Chongqing officials step into home row
Compromise sought as couple spurn developers
Chongqing officials have intervened in a dispute between developers and the owners of a house isolated in the middle of a 10-metre-deep construction pit, with the mayor saying 'unreasonable demands' will not be accepted.
Mayor Wang Hongju yesterday said the government would try to solve the standoff between the villa owner and the developer 'appropriately', but would not tolerate an exorbitant price or unreasonable demands.
Yang Wu , the 51-year-old owner of the two-storey villa, has refused to leave the house even though a court eviction order is in force. Mr Yang and his wife, Wu Ping , have repeatedly rejected an offer of cash compensation by the developers, who want to develop a shopping mall on the site. They have demanded to be relocated to exactly the same location.
Noting that the incident had become a sensation on the internet, with more than 10 million hits, Mr Wang said the government would handle the situation calmly, appropriately and according to the law, but would 'never tolerate exorbitant prices or unreasonable demands', according to Xinhua.
Mr Wang said pulling down the house was not about the interests of developers, but those of ordinary citizens who wished to improve their living and transport conditions.
Known as the hardest 'nail house', a reference to residents who refuse to move from their houses, the couple and their villa have attracted nationwide attention.
An official with Chongqing's Housing Authority said on Sunday the authority would prefer to solve the dispute through negotiations, but would resort to forced demolition if that did not work.
However, property lawyers believe forced demolition should not be a solution. Beijing property lawyer Qin Bing said the court should protect citizens' property rights and land-use rights, and the house should not be pulled down without the owner's approval.
'Strictly speaking, in terms of the law, you can't transfer the ownership of a house without the owner's approval. You can't simply pull down a house because the owner refuses to move and others have complied. Everybody has the right to safeguard his own legitimate rights and interests,' Mr Qin said.
'I support the owner and I think they should maintain the status quo to October when the Property Law comes into effect.'
Wang Cailiang , another property lawyer in Beijing, said the couple had set a good example on the mainland, where house owners giving way to developers, willing or unwillingly, had become the norm.
Strongly opposing the idea of forced demolition, Mr Wang said the developer could allocate part of the shopping mall's floor space, the same area as the villa, to the couple as they demanded.
