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Local authorities say they have applied to demolish a lift built without planning permission outside a seven-storey block of flats in Guangzhou. Photo: Chinanews.com

Chinese man spends 400,000 yuan on ‘illegal’ glass elevator for his parents and grandmother

Authorities in the city of Guangzhou have applied for glass-walled seven-storey structure to be demolished because it was built without planning permission

A Chinese man spent 400,000 yuan (HK$478,000) building a glass-walled lift outside the block of flats he owns so his elderly parents and grandmother, who live on the top floor, do not need to use the stairs, mainland media reports.

However, the lift may have to be demolished because he failed to get planning permission for the work at the seven-storey building in Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, the Guangzhou Daily reported on Tuesday.

The man has rented out all of the flats on the first six floors of his building, and lives with his family on the top floor.

He said he had built the lift because his parents, both in their 70s, suffered from rheumatism and found it difficult to climb the stairs. It was even more difficult for his grandmother, who is more than 90 years old, to use the stairs, he said.

However, the lift, which cost him 400,000 yuan to construct, had been built without a permit and classified as an illegal structure by urban management authorities. It could face demolition, the report said.

The man said he had tried to apply to the sub-district office in charge of local affairs for planning permission, but the office had been unable to approve it because there was no precedent.

Therefore, he had decided to start building and complete the formalities later, the report said.

However, local urban management authorities said he should have applied to the local planning department for permission.

Several times last year they had sent officers to the building to stop construction work, the report said.

They also said they had applied for the lift to be demolished.

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