The elderly residents stay in their homes, unable to get to the ground for long. They are visited for many times to collect their agreement. It is difficult and takes longer time to install the lifts in the fan-shaped building. 

Recently, after experiencing some difficulties, people in Kailu New Village Community of Yinhang Sub-district felt pleased and excited to see two lifts installed at the same time in the old buildings. 

Let’s hear stories behind the scene:

 “Collect as per times” to reduce complaints and conflicts. 

At 8:48 a.m., Building 5 in Kailu Village 1 started the ceremony of installing lift. The red ribbon was cut and shovels were used. As people voiced their congratulations, Mr. Xu Zhiqiang, a resident in Building 5, felt assured and stopped his worry. 

Building 5 in Kailu Village 1 is the first one to install lift in Kaiyi Community, which takes eight months starting with the opinion collection. Xu Zhiqiang said the eldest resident in the building is 80 years old, who lives on level 6. And the elderly residents have expecting to see the lift installed in the building. And the large amount of work in the lift installation, e.g., finding the lift-installing company and drafting of the contract, receives a lot of help from the relevant people in the community.  

It is understood that Building 5 had done a lot of “homework” before installing lift. Ding Xiuping, Director of Kailu Village 1 Neighborhood Committee, said: “The Neighborhood Committee has helped residents hold coordination meetings for many times to discuss plans and help them perfect the contract as much as possible.” Residents can also reach consensus on many issues. For example, we all agree that it is not the lower the price of the elevator, the better. Instead, the cost effectiveness matters. Finally, the total cost of the elevator in Building 5 is 700,000 RMB.

Xu Zhiqiang told the reporters that the general lifts use plastic shell plate. And Building 5 uses aluminum shell plate. Lift card system uses charging as per times, meaning frequent users pay more and vice versa. Residents agreed that compared with the sharing of lift fees, this card payment method can avoid many contradictions.

Smart design in fan-shaped building

After working hard for more than one year, Building 88 in Kailu Village 4 also saw the ceremony of installing lift on the same day. Due to the special fan-shaped appearance of Building 88, the construction is very difficult. Therefore, in the initial consultation process, many residents felt like quitting.

Some residents worried that their kitchens and bathrooms were blocked by lifts, so they didn’t sign their consent. Wang Zhiwei, a resident living on level 5, was an “old mage” who worked in the community before he retired. After understanding the concerns of the residents, he came to the house many times, moved them with emotion, explained them with reason, and took the initiative to help the residents solve their living difficulties, eventually achieving 100% agreement rate. “Once the old man was ill and his family was in a hurry. I went to his home immediately after I knew it and dialed 120 for him. They were so moved that they signed the agreement.

With the unanimous consent of the residents, their problems and concerns still need to be solved one by one. According to the principal of Xinzhicheng Lift Company, the shape of Building 88 is really special, and it is difficult in the construction process. After many scheme adjustments, we finally found a satisfactory balance method for all parties. “We coordinated with the residents, and in the whole installation process, we cooperated with the designer to move the lift out a little, and made a corridor for the residents. The whole corridor was equipped with windows to minimize the problem of residents’ light shielding.”

Installing lifts to old buildings has become a “new fashion”. Recently, lift installation has a new law. According to the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China, which came into effect on January 1, 2021, the voting proportion of the owners of the existing multi-storey residential buildings with lifts in this city shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of article 278 of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China.

The applicant shall conduct full consultation on the intention and specific scheme of installing lifts, and solicit the opinions of all the owners of the building. The owners with more than two-thirds of the area of the exclusive part and more than two-thirds of the number of the owners shall participate in the voting. After the voting, the owners with more than three-quarters of the area of the exclusive part and more than three-quarters of the number of the owners shall participate in the voting agree!

If the installation of lift intends to occupy the common part of the owners of the residential area, the opinions of all the owners in the building area shall be solicited. The owners with more than two-thirds of the area of the exclusive part and more than two-thirds of the number of people shall participate in the voting, and the owners with more than half of the area of the exclusive part and more than half of the number of people participating in the voting shall agree.

Residents who are willing to install lifts need to know the relevant laws and policies in time to realize the freedom of “up and down” as soon as possible.