Man spends £20,000 decorating the wrong flat

Gui Lizhong, standing in the apartment he spent four months decorating. The apartment actually belongs to Long Nengyun, who is seated (Rex Features)

A Chinese man spent around £20,000 decorating an apartment in Chongquing before finding out that the one he'd actually purchased was an empty shell across the hallway.

Gui Lizhong was sold a flat - flat 4-2 - in a block of new apartments, and began renovating and decorating the property before the numbers had been placed on the doors.

He received a shock when Long Nengyun turned up with paperwork proving that he owned the flat, and that Mr Lizhong had in fact been mistakenly decorating flat 4-1. When Mr Nengyun turned up to his flat, he reportedly said: "Why are you staying here? I bought this house in 2011."

Mr Lizhong said of his nightmare: "My first reaction was the man made a mistake. However the man then produced his apartment purchase contract. I was stunned, as in his contract, he owns the apartment I am living in."

He insists that he was shown around the apartment he'd mistakenly decorated - twice - by the saleswoman, adding: "I viewed the house twice before I signed the contract. The property agent showed me this particular unit." However, the saleswoman opposed his version of events, saying it was his own mistake as she had shown him the correct unit on both occasions.

In spite of spending so much money and time on the place, his hopes of keeping the apartment were dashed when the real owner refused to exchange his newly-decorated home.