Is it legal to change the entrance door to \”open outwards\”? The judge came to take measurements and made this decision!

Wang privately changed the direction of the entrance door during renovation,

from \”opening inward\” to \”opening outward\”,

neighbors objected I went to court to no avail.

Is it legal to change the direction of the entrance door privately?

Is it legal?

Recently, the Chun\’an Court heard a case of adjacent access disputes caused by a neighbor\’s private change of the entrance door\’s orientation, and ruled that Wang, who unauthorizedly changed the entrance door from inside to outside, must restore the original door. As is.

Case Situation

Li and Wang are neighbors on the same floor in a community in Chun\’an County. When their houses were delivered, the entrance doors opened inward. Li discovered that his neighbor Wang had privately changed the direction of his entrance door during the renovation process, and changed the door from opening inward on the right side to opening outward on the left side, causing his entrance door to almost completely block Li\’s entrance door during the opening process. Not only has it seriously affected the access of Li\’s family, but it also poses a huge safety hazard.

For this reason, Li clearly expressed his objection, but Wang ignored it. In desperation, Li filed a lawsuit with the court, asking Wang to remove the obstruction and restore the original status quo.

Results of the trial

During the process of handling the case, the judge inspected the houses involved in the case and found that the entrance doors of Li’s and Wang’s houses were tight at right angles. They are right next to each other, and the width of the entrance doors on both sides is similar to the width of the aisle shared by both parties. Therefore, for the sake of safety, the original design of the entrance doors on both sides can only open inwards.

In this case, the defendant still changed the entrance door from the inward-opening style originally designed by the developer to an outward-opening one without authorization. Once the door is opened, it will definitely occupy most of the aisle space, and There is a possibility of impacting the neighboring residents who are passing by, resulting in injuries, which exceeds the scope of the neighbor\’s reasonable and necessary tolerance obligations.

Based on this, the court ruled after hearing that Wang should restore the opening method of the entrance door from outside to inside.

Wang appealed against the first-instance verdict, and the second-instance verdict was upheld.

Article 288 of the \”Civil Code\” stipulates: \”Adjacent rights holders of real estate shall be in a position to facilitate production, convenience of life, and unity. The principles of mutual assistance, fairness and reasonableness, and the correct handling of neighbor relationships. ”

In daily life, “collision” between neighbors is inevitable. All parties should uphold the spirit of solidarity, mutual assistance, fairness and reasonableness, mutual understanding, mutual accommodation, and mutual tolerance. However, if one party exceeds the boundaries of rights and gives the neighbor If the parties cause inconvenience or serious impact to their lives beyond the scope of the duty of tolerance, it constitutes a tort. As mentioned in this case, if the entrance door opens outward and blocks the passage of neighbors or creates major personal safety and fire hazards, the house needs to be inspected. Owner\’s rights There are certain restrictions on the rights of the owner.

In recent years, there have been frequent lawsuits caused by private door renovations. Although the door is owned by the owner, it is a personal right to replace or install the door. Legal provisions should be followed, the opinions of neighbors should be respected, safety issues such as fire protection facilities and equipment should be considered, the passage of other neighboring rights holders should be taken into consideration, and the normal production and life of others should not be hindered.

Reprinted from: Chun\’an Court

Source: Hangzhou Intermediate People\’s Court