Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court has rejected an appeal by 10 property owners who filed a lawsuit against a real estate developer for removing the Spanish-style archway outside their community.

The owners said the archway was one of the reasons they bought villas in the Ailiya development in Songjiang District in 1999.

The developer, Ailiya Real Estate Co Ltd, removed the structure along with other amenities in June to make way for another residential building. The villa owners then filed suit, seeking to restore the community to its original appearance.

"The public facilities should be owned by all the villa buyers after the developer sold the community. The developer has no right to remove them without our agreement," said an owner surnamed Wang.

The company argued that the villa project was planned to be developed in four phases. The structures that were removed were considered illegal, because they had not been approved by the district planning department and lacked property right certificates.

The court ruled that it would be unreasonable to order the company to restore the original facilities because of the high costs involved. It did find, however, that the renovations violated existing contracts. In the meantime, the developer has promised to rebuild some of the removed facilities in other areas by way of compensation.

(Shanghai Daily November 3, 2004)