On September 12, 2023, at about 11:22 p.m. at house number 37, alley 29/70, Khuong Ha street (Khuong Dinh ward, Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi city) in a mini apartment building built in 2015, 9 floors high, about 200m2, 45 rooms with about 150 people living, a fire broke out causing particularly serious consequences, causing many casualties, as well as causing great damage to people's property.
The fire left serious consequences, causing many families to suffer grief. Some families lost 7 people, some children lost both their mother and father, and some people in the same family were separated by yin and yang.
Images of the fire spreading everywhere on social networks have haunted many people, making them worried about themselves and their loved ones. In big cities, where land is scarce, people are crowded, and the economy is tight, mini apartments are a type of housing that many people choose as a place to "settle down".
"When the house is on fire, the rats come out"
Sharing with Nguoi Dua Tin , Professor Dang Hung Vo - Former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment expressed his deep sorrow when hearing about the fire at the mini apartment building in Khuong Dinh ward. He himself also lives in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi, less than 3km from the fire, he questioned why living in a seemingly very progressive society like today, a fire with such tragic consequences happened.
“I have been to many mini apartments and realized that if an incident occurs, it will be very difficult for residents to escape: the alley is small, electricity and water are not adequate, the number of people living there is crowded and cramped,…”, said Mr. Dang Hung Vo.
According to the expert, the reason for this situation is the rapid and strong development of mini apartments without strict management and supervision by management agencies.
Scene of the mini apartment fire on Khuong Ha Street, Hanoi.
Evaluating the mini apartment type, the professor said that the nature of this real estate product is not bad. The investor builds houses that have many similarities with modern apartments but at a much lower price, then divides the rooms for rent/sale to suit the income and living needs of a segment of the population. The construction is also based on the requirements and criteria of the law that have been publicly and transparently regulated.
However, the tragic accident occurred firstly due to the greed of the investor, not caring about the lives and safety of residents living in the building, ignoring all legal regulations for this type of real estate. The second reason comes from the irresponsibility of a part of the state management agencies who do not properly perform their duties and powers, and hidden behind that may be the issue of interests - an economic problem between the investor and the competent authorities.
Professor Dang Hung Vo.
“The appearance of mini apartments is not new, this product is also helping to solve the housing problem for many people. There are strict regulations in construction of this type, but the people who are responsible for enforcing those regulations are very irresponsible in their work. When the incident happened, 56 unfortunate victims died, then “the house fire shows the rats”, said Professor Dang Hung Vo.
It is necessary to consider the responsibility of both investors and state agencies.
From a legal perspective, Lawyer Nguyen Duc Manh - Deputy Director of Bizlink Law Firm said that the concept of "mini apartments" was first mentioned in Decision No. 24 issued by the Hanoi People's Committee on June 20, 2014 and Decision No. 37 also issued by the Hanoi People's Committee on December 18, 2015. However, these two documents have expired.
Based on the concept of individual houses and apartment buildings in the 2014 Housing Law, Mr. Manh stated that the "mini apartment building" in Khuong Ha is essentially an individual house and based on the design standards for townhouses, in all cases, houses cannot be built over 6 floors.
“In addition, in small alleys with a width of less than 6m, houses cannot be built higher than 4 floors. Based on the description of the fire site in Khuong Ha, “a 9-storey house with more than 45 apartments”, it can be seen that the investor violated the provisions of the law on construction.”, Mr. Manh affirmed.
The lawyer said that the current legal regulations for this type of housing are relatively complete, but the problem lies in the process of granting construction permits, construction, inspection, and supervision of the construction process and putting the project into use by competent authorities.
The purchase and sale of apartments in individual houses is also clearly regulated by law. If the house has two or more floors and each floor has two or more self-contained apartments; the minimum floor area of each apartment is 30 m2 or more and meets the conditions for apartment buildings, the homeowner will be granted a Certificate of House Ownership by the State.
And when the homeowner sells the apartment, the land use rights associated with this house belong to the common use of the apartment buyers, so the purchase and sale of apartments in individual houses is reasonable and permitted by law.
Lawyer Nguyen Duc Manh: Apartment investor faces maximum prison sentence of 12 years.
However, for the incident that killed 56 people, on the evening of September 13, Hanoi City Police issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused, and temporarily detain Nghiem Quang Minh for 4 months for violating fire prevention and fighting regulations. Lawyer Nguyen Duc Manh said that the investor of the house on Khuong Dinh Street will incur a number of responsibilities including administrative responsibility, criminal responsibility, and civil responsibility.
Firstly , for violations of construction in violation of the permit, the investor may be fined from 15,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND for construction of individual houses. In addition, the investor is also forced to demolish the part of the construction that violates the granted construction permit.
Second , the investor can be imprisoned from 7 to 12 years for violating fire prevention and fighting regulations resulting in the death of 3 people or more. In addition, he/she can be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND, banned from holding positions, practicing a profession or doing certain jobs from 1 year to 5 years.
In addition, the