Ziroom, a major Chinese apartment rental service provider, has said it will cooperate with an investigation into the death of a tenant that his wife has linked to toxic indoor fumes.
In January, the tenant, named as Mr Wang, moved into a studio rented and decorated by Ziroom in Binjiang District, Hangzhou City, where he was employed by Alibaba. In July, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in hospital and died three days later in Beijing.
His wife subsequently tested the apartment and is said to have found an excessive level of formaldehyde, which she blamed for her husband's death. Wang's wife then took Ziroom to court on August 24.
On Sunday, Ziroom posted a statement on Weibo pledging to actively cooperate with the judiciary and respect the court's ruling in the lawsuit. And the company will suspend all rental services from September 1 until it receives health clearance for its rooms.
This is not the first time that Ziroom has been in trouble over formaldehyde. In April, one tenant was diagnosed with a low white blood cell count. After the apartment was tested professionally, the gas in the kitchen, bedroom and sitting room all exceeded the acceptable standard by 2.3 times.
At least four other cases have been reported with the company promising corrective measures each time.
