What legal liabilities shall one bear for privately demolishing load-bearing walls? In an interview with The Paper, Liu Yongzhou, a lawyer from Hunan Dakun Law Firm, stated that from the perspective of civil liability, demolishing load-bearing walls causes damage to the building, impairs the normal living conditions of other residents in the building, and constitutes an infringement upon others. In terms of civil liability, the infringer shall make compensation, including ceasing the infringement, removing obstacles, eliminating potential hazards, covering losses, and compensating for the losses incurred by other residents who are unable to live in their houses during this period, among other things.

Liu Yongzhou took the incident of the unauthorized demolition of load-bearing walls in Harbin as an example and elaborated on the relevant liabilities. Firstly, the tenant and the decoration company, as the direct parties responsible for the infringement, shall bear primary liability. According to the provisions of the Measures for the Administration of Indoor Decoration and Renovation of Residential Buildings, those intending to carry out decoration works shall declare and register with the property management company prior to the start of the project. Non-owner users of residential properties who wish to conduct indoor decoration and renovation must obtain written consent from the owner. Furthermore, decorators are prohibited from altering the main building structure and load-bearing structures without a design plan provided by the original design unit or another qualified design unit of corresponding credential grade. Therefore, if a decoration company privately demolishes a load-bearing wall without going through the approval procedures, it shall bear the primary legal consequences arising from such act. If the engaged construction company lacks the required qualifications, both the tenant and the decoration company shall bear corresponding legal consequences based on their respective faults. However, if the tenant hires an individual to perform the decoration works, the tenant shall assume the primary legal liability.

Secondly, the property management company shall take secondary liability. Property service enterprises are obligated to handle decoration registration procedures for residents. During the decoration period, they are responsible for conducting daily inspections and supervision, and must promptly put forward rectification opinions for non-compliant decoration plans. If the property management company fails to fulfill its supervisory and administrative duties and fails to timely stop the unapproved construction and renovation conducted by the tenant and the decoration company, it shall bear certain liability for damages, though not the primary liability.

Finally, the property owner shall also bear certain liability. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, as the owner of the property, the landlord shall assume the obligation of safety management for the property, regardless of any provisions stated in the lease contract signed with the tenant.

Liu Yongzhou further pointed out that if the unauthorized demolition of load-bearing walls leads to serious consequences, the relevant liable parties may even face criminal liability.

The Paper noted that the earlier incident where a tenant privately demolished load-bearing walls in the Liming Xueyuan Community in Songbei District, Harbin, attracted widespread public attention, and four relevant liable parties have been subject to criminal compulsory measures by the police.

As reported by Xinhua News Agency, load-bearing walls are part of the common areas of residential buildings. Unauthorized demolition of such walls constitutes an illegal act. If the act results in the entire building being classified as a dangerous structure, it may constitute a crime endangering public security. In recent years, disputes caused by the illegal demolition of load-bearing walls have been frequently reported. Multiple court judgments show that many liable parties, including property owners and construction parties, have been sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than three years along with economic compensation for serious accidents resulting from reckless decoration involving the unauthorized demolition of load-bearing walls. Property management companies have also assumed certain civil liability for damages in such cases. For instance, in a judgment rendered in Sichuan Province, the main construction party was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, the property owner was sentenced to three years and six months in prison, and the total amount of compensation reached 336,000 yuan.