□ Rule of Law Daily reporter Xu Weilun
□ rule of law daily correspondent Gao Rong
A few days after the renovation of the new house, the neighbors came to the door and said that "the walls were cracked with excessive force." The owner of the new house also feels aggrieved, thinking that he has not carried out illegal construction, and the wall cracking of the neighbor’s house has nothing to do with himself. In this way, good neighbors went to court. After investigation by the judge, it is considered that the direction of the wall crack should be caused by the external force on the opposite side. Based on this, the People’s Court of Xicheng District of Beijing ordered the new house owner to compensate the neighbors for the related losses of 2500 yuan.
"Before starting work, it is necessary to inform the property company or the owners’ meeting. This is a clear provision of China’s civil code, and many people in life don’t know about it." After the court, the judge said that if you inform in advance, you can also learn the precautions about decoration safety from the property company to avoid accidents in the later period. In addition, the owner should also choose a decoration company with professional qualifications in exchange for high-quality decoration with good quality and quantity through detailed contract.
Cracking of neighbor’s wall caused by electric circuit gouging
Liu, who just bought a new house, was very excited and arranged for the other party to enter the construction site after signing a contract with the decoration company. Unexpectedly, just a few days after the renovation, neighbor Wang came to the door and asked Liu to compensate for the loss. "The wall of our house was broken by the decoration workers of your house."
In this regard, Liu does not recognize it. He believes that the wall cracking of Wang’s home is not caused by the decoration of his own home. Due to the unsuccessful negotiation on compensation matters, Wang appealed to the court and asked Liu to pay nearly 10,000 yuan for wall redecoration compensation, lost time and mental damages, and apologized in writing.
During the trial, Wang said that after the accident, she invited the property personnel to visit the damaged wall at home. The property personnel also believed that the wall damage was caused by improper decoration of Liu’s home. "Obviously, he refused to pay compensation."
"Refusing to pay compensation is because Wang won’t even let me in, just let me look at the photos. I really can’t see the reason for the wall damage from the photos. I can’t pay for it." Liu argued that during the renovation, only the circuit slot was made on the wall in his house, and no penetrating construction was carried out, which could not cause the wall of Wang’s house to be damaged.
What is the truth? The judge conducted an on-site inspection and found that there was a damaged crack on one side of Wang’s house. It was inferred from the direction of the wall crack that it should be caused by the external force on the opposite side. In this regard, the court held that if the infringement of property rights causes damage to the obligee, the obligee may claim damages according to law, or may claim other civil liabilities according to law. In this case, according to the situation that Liu is renovating the house, the damage of the common wall, the direction of the wall crack, and the statement in the communication process between Liu and Wang, it can be inferred that the damage of Wang’s house wall is caused by the decoration workers hired by Liu during the construction. Accordingly, the court ordered Liu to pay Wang’s wall maintenance costs and lost time expenses totaling 2,500 yuan.
Illegal decoration causes serious damage, resulting in fear of criminal responsibility.
"It is true that most of the renovations are carried out in their own houses, but this does not mean that they can do whatever they want." Liu Changlong, the presiding judge of this case, said that according to the provisions of the Civil Code, the owner has the right to possess, use, benefit and dispose of the exclusive part of his building; The owner’s exercise of rights shall not endanger the safety of the building or damage the legitimate rights and interests of other owners.
Liu Changlong said that although the owner’s decoration and decoration of the house is the transformation of its exclusive part and the exercise of exclusive rights, because the exclusive part of the owner is closely connected or adjacent to the exclusive parts of other owners and the common parts of all owners, if the exclusive rights exercised in his own house infringe on the exclusive rights of other owners or the interests of all owners, he should also bear the corresponding liability for compensation.
Recently, the incident of "load-bearing wall being smashed" has aroused social concern, which is caused by individual owners to meet their own decoration needs. However, they do not know that privately demolishing the load-bearing wall to expand the space of the house or change the layout of the house will lead to cracking or even collapse of the whole building, which will cause serious damage to the building structure. At present, the public security organs have taken criminal compulsory measures against those responsible for the incident, and severely punished the house owners and property companies involved.
The judge suggested that in addition to the criminal responsibility of the relevant responsible person, the owners and decoration companies involved in the case may face huge compensation. Therefore, when decorating a house, you can’t do whatever you want. If the damage is caused by illegal decoration, you need to bear civil liability, and even criminal liability if the damage is serious.
In addition, according to the law, the exterior wall of the building in the residential area is not an exclusive part, but is owned by all the owners of the community. Therefore, a single resident does not own the exterior wall closely connected with its exclusive part, but has the right to use it reasonably according to law, which is a reasonable extension of the owner’s exclusive right. "There are two standards for rational use, one is not for profit, and the other is not to harm the common interests of other owners in the community."
Inform the property and obtain safety information before starting work.
In fact, decoration is unfamiliar to many people, and the safety issues involved are even more "unclear". "It is very important to find a decoration company with professional qualifications. Professional engineers will ensure safety from the beginning of design to avoid safety accidents in the later period." Liu Changlong said that when choosing a decoration company, the owner should pay attention to checking the other party’s business license and relevant certificates, sign a standardized written contract, and follow up the construction progress in time and make phased acceptance during the construction period.
For the decoration scheme, the judge reminded that we should not only pursue beautiful form and reasonable layout, but also pay attention to the structural safety of the house. The Measures for the Administration of Residential Interior Decoration stipulates that it is forbidden to change the main body and load-bearing structure of the building without the original design unit or the design unit with corresponding qualification grade; It is forbidden to expand the size of the original doors and windows on the load-bearing wall and dismantle the brick and concrete walls connecting the balcony; It is forbidden to dismantle and change heating, gas pipelines and facilities that affect the building structure and use safety.
So, what are the load-bearing walls? Where are the original buried positions of gas pipelines and circuits? "This needs to get in touch with the property company and get their help, especially when the second-hand house is renovated, it is necessary to ask the property for the change plan of the previous owners’ renovation. In fact, this is also a clear requirement of the Civil Code. " Liu Changlong said that both the Civil Code and the Administrative Measures for Interior Decoration of Residential Buildings stipulate that the owner should inform the property service provider in advance when decorating the house. At the same time, the property service provider should inform the owner of the prohibited behavior and precautions of decoration, and the owner and decoration personnel should abide by the reasonable precautions prompted by the property service provider and cooperate with them to conduct necessary on-site inspections.
In addition, the property company should perform its supervisory duties in accordance with the law during the owner’s decoration process, and should stop the illegal decoration in time if it is found. If it cannot be stopped, it can report to the corresponding administrative department; If the property management company fails to fulfill its obligation of prompting or perform its supervisory duties, it should also be liable for the losses caused by the owner’s illegal decoration.
After construction, we should also raise awareness of civilized decoration, including reasonable arrangement of construction time, noise reduction and pollution reduction. Liu Changlong said that China’s civil code stipulates that the neighboring rights holders of real estate should correctly handle the neighboring relationship in accordance with the principles of favorable production, convenient life, solidarity and mutual assistance, fairness and reasonableness, which requires the owners to fully consider the convenience and good neighborliness of the neighboring rights holders when decorating. Specifically, during the renovation, the owner shall not occupy public space or damage public parts and facilities. At the same time, he shall pay attention to waterproofing to avoid water leakage from affecting the downstairs residents. Various forms of garbage generated by construction shall be piled up and removed according to the specified location, manner and time. When the rights and interests of others are damaged due to renovation, the owner shall take the initiative to communicate with neighbors, timely repair and actively compensate, resolve conflicts through friendly negotiation, and live in harmony with neighbors.