Bulldozers to move on campus tenants
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E-mail China Daily, March 28, 2012
The developer has sued the university and the residents for not clearing the premises by the time stipulated in the contract, which was October.
At a hearing on March 19, the Nanmofang court in Chaoyang district told the university and residents to settle their dispute. On Tuesday, it allowed demolition to proceed.
Tsinghua University stands by the contract it made with the developer, its representative said at the court. Li Yiying, a manager with the developer, declined to comment.
"We will discuss the compensation with every single household before next hearing. The negotiations will go on for three days," Chen Yu, the attorney for Tsinghua University, told China Daily on Sunday.
But he declined to give details, because the negotiations are ongoing. "We'll make some adjustments to reach a satisfactory conclusion with all of them."
The houses are dormitories varying from eight to dozens of square meters that were rented to the staff members. The university initially promised to give the residents about 50,000 yuan for each square meter as compensation.
"The residents don't own the property, and considering the small size of their dorms, the university is offering them higher compensation than was paid with similar projects in the area," Chen said.
The residents expressed their anger about the compensation and the university.
"No official from Tsinghua University talked with us about demolition until the court summons were delivered," said Wang Yiqin, 49, an art teacher in a Beijing-based university. "The compensation isn't enough. I can't afford a new house in Beijing where home prices are surging."
Wang, who shares an 80-sq-m apartment with her ex-husband, a former teacher at Tsinghua University, said she hoped to get another home with two bedrooms and a living room.
Wan Xiaohui, a former accountant at the university, echoed Wang, saying none of the residents knew anything about the demolition.
"We had no idea about the demolition and compensation details. What we got was demolition starting Aug 11 and several court summons," he said. "We'd like to move, but we also have the right to know the compensation details."
Wan said no one had come to measure the rooms.
Wang Yu, a property lawyer at Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, said similar compensation and demolition cases are common with the development of the domestic property market in recent years.
"Compared with the developers, residents are more vulnerable to economic loss, so they need more help during the negotiations," he said. "Seven out of 10 cases are settled out of court, with tenants ending up getting higher compensation."
"But it requires considerable negotiation skills from these tenants and takes a long time."
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