My neighbours have a problem with my landlord. So they have applied to have my apartment partially torn down. It’s a rooftop, but it has been here since before Jan. 1 1995, or so I am told. I am trying to get a photo to prove this (any pointers on this would be appreciated as well).
Anyway they called me on Tuesday, and said that the government would be coming round on the eighth to tear down my living room wall. As the entire thing is one structure, I assume that this will affect the rest of the apartment.
Anyway, does anyone know if, as the tenant, I have any rights to notice being served of the intention to knock down my wall?
I would have expected that a notice would have been put up, warning me of the imminent destruction of my home. But there hasn’t been anything. Three days notice seems a little harsh, especially when it was not even an official document. Just a phone call from the housing committee rep. Anyway does anyone have any experience in this kind of thing?
Any ideas on how I can delay the process should the government turn up with sledgehammers tomorrow morning?
The mad thing is that the place is being/is repossessed (well there’s a lovely notice on my wall from the court), but hasn’t yet been sold by auction, so is it still the property of the landlord? Or the bank?
I can’t see how knocking down my walls will help the neighbours get their money back, but well there you go. I’m hoping that they will withdraw their complaint, after talking to them today, but any advice on any legal leverage I might have as a tenant would be much appreciated.
So no ideas? Guess I’ll have to just cross my fingers and hope they don’t come, or that they realise while here that tearing down half the structure is impractical.
need i remind you to pack up as much of your stuff as you can in another room, for protection both from dust and pilfering hands, and also in case you need to move out fast.
Yes, the rules may say otherwise; but sometimes it’s more about what those responsible for enforcement believe the rules are. I have heard of cops coming on a complaint about a rooftop place but in the end refusing to demolish it because “it’s so old enough that we can’t do anything about it.” So, how old does you place look on the outside?
Try calling the Taipei City Government’s citizen hotline: 1999. They’re open late. Some people who work there are both knowledgeable and helpful. Explain the situation to them, including the age of your rooftop place. It’s a bit of a hail Mary pass. But that’s about all you’ve got at this point.
They will come and knock it down with brute force … I had it once at my previous eatery, someone complained about ‘illegal’ structures’ on the front porch at our part of the street … they just came in, without any notice and started tearing down all so called illegal structures, obstacles that could influence ‘free’ movement on the covered sidewalks …
I didn’t give them the pleasure and removed the benches I had taken over from the previous owner myself … and told what I thought about the Gestapo practice … oh, and they had back cover … 2 police officers joined them …
[quote=“kitkat”]My neighbours have a problem with my landlord. So they have applied to have my apartment partially torn down. It’s a rooftop, but it has been here since before Jan. 1 1995, or so I am told. I am trying to get a photo to prove this (any pointers on this would be appreciated as well).
Anyway they called me on Tuesday, and said that the government would be coming round on the eighth to tear down my living room wall. […]
I would have expected that a notice would have been put up, warning me of the imminent destruction of my home. But there hasn’t been anything. Three days notice seems a little harsh, especially when it was not even an official document. Just a phone call from the housing committee rep. Anyway does anyone have any experience in this kind of thing?
Any ideas on how I can delay the process should the government turn up with sledgehammers tomorrow morning?
[/quote]
Sorry to hear about your situation. If you haven’t seen any official notice, and someone turns up with sledgehammers, I think you should, with your lease in hand if you have one, demand to see the written official government authorization under which they are proceeding to tear down the wall (whether the authorization is an administrative order or a court judgment/enforcement order). If they are unable or refuse to show you the authorization, I think you would be within your rights to demand they leave the premises, and to call the police immediately. Even if they have an order, you or your landlord may have a right to appeal (if the appeal period has not already expired). You’d need to consult a lawyer to be certain.
When you wrote “they called me”, who is “they”? Your neighbors? It is possible that they have indeed obtained a legal order to have the structure torn down, but it is also possible that they or someone else has simply hired a private contractor to do so, in which case you should call the police. Have you asked your landlord for more details about whether he or she has received any official government notice?
