A friend of mine is wanting to open a business & what he’s telling me sounds fantastical.
He says that, according to the law, every building has to have a basement level & every basement level has to be a bomb shelter (except for car parks).
It is illegal to open a business in a bomb shelter, unless you go through a lengthy & expensive process of changing the ‘usage’.
He also states that police legally have to do 50 inspections/month of bomb shelters (this is the law).
So, based on this, all of the thousands of businesses in basements are illegal & the police know that, & so the police are breaking the law, or, they don’t know the law & that these businesses are illegal, or, the laws & what he’s saying are incorrect.
Here are the links to all of the relevant laws (in Chinese, ofc).
Can anyone shed any light or help in this matter?
PS, he also said there’s a ridiculous law that you have to be opposite a road 12m wide if you want to sell alcohol. That’s 1 hell of a wide Road. This is all according to the law. Please see the links.
I know so many foreigners who have opened bars here and have eventually had to close due to harassment from the police, local gangsters, etc. It’s not worth it if you don’t have connections.
I’ve seen bars stay around forever too, so either that foreigner has connections, or something else’s going on.
But since bars are considered “bad venues” (this was the word they used when I was in the military, we are to avoid going there essentially or risk punishments), it means gangsters do want in on the action.
The law here is kinda copy pasted from various Western countries and enforcement of it seems to be spotty at best…
What about the laws I quoted, does anyone know anything about the legality aspect?
Like, is it illegal to have a business in a basement? There’s tons of them but according to the quoted laws, it’s illegal (unless the business owner goes through the long, tedious, & expensive process of applying for ‘usage’ change, which may or may not be granted after that long, tedious, expensive process).
I have no idea. I can’t interpret or read the laws. I’m seeking clarification & help. I don’t understand if they really are laws that show these businesses to be illegal.
Further, someone just messaged this to me in a PM:
It says if it is under 200sqm it isn’t necessarily illegal & can be used for other purposes (I think).
Laws don’t matter so much because like I said they’re all copy pasted from other countries, but as a foreigner the application may be less than fair, so probably just don’t rent basements. In fact better to have a taiwanese proxy do the negotiation.
And there’s all kinds of downside to basements, like typhoons.
I went to the police station yesterday to ask them directly. They just sorta shrugged and couldn’t answer a single question.
They suggested we speak to some agents or lawyers. Which we’ve been doing for months.
It’s just like China, here. There are no ‘right answers’. You can’t get a clear answer from anyone. They just refer you upwards or sideways.
It seems like it’s true, tho. According to the law, every basement needs to be a bomb shelter (unless it’s a car park or under 200sqm). And every building should have a basement.
Also, if you want to open a business that even seells alcohol, it should be facing or on a road with a width of 12m.
I know this is all bullshit and no businesses do this. 1 of the lawyers suggested some of these business have been ‘grandfathered in’. Which I accept. For some.
But not the thousands of B1 businesses all over Taipei. And not all of the bars NOT facing or directly on a road with a width of 12m.
Which means the police know and just ignore them or are being paid off, or they don’t know, and people unknowingly run business that break the law.
Then if anything ever happens, and the business falls under investigation, they see they’re breaking the law and shut them down.
I seem to remember have a discussion with a bar owner once around why serving food is important as it allows them to skirt a lot of the rules specific to running alcohol only establishments. I’m not sure if that’s relevant to the specifics you mention here, but thought I’d mention it. Could be BS, but I’m pretty sure I had the conversation.
Did they have a B1 or B2? We’re you using them for commercial purposes? We’re you opposite a 12m wide road?I know thousands that don’t follow these rules. Basically any business in Taipei.
But, as you can see from above, those are the laws. The actual laws.
News flash: Taiwan does have laws including zoning laws and fire safety codes. Enforcement of these laws depends on many factors. Anyone considering opening a business should do due dilgence and carefully assess the risk. Just because some Taiwanese people get away with it doesn’t mean that you will.
You should note carefully that the much-beloved Underworld had to close despite having quite a bit of support from the public. It was a basement underground bar.
I did hear that one Indian restaurant in the neighborhood won a lawsuit against the city over fines. It’s still in business. I couldn’t find that case but I did find these two from area businesses. One business won and one business lost. Both were appealing fines imposed under the Urban Planning Law.
That’s really it. You have to ask yourself, do you want to do business like that? You basically have to really understand what’s going on and how it can work. It’s not really the kind of thing you can just go ask someone. And even if you do know, it could well go south.
It’s worth mentioned that local laws apply here. Taipei is stricter than most I believe. Where are you thinking about?
Then maybe don’t sell alcohol, or derive lower portion of income from alcohol? I’m not sure what’s the cutoff point.
It’s hard to get an answer because the law says one thing but actual practice is completely against it. I don’t know who makes those laws, and can only conclude they just copy and paste it seeing it work in some other country, without considering how it would work in Taiwan. Not that there’s anything wrong with copying laws, but they should consider their population density and social makeup before doing that.
Or base laws on what the local practice is instead of making laws that are contrary to it.
I’ve heard of bars having to pay protection to both gangsters and police.
is involved in all inspections