Many people in China are signing divorce papers in exchange for property purchase agreements.
Divorce rates have soared considerably in the past few months in Beijing and Shanghai after the government imposed stringent property curbs to decelerate the inflating asset bubble, according to several new reports.
So what are the curbs that are driving the couples into throwing away their personal lives?
The rules start with a 20 percent capital gains tax nationwide. Down payments and mortgage interest rates were also increased.
In Beijing, unmarried people are allowed to purchase only one house. Couples who purchase a second home will have to pay 60 percent tax on the property's value. An identical capital gains rule applies in Shanghai too. In addition to that, the city prohibits banks from giving credit to third-home buyers.
Sometime back in April, Realty Today reported the onset of the 'separation' trend. Back then, about 53 divorces were registered in a single day in Shanghai!
The figures are staggering now.
According to official figures cited by The Beijing Youth Daily, about 40,000 divorces were recorded in the first nine months of 2013. This was a 41 percent increase when compared to the numbers recorded in 2012.
However, the most surprising thing is that divorce rates are rising even in cities where the rules have not been imposed yet! The number of separations rose by 7 percent in south western metropolis of Chongqing, reports The Times of India.
This is a typical case of a country's economy affecting private lives of its residents. It takes just a few official laws to transform an economical issue to a social one. The attitude towards divorce has turned liberal over the years.
Li Ziwei, a marriage expert and vice-president of the Beijing Marriage and Family Construction Association said that the marriage registration department, where divorce applications are processed, is not allowed to inquire about the reason for divorce. Apparently, that would be an 'interference' with the people's freedom of marriage, reports China Daily.
And no couple is honest enough to cite 'property taxes' as their reason for separation.
"Even if a couple decides to get a divorce to evade taxes, they say they fell out of love and their personalities are not suitable for each other," Li added.
According to the New York Times, municipal divorce offices have put up warning signs:
"Property is Risk, Divorce with Care!"
Given that couples can evade taxes and even remarry after the sale is done, these phony divorces come with a price. Couples could end up landing in 'real' trouble due to the 'fake' divorce.
"Some husbands may use this as an excuse to get a divorce from his wife and marry another woman."Jiang Yongping, an expert from the Women's Studies Institute of China, said to China Daily.
The divorce is just the tip of the ice berg. According to the new marriage laws, proceeds from sale of a property would largely go to the spouse that paid for the home or is the legal owner of the house. This law has been dubbed 'the law that makes women cry and men laugh' because the average Chinese woman earns considerably lesser than the males, reports the Guardian.
Housewives would probably find themselves homeless if the couple separate and the husband had no intentions of remarrying her. Some women could feel cheated because they might have contributed a lot of money towards the house but the property would be registered in the husband's name in which case, the home would go to the man.
The government of Beijing has vowed to introduce measures that would boost supply for middle-income families and cut exploitation among the rich, reports The Business Recorder.
However, experts call this a 'grey area' and say that no amount of administration involvement could change the trend.
"This is a grey area. The government cannot do anything if a couple insists on getting divorced," Zhang Tao, divorce lawyer in Shanghai told AFP.