I think it would also be worthwhile to follow cranky laowai’s suggestion to call the hotline he mentions and see what they suggest.
Also, if they do end up tearing the place down, I currently live in a 3 storey place with an open room(in Xindian) You can come and store things in here till you find a new home. Also, I sleep on the sleeper couch with my 5 dogs(in the living room)…you can have my bed for a couple of nights if you need it.
Thank you all so much, especially Battery 9 for your kind offer.
After getting hold of the guy I pay my maintainence fee to every month, it appears that the housing committee applied (presumably to the courts) for one wall to be removed two years ago, saying that the structure had been changed. Which isn’t true, but by this point is probably a moot point.
The government people haven’t appeared so far today, but apparently this is most likely because it’s raining.
Hopefully they’ll either not come, or they’ll do as Sandman said and put up a sheet of metal in place of the wall. I could probably live with that.
I’m reasonably reassured that it’s only one wall. And my friend, who does a lot of renovations, tells me that there are four metal struts in the corners, so hopefully the roof won’t just collapse. Plus there will still be three walls.
I’ve tried calling the citizens hotline, who put me in touch with the building department who confirmed they only give notice to the landlord (who is totally useless). However they also said that they are not allowed to touch my stuff, when I asked if they would give me time to move stuff out if they were to come. So I’m wondering whether I’m best just leaving my bookcase where it is, as I remember that when the court came round to put up the repossession notice they wanted to put it behind the fridge, but I had to move it for them, as even with my permission they weren’t allowed to touch it.
The building department also said that they can’t come in without my permission, but then other people can easily let them into the rooftop, as all the meters and stuff are up here.
They also confirmed that only the landlord can contest the action, so I guess its a wait and see situation.
Well it seems that the buildings department has nothing on record for my address. So it would appear someone’s telling porkies. On the bright side, no-one’s come round today. On the downside, I guess I’ll have to try to be home alot in case some private contractor shows up.
The extension for the Buildings Department is 8406 (after dialling 1999) if anyone else runs into this problem. And as a tenant, you’re not notified, any notices go directly to the landlord. If you do need to call them, make sure to clarify that you’re not making a complaint. Or they might come round and inspect the place.
Thanks for all your help and support, especially Battery 9 and also Cranky Laowai, for pointing me in the right direction.
I’d be making plans to move out anyway; it can’t be good for you to be living with anxiety and uncertainty, and you deserve a better landlord. Just a suggestion.
Yeah, I’ll see, but I really, really hate people trying to bully me. And I am generally loathe to let them think that it works. It just encourages them.
I’ve met lovely people in Taiwan, but my mainly-formed-from-ex-schoolteachers-and-civil-servants housing committee are just off-the-wall. The poor bloke from the info for foreigners helpline ended our conversation with the comment “I really hope that you don’t think less of Taiwanese people after this trouble.”
I’ve been here long enough to appreciate that they are most definitely an exception though. They even got the police round on the guy downstairs who had put some nice plants and a tree, (not obstructing anything) outside his shop. Fortunately the police just laughed it off and congratulated him on brightening up the neighbourhood.
It isn’t always a given that an illegal structure will be torn down. I’ve known of a place that was reported but never got torn down because it was later “settled” and the authorities just left it alone. The case was stamped “settled” and was closed. If your land lord can reach a settlement with whoever reported the illegal add-on, then you’ll have no worries.
I lived in a rooftop once, for the first couple of years when I came to Taiwan. Landlords get very touchy about these sorts of things because back in the day when the structure was put up it’s highly unlikely that anybody considered that the structure would be then rented out (on its own) to the benefit of the landlord. My old landlords from back then begged me never to acknowledge that I paid them rent on my apartment because they were afraid the downstairs neighbors would all want a piece of the action – after all they all have some rights to the rooftop space.
There are a lot of rooftops in Taiwan, so if they’re seriously going to tear it down consider moving on to that next great apartment!
