleman when the signature is being attached to the deeds. The seller at this juncture makes a fuss, and pretends not to be able to agree to the conditions and price, and ready money has very often to be added before this important signature can be procured. I have known many hours to be spent in wrangling over a bit of work which takes half a minute to complete.
Yo chieh hsia pai, 約界下碑 is to go round the boundaries of the property along with the middlemen and neighbouring landlords, who have to be invited to a feast; their presence is equivalent to their recognition of their new neighbour. The seller of property never comes to the feast, but a table will be sent to the home of the family. It is reckoned a loss of face to have to sell the family inheritance, and an occasion for pity too.
Ch‘ê shên li wo 撤神離窩, to take down the family altar and leave the nest; as long as the idols are not removed the old landlord does not reckon to have left.
​In cases where it is necessary for two parties to have a copy of the agreement the two papers are written together and then divided. On the side of each is written the two characters 合同 ho t‘ung. These two papers must be produced and fitted together in order to verify their genuineness. To give over the new title deeds to the new owner is chiao hsin ch‘i 交新契; if the old deeds (lao 老 ch‘i) are not produced and given up it must be so stated in the new agreement, and that hereafter they are only waste paper.
Any family division of inheritance agreements fên kuan 分關 are handed over to the new owner. A fên kuan is rather a shaky deed on which to risk a purchase; as the old agreement is sure to be in some person's hands, and that is the test of ownership. To take over the tenants who may be on the property is called huan tien 換佃. The main part of the price is generally put in a cash shop till certain things are done, and the buyer and seller in company with the witnesses then go to see the money given over.
To settle the percentage to be paid to creditors when the mortgages on the property are higher than the sale price is called t‘an tang chia 攤當價. The payment of the middlemen, hsieh chung 謝中 is done by the seller; the usual rate being 2 per cent.; the purchaser also gives a present of a few taels to each person engaged. The title deeds are stamped on payment of the stamp duties, kuo shui 過稅. The cost before the revolution was about 20 per cent. Title deeds that are not stamped are no good in law.