How to achieve the optimal solution to the interest game by installing elevators | In-depth reading
2024-08-07
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Li Guangjun, omnimedia reporter of Changsha Evening News
The renovation of old residential areas is an important task to enhance the sense of gain of the people. As part of the renovation, installing elevators has become an important way to facilitate people's daily travel.
In recent years, Changsha has continuously increased policy support and financial investment in the installation of elevators in existing multi-story residential buildings. Over the past four years, more than 4,000 elevators have been installed, benefiting hundreds of communities and more than 150,000 residents. Changsha also plans to install 300 elevators in 2024.
Like magic, installing an elevator turns an old, dilapidated and small house into a high-end one in the blink of an eye. It not only facilitates the travel of high-rise residents and improves their quality of life, but also solves the problem of climbing stairs, instantly increasing the value of properties on high floors.
But what cannot be avoided is that installing elevators will have an adverse effect on the lighting, ventilation, privacy, etc. of low-level residents, and will therefore depreciate. Neighborhood disputes caused by this often occur, and some have even reached the point of court.
Recently, after visiting many places, the reporter found that the root cause of disputes over installing elevators lies in the imbalance of interests between owners of high and low floors. If we want to achieve the best balance of interests between the two sides, we need to start from many aspects. At the same time, the elevator must not only be "installed" but also "managed". It is urgent to do a good job of the "before and after" of installing the elevator.
In many lawsuits, low-floor owners firmly opposed the "elevator"
The reporter learned from the Furong District Court that in the first half of the year, the court heard a number of cases in which low-level owners obstructed the installation of elevators and other owners resorted to legal action.
In such cases, whether the installation of an elevator is justified is usually the most controversial issue between the two parties. It is understood that the installation of an elevator must comply with the provisions of relevant laws, that is, it requires the consent of a certain proportion of owners as required by law. The installation of an elevator must also meet the requirements of urban and rural planning, architectural design, structure and fire protection regulations, and at the same time obtain the consent of relevant owners, sign relevant agreements, and apply to the administrative department for the approval and installation procedures.
In the first case, there were 30 households in a building in a certain community. 28 owners signed the authorization letter for the installation of an elevator, and only the owners of 107 and 207 did not sign. Their reason was that due to the structure of the building, the building was not suitable for installing an elevator, and the installation plan designed by the elevator installation company would seriously affect the passage, lighting, and ventilation of the two families. After many negotiations, the owners failed to reach a consensus and entered the legal process. After fully listening to the opinions of both parties, the presiding judge believed that the installation of an elevator in the community unit had legally obtained the consent of the owners whose exclusive area accounted for two-thirds of the total area of the building. Combined with the actual construction situation and the principle of fairness, and weighing the interests of all parties, the lawsuit request of the 28 owners was supported, and the owners of 107 and 207 were ordered not to obstruct the installation of the elevator in the building.
In another series of disputes over removing nuisances, although most owners had signed to agree to add an elevator, some of them changed their minds after signing, arguing that the construction party was following an unapproved construction plan, which seriously affected the safety of the main structure of the entire building. If the construction continued, "it would cause cracks and collapse in the building, making the entire building unsafe, and seriously affecting the normal use and safe evacuation of the first floor corridor." The street community and the housing and construction department held meetings and coordination many times to demonstrate and optimize the elevator construction plan, but failed to reach a consensus.
During the trial of this case, the presiding judge Jiang Tao went to the construction site for inspection and found that the newly installed elevator corridor destroyed part of the structure of the house, posing a major safety hazard. Jiang Tao believed that the construction party carried out construction according to the changed design without publicizing the "Change Notice", and some owners raised objections because the actual construction of the elevator installation project was inconsistent with the original design, which was reasonable; even if there was an act of obstructing and hindering the installation of the elevator, it was an act of protecting their own rights, so the court rejected the plaintiff's request that some owners should not obstruct and hinder the installation of the elevator.
It's not just the Furong District Court. In fact, in recent years, related lawsuits arising from the installation of elevators in old communities have occurred from time to time. The reporter learned from the Changsha Railway Transportation Court, which has centralized jurisdiction over first-instance administrative litigation cases in Changsha, that since January 1, 2021, the court has concluded a number of administrative cases involving the installation of elevators. In these cases, the party that filed the administrative lawsuit was mostly the owner who opposed the installation of the elevator, and most of them were owners of low-rise floors.
