Representative image of the inside of an apartment
Credit: iStock Photo
A Chinese tenant was left dumbstruck after he found that the place which he had rented, was where a heinous murder had taken place almost 20 years ago.
According to a report by South China Morning Post, the man experienced the revelation after a Douyin blogger had shared a video on July 22 about a murder which had happened in March 2014, in China's northeastern Jilin province and city.
The revelation involved the disappearance of a woman who was showing the rental property to prospective tenants on behalf of her friends.
The woman's body was found covered by a red pillow, inside the rental property.
According to SCMP, the police found evidence - shredded rental agreement in toilet, which was pieced together, elevator surveillance footage - which led to believing that the two prospective tenants were probably the prime suspects.
Hours later after the video went viral, a social media user named Xingxinzhe put out a message saying that he has been living in the property and that he and his younger brother didn't have the slightest idea about the place's dark history.
Xingxinzhe shot a walkthrough video of the apartment titiled 'Come to see if you don't believe', which showed the decor of the duplex.
According to SCMP, a social media user said, "Ten years later, they haven’t even replaced the pillow that covered the body."
Another said. "What brand is that refrigerator? It is still working after 10 years."
The tenant revealed that the furniture and rent of the place have not been reduced or exchanged despite the property's bizarre history.
According to SCMP, Xingxinzhe said, "It’s not cheap. It was initially priced at 1,200 yuan ($165) a month, then negotiated down to 1,100 yuan."
Not being able to get in contact with the owner after finding out about the property's history, Xingxinzhe has moved out.
Reports have said that the tenant has a chance of demanding a compensation from the owner of the property as they failed to inform Xingxinzhe about its dark history, which is usually done during the process of rental agreement.
According to SCMP, another person said, "Imagine this guy coming home to relax after a hard day’s work, scrolling through Douyin, and realising that the crime scene looks familiar. Then he realised someone was killed right next to where he sleeps every night. This is crushing. Imagine the psychological impact on this guy."
Another social media user said, "You can rent it out, but you must be upfront about the murder. It should be up to the tenants whether they want to rent it or not. Renting out a house with a murder history without disclosure is fraud."