Employees at the Zhangjiagang real estate registration center provide services for clients. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

The real estate registration center in Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province on March 15 issued a certificate of property ownership to a local resident even though the seller was not present in China for the transaction.

The seller, surnamed Gong, has been stranded in Singapore due to the pandemic. However, the center permitted both parties to sign a sales agreement on its online real estate integrated service platform. Employees at the registration center then approved the property transfer request and issued a certificate even though Mr. Gong could not be present.

This is the first time that the registration center has dealt with an ownership change of a house with one party based abroad. This achievement shows that the center's online services has further improved and will significantly increase clients' satisfaction, according to Zhang Xiao, director of the real estate registration center.