(Yicai) Aug. 21 -- The Shenzhen unit of Centaline Group, Hong Kong’s leading real estate agency, has accused beleaguered China Evergrande Group and other Chinese mainland property developers of failing to pay more than CNY1 billion (USD137 million) in commissions on property sales.

Evergrande, Kaisa Group Holding, Baoneng Group, Shimao Property Holdings, and others owe Centaline Shenzhen CNY1 billion, according to a screenshot of a document signed by the realtor's Chief Executive Alex Shi on Aug. 10 that recently circulated online.

An insider at Centaline Group confirmed the authenticity of the document, which the company submitted to the local government. The Shenzhen unit, founded in 1997, is a major real estate agent in the southern Chinese city.

Centaline Shenzhen has filed lawsuits against some of the developers to recover CNY535 million (USD73.2 million) of unpaid commissions, with CNY400 million already ruled in favor of the plaintiff and the rest pending court decisions, according to the document.

“When the sector is in hardship, there is no winner across the industry chain,” the insider noted.

In an industry where the remuneration of sales staff is usually made up of basic salary and commissions, employees only gets the commission after the employer receives payment from developers, the document said.

If the government insisted that Centaline Shenzhen pay commission before being paid by developers, and even if restricted only to frontline employees, the added financial burden on the firm is estimated at over CNY400 million, worsening its financial position, the document said.

But almost all of the developers mentioned in the document are stuck in a debt crisis. Evergrande announced recently that its debt already far exceeds the value of its assets. So Centaline Shenzhen may be unable to secure payment even if it wins in court.

Sales commissions fall under the category of common credit rights, the same as that of debts to general suppliers, Bai Wenxi, vice head of China Enterprise Capital Union, told Yicai.

Realtors can use pre-litigation preservation to seize the defendants’ assets and key accounts before carrying out extensive negotiations, said Bai, who is also chief economist at Interpublic Group China. He also suggested that realtors should strive to reach a settlement with the developers to recover as much money as possible as soon as possible.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione