Local Governments Enact New Demolition Rules

April 4, 2005

The city of Qingdao now requires developers to reach agreement with at least 95 percent of affected residents to obtain a demolition and construction permit. According to a report in the Beijing News, the Qingdao government issued a regulation last month detailing the requirement. The new regulation also reportedly requires developers to post public notice of demolition plans and solicit opinions from local residents before beginning demolition.

In a separate development, the Beijing municipal government has published for public comment a draft of new municipal demolition management regulations. The draft regulations require developers to post public notice for ten days and solicit opinions on the proposed demolition, but do not appear to contain the 95 percent resident approval requirement included in the new Qingdao regulations. The draft regulations also provide for fines of up to 50,000 yuan for unlawful demolitions. The public comment period expired March 30.