Article 271 of the Civil Code stipulates that the owner shall have the ownership of the exclusive parts of the building, such as residential and commercial buildings, and shall have the right of co-ownership and joint management of the common parts other than the exclusive parts. That is, the owner has exclusive rights, co-ownership and co-management rights in the residential complex. In practice, disputes often arise due to the encroachment of the owner on the common parts of the owner. The owners' meeting and the owners' committee are the medium for the owners to exercise their membership rights and have certain property management powers. If some owners carry out encroachment or other behaviors that affect the use of the common parts of the owners, the owners' general meeting and the owners' committee should pay attention to how to exercise their rights and perform their duties.
Basic facts of the case
The building in question consisted of a residential building and a five-storey podium connected to it, which was used for offices. The residential building and the podium are adjacent to each other on the ground floor and are gated separately. An owners' committee was formed in the building in question and Company B was the owner of the podium. The owners' committee asserted that Company B incorporated the passage that originally belonged to the residential community involved in the case into the lobby on the ground floor of the residential building into its exclusive part, resulting in the residents of the residential building being forced to enter and exit the elevator hall through the broken wall passage on the outside of the community gate, and Company B later changed the original partition layout of the building without authorization in the space where the elevator hall was located, demolished the original passage door of the building, and installed an anti-theft door with a password lock for its employees to enter and exit, and the anti-theft door and the residential building door would block the passage when opened at the same time, which was a potential safety hazard, and the personnel of Company B entered and exited from the anti-theft door, which also caused great inconvenience to the residents of the residential building in their travel and daily life。 As a result, the owners' committee of A sued the court, demanding that Company B remove the unauthorized security door on the ground floor of the building in question, restore the wall to its original state, and stop using the lobby on the ground floor of the building.
After trial, the court held that the owners' general meeting or the owners' committee has the right to request the perpetrator to stop the infringement, remove the obstruction, eliminate the danger, restore the original state, and compensate for the losses in accordance with the laws, regulations, and management regulations for acts that harm the legitimate rights and interests of others, such as arbitrarily disposing of garbage, discharging pollutants or noise, raising animals in violation of regulations, building in violation of regulations, encroaching on passages, and refusing to pay property fees. Where the owner or other actor refuses to perform the relevant obligations, the relevant parties may report or complain to the relevant administrative department. Therefore, although the owners' general meeting and the owners' committee enjoy the power of property management in accordance with the law, supervise property management, property management services and other matters in accordance with the law, and may report or complain to the relevant administrative departments, it cannot be determined that the owners' general meeting and the owners' committee have the right to sue on management matters. The owners' committee of A appealed and asserted that it had the right to sue for the dispute over the adjoining relationship with Company B, which was also the owner of the community in question. According to Article 286 of the Civil Code and other provisions, there is no corresponding basis for the appeal request of the owners' committee that it can file a lawsuit against the adjacent relationship in this case as the subject of civil litigation. Accordingly, the Court ruled to dismiss the action of the Owners' Committee A.
Rule of Law Recommendations
The owners' general meeting and the owners' committee are important mediums for the owners to exercise their membership rights in the building zoning, and the resolutions are formed through voting, reflecting the owners' participation and self-management, and through property management and supervision, as the representatives of the collective rights and interests of the owners, they participate in the management of community public order and safeguard the common interests of the owners.
Paragraph 2 of Article 286 of the Civil Code stipulates that the general meeting of owners or the owners' committee shall have the right to request the perpetrator to stop the infringement, remove the obstruction, eliminate the danger, restore the original state and compensate for the losses in accordance with laws, regulations and management regulations for acts that harm the legitimate rights and interests of others, such as arbitrarily disposing of garbage, discharging pollutants or noise, raising animals in violation of regulations, building in violation of regulations, encroaching on passages, refusing to pay property fees, etc. This paragraph regulates the management powers of the owners' committee in the maintenance of public order in the community. The third paragraph of this article connects the management power of the owners' committee with the management of the administrative organ, and stipulates that if the owner or other actor refuses to perform the relevant obligations, the relevant party may report or complain to the relevant administrative department, and the relevant administrative department shall handle it in accordance with law.
Community grassroots governance is a systematic project. The "Property Management Regulations" also stipulate the relationship between owners' autonomy and administrative organs and grassroots mass autonomous organizations, for example, the owners' general meeting and the owners' committee shall cooperate with the public security organs and cooperate with the residents' committee to jointly maintain social order and other related work in the property management area. In the grassroots social governance system, in the face of disputes such as property owners obstructing the use of public parts, non-litigation dispute resolution channels such as administrative acts of administrative departments, guidance and mediation of grassroots mass autonomous organizations, and property management and supervision of owners' meetings and owners' committees are integrated and coordinated with litigation dispute resolution channels to form a community conflict and dispute governance system.
In this regard, the following suggestions are made:
● Owners should consciously abide by laws, regulations and management regulations, exercise their rights over their exclusive parts should not infringe on the rights and interests of other owners, and reasonably use the common parts of the buildings in the community.
● The general meeting of owners shall formulate a sound management protocol for the autonomy of the owners of the community. Owners' meetings and owners' committees should actively perform their property management functions. If the owner arbitrarily discards garbage, discharges pollutants or noise, raises animals in violation of regulations, builds in violation of regulations, encroaches on the passage, etc., the owners' general meeting or the owners' committee shall manage it in a timely manner. If the owner refuses to perform the relevant obligations, the owners' meeting, the owners' committee, the property management service company, and the owners whose legitimate rights and interests have been damaged may report or complain to the relevant administrative departments.
● If the owner's behavior hinders the possession and use of the exclusive part of the other owner, the aggrieved owner may file a lawsuit with the court to claim rights.
Relevant Laws
Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
Article 286: Owners shall abide by laws, regulations, and management regulations, and their relevant actions shall comply with the requirements of conserving resources and protecting the ecological environment. The owners shall cooperate with the property management service enterprises or other managers in implementing the emergency response measures and other management measures implemented by the government in accordance with law.
The general meeting of owners or the owners' committee has the right to request the perpetrator to stop the infringement, remove the obstruction, eliminate the danger, restore the original state, and compensate for the losses in accordance with laws, regulations, and management regulations for acts that harm the lawful rights and interests of others, such as arbitrarily disposing of garbage, discharging pollutants or noise, raising animals in violation of regulations, building in violation of regulations, encroaching on passages, and refusing to pay property fees.
Where the owner or other actor refuses to perform the relevant obligations, the relevant parties may report or complain to the relevant administrative department, and the relevant administrative department shall handle it in accordance with law.