"Owners on lower floors account for a larger proportion of owners who oppose the installation of additional elevators. This is because for owners on lower floors, especially those on the first and second floors, transportation is more convenient and their demand for elevators is smaller or even non-existent. Moreover, the installation of additional elevators may affect the ventilation, lighting, and privacy of lower-floor residences. In addition, it will also cause non-fixed costs such as the installation, operation, and maintenance of elevators." Jiang Tao, who has presided over many cases involving the removal of obstruction disputes, told reporters.
How to solve the awkward situation of "high" and "low" when the interests are imbalanced?
It is not difficult to see from relevant cases that the root cause of disputes arising from the installation of elevators is the imbalance of interests between owners of high and low floors.
During the interview, the reporter learned that installing elevators in existing residential buildings seems simple, but it is "small but complete", involving multiple entities such as the government, the public, and enterprises. From approval to acceptance, it involves multiple departments such as land use planning, housing and construction, urban management, electricity, fire protection, gas, and market supervision. Residents have different demands and interests for installing elevators, so it is quite difficult to get the owners to reach a consensus.
In many residential areas, we often encounter cases where residents on lower floors explicitly refuse to install elevators because they think that it will have a great impact on their living environment. Some residents believe that the impact of adding elevators on their living environment is within the tolerable range, and will communicate with other residents to negotiate the installation plan, thereby minimizing the impact of adding elevators. However, some residents have explicitly stated that they refuse to install elevators, and even if the elevator enters the installation process through legal procedures, they will still obstruct it in various ways.
"This kind of obstruction is not advisable. If the installation of the elevator has been agreed to by more than the statutory proportion of owners in the building, and the procedure is legal, if other owners obstruct the construction, the owner who applied for the installation of the elevator has the right to request the removal of the obstruction; if the obstruction of construction causes losses, the construction unit and other victims have the right to request compensation for the losses." Li Zhiyuan, executive director of Hunan Tianchu Law Firm, said that on the other hand, if the installation of the elevator does cause a significant impact on the residents in terms of lighting, ventilation, etc., the compensation issue can be negotiated separately or resolved through legal means. "In this case, residents should actively adjust their mentality. After visualizing or writing evidence of the impact of the installation of the elevator on the house, they should first request mediation from the neighborhood committee, street office, judicial office and other relevant agencies; if mediation fails, they can collect relevant evidence and file a civil lawsuit in court in accordance with the law to protect their legitimate rights and interests."
In order to solve the problem of "many interest demands and difficulty in unifying public opinion", experts suggest taking a series of measures to promote the large-scale and high-quality installation of elevators in existing communities.
First, improve relevant regulations to make compensation legal. After fully investigating and soliciting public opinion, the government will formulate detailed rules for installing elevators with clear technical standards and standardized procedures. The rules should include the approval process for installing elevators, cost sharing and compensation plans, engineering construction technical specifications, financial subsidy methods, and various matters related to the full life cycle of later operation and maintenance.
Secondly, based on the principle of "whoever benefits, pays" and the actual situation of "higher floors benefit and lower floors are damaged", a third-party professional assessment and appraisal agency is introduced to identify the beneficiaries and the degree of benefit, the damaged parties and the degree of damage, and to issue an assessment report, and use the assessment report as a benchmark for compensation negotiations.
Finally, the street office and the community organization will complete the collection of opinions from owners on the case of adding elevators, handle objections, coordinate compensation, and establish a case log. If an agreement on compensation is reached and a mediation agreement is signed, they can apply for judicial confirmation to minimize conflicts and disputes.
"At this point, we must formulate a standardized form for soliciting opinions on installing elevators to prevent repeated and ineffective solicitations." Li Zhiyuan reminded that, first, there should be sufficient technical explanations before soliciting opinions, and the actual effects after installing elevators should be fully explained to residents through models, animations or pilot demonstrations, including comparisons of multiple plans, and should not be introduced to residents only verbally or through engineering plans. Sufficient explanations and communication in the early stages can greatly reduce conflicts in the later stages. Second, soliciting opinions should be conducted in public, in accordance with standardized procedures, and only be effective when witnessed by multiple people.
