Owner of illegal rooftop villa agrees to demolition

A privately built villa is spotted at the top of a residential building in Beijing on August 12, 2013. The villa, hidden among the rockeries and bushes, has prompted complaints from neighbors downstairs. Photo: Xinhua

The owner of an illegally built two-story "villa" constructed on the rooftop of a high-rise apartment building in Beijing said Tuesday that he would tear it down within 15 days, after local authorities posted a notice on his door Monday and attracted wide public attention.

Zhang Biqing, the owner of a penthouse in a 26-story building in Renji Shanzhuang, a residential compound in Beijing's Haidian district, admitted Tuesday that he illegally built a small sunlight room on the rooftop, and gradually expanded it with rocks, trees and artificial landscapes that take up some 800 square meters, reported the Legal Mirror.

Zhang said that the structure is not a "villa" but said it is a grape trellis that he recently built to house vegetation as "thermal insulation" to reduce the heat absorbed by the rooftop in summer, and the "rocks" were made by a light-weight material to enclose the chimneys that would blow unpleasant kitchen and bathroom odors to his apartment, and he later added bonsai trees to make it "look good."

A downstairs resident, who has been living in the building since 2006, told the Global Times Tuesday that Zhang's construction efforts took place from 2007 when he bought the apartment, and the annoying noises usually started after Spring Festival and would last until early October over the past a few years.

"I once got 2,000 yuan ($327) from Zhang for the leaking roof, but he did not show up again after he promised to fix it," said the resident, adding that many people frequently moved in and soon moved out of the floor over the past six years, due to the constant construction noises and safety fears.

Zhang refuted claims from his neighbors that he beat an old man living next door who complained many times about his construction and was later forced to sell the apartment at a low price.

"We have been trying to reach him regarding the issue since 2008, but failed regardless of whether we knocked on the door or sent notices repeatedly," Dai Jun, a press officer of the Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau of Haidian District, told the Global Times.

Zhang runs a successful chain acupuncture business called Qijing Tang, and claimed to be able to cure many diseases through an ancestral treatment. Net users have speculated that Zhang is another phony like the recently exposed self-proclaimed qigong master Wang Lin.

The official website of Qijing Tang was down on Tuesday, and the local industry and commerce administration said it has initiated an investigation into its medical practice qualifications.

Zhang said his practice is legal but did not comment on the theories behind his treatments on Tuesday.

The prolonged procedure to demolish Zhang's illegal construction brought public speculation that Zhang has powerful friends supporting him.

Wang Yi, an expert in urban management studies with Yangzhou University, told the Global Times that local urban management authorities had demonstrated administrative delays in this case.

"For this kind of obvious illegal construction beyond mere renovations, local authorities cannot take 'failed to contact the owner' as an excuse," said Wang.

Wang noted that if authorities cannot get in touch with an owner, they can take evidence and then post a notification of administrative measures and penalties in the media to inform the owner to come to explain within three months. A forced demolition procedure can then be launched after receiving permission from a local court if the owner does not turn up.