Owner who turned 7 flats into eatery loses lawsuit to sell

Huangpu District People's Court has ruled that a government agency could prohibit a local man from selling seven apartments until he repaired the damage he caused to the building while transforming them into a restaurant, the court said Tuesday.

The plaintiff, surnamed Zheng, sued the Huangpu district housing authority after the district's real estate trading center refused in August 2012 to let him close a sale on the apartments, according to a court press release.

In 2006, Zheng paid for extensive renovations to the apartments, which are on the first four floors of a residential building in Huangpu district, in order to transform the place into a restaurant. The building was located on Beijing Road West near Huanghe Road, a street famous for its restaurants.

Neighbors complained about the renovations to the Huangpu district housing authority, which later determined that Zheng had damaged load-bearing structures in the building, the court said.

The authority also informed Zheng that he had violated housing regulations by running a business out of the apartments, which were exclusively zoned for residential use.

Zheng promised to change the first and second floors back into residential apartments. However, when the authority checked the property again in August 2012, they found Zheng hadn't kept his promise.

After Zheng learned he couldn't sell the apartments, the real estate trading center informed him that he needed to restore the seven apartments to their previous conditions before it would allow the sale to proceed.

In his lawsuit, Zheng pointed out that the housing authority only informed him that he needed to repair the damage to the load-bearing structures. He argued that it never barred him from selling the apartments, said Tang Zhengming, a press officer with Huangpu District People's Court.

The court dismissed Zheng's argument because he violated regulations that required apartment owners to repair any damage they cause to a building's load-bearing structures before they can sell their property.