China’s supreme court to pay ‘close attention’ to expected law opening up gated communities

The Supreme Court has been dragged into the controversy over a government plan to open gated residential compounds to the public.

The plan, which Beijing says is aimed at making efficient use of urban land and improving traffic, has been opposed by home owners who say it violates laws surrounding private property.

Asked to comment, Cheng Xinwen, chief judge of the First Civil Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court, said legislation would be needed to implement the policy and the court would be “paying close attention” and would “proactively respond to it”.

“We [the Supreme People’s Court], as a judicial organ, will step up research and make timely study and judgement on the impact, coordination and protection of rights of the relevant parties,” said Cheng. “We will strengthen the scale of guidance to lower levels and coordinate parties to handle relevant disputes.”

Under the government directive, no more gated compounds would be built, and all new residential developments would have to follow the public street grid system. Roads and common areas in existing gated compounds would be opened to the public.

READ MORE: China’s plan to force private residential compounds to open to public is ‘illegal’

The directive has met strong opposition, with many home owners claiming it violates the Property Law, passed in 2007, which stipulates “roads within a building zone shall be jointly owned by all owners, with the exception of the public roads belonging to a city or township”.