A local court has ruled that a local man had no right to retain ownership of an apartment he bought on behalf of his in-laws because he used their money to buy it, Pudong New Area People's Court announced Thursday.

The defendant, surnamed Wang, offered to go through the trouble of finding a new apartment for his wife's parents, who decided to sell their old home in 2009 to get a better place, according to a court news release.

Wang located an apartment selling for 1.2 million yuan ($189,000) in the Zhangjiang area of Pudong New Area. The couple said they gave Wang 1.35 million yuan to cover the costs of buying and furnishing the apartment, according to the news release.

Soon after moving in to their new home in November 2010, the couple found out that Wang had bought the apartment under his own name. When they asked Wang to put their names on the property deed, he refused, so they filed a lawsuit to obtain ownership of the apartment.

In court, Wang disputed that his in-laws paid the entire cost of the apartment.

He presented bank transfers that showed he only got 660,000 yuan from his in-laws, which he described as a "conditional gift" that presumed he would support them while they lived in "his" apartment. Wang said he received another 440,000 yuan, but that was his wife's share of the compensation from a relocation project.

The court found that there wasn't enough evidence to support Wang's explanation and ruled in favor of his in-laws.