His opinion is that it is still necessary to encourage residents to resolve neighborhood interest conflicts caused by installing elevators through negotiation. Regarding the balance of interests in installing elevators, on the basis of self-negotiation by owners, the neighborhood committee should actively build a community negotiation platform to guide all stakeholders to rationally express their opinions and demands.
In this regard, Furong District has implemented "one plan for one community" and "one strategy for one building", striving to facilitate the owners to form a unified opinion on the site selection and design of elevators, fund sharing, construction organization, maintenance fee sharing, and financial subsidy allocation, and carefully create a batch of demonstration models. Among them, the Changsha Evening News News Community was built in 1999. Each residential building has 7 floors. There are 11 buildings, 24 units, 336 households and more than 1,300 residents, 70% of whom are retired elderly people. Under the coordinated promotion of Changsha Evening News, the district streets, communities, and community owners' committees, all buildings and units in the community have been equipped with elevators, and all were accepted and put into use in April 2020, becoming the city's first standardized, large-scale, and integrated demonstration community for the installation of elevators.
After the five-year warranty period, someone still needs to manage the transportation and maintenance
The completion of the elevator installation does not mean that everything is fine.
At present, the State Administration for Market Regulation is soliciting public opinions on the "Regulations on Safety Supervision of Special Equipment (Draft for Public Comments)". The regulations strengthen the quality and safety responsibilities of elevator production units, requiring elevator manufacturing, modification, and major repair units to clearly state that the quality assurance period of elevators shall not be less than five years. If there are quality problems with the main components and safety protection devices of the elevators during the quality assurance period, they shall be responsible for free replacement or repair. Strengthen the main responsibility of elevator users, add relevant provisions on elevator self-inspection, and elevator users shall conduct self-inspection in accordance with the requirements. If they do not have the ability to conduct self-inspection, they shall entrust qualified units to undertake the inspection work.
Now, the first batch of elevators installed in Changsha's old residential areas are about to reach the five-year deadline. Therefore, who will manage the installed elevators and who will pay for them has become a follow-up management issue that everyone is concerned about. During the interview, the reporter also encountered cases where the property management was unwilling to take over the extra elevators and it was difficult to collect the follow-up management fees for the elevators.
In response to the problem of "difficulty in subsequent maintenance", experts suggest: strengthen the management of elevators throughout their life cycle, and establish and improve the subsequent operation, management, and maintenance mechanism for installed elevators.
In order to solve the problem of "someone built but no one manages" when installing elevators, for communities with property management, the property takeover plan will be included in the preliminary consultation plan for installing elevators, and the installed elevators are required to complete the comprehensive completion acceptance and reach a takeover agreement before they can be put into use. The owners of the installed elevators are guided to sign a entrusted management contract with the property company of the community, and the entrusted property company will clearly implement the elevator management responsibilities; for communities without property management, professional maintenance companies are actively recommended to the owners of the installed elevators or the local communities are authorized to implement management, and they will assume the relevant management responsibilities.
At the same time, the operation and maintenance fund guarantee is strengthened, and the owner agreement of the newly installed elevator is required to clearly specify the sharing plan of the subsequent operation and maintenance costs of the elevator, and the owner of the newly installed elevator shall select a representative to manage the operation and maintenance funds of the newly installed elevator. If the management is entrusted to the community property company, the property company shall charge a property service fee in accordance with relevant regulations, and the relevant expenses shall be shared by the owners of the newly installed elevator according to the agreed plan.
In fact, the relevant departments in Changsha are also strengthening the management of elevator installation and subsequent use, exploring the post-installation maintenance and operation of elevators, so that the installation of elevators is orderly, the maintenance is in place, and the use is safe. Furong District has achieved normalized safety supervision. The relevant departments such as housing and construction and market supervision regularly organize elevator safety inspections. Every day, staff members take turns to conduct on-site inspections of elevators that have been installed and put into use, intervene in advance in elevator equipment maintenance, technical problem solving, and construction quality supervision, and provide professional guidance to reduce safety risks and improve operation quality. At the same time, elevator maintenance work meetings are regularly organized to provide professional training for relevant safety responsible persons and maintenance units to continuously improve the level of safety management.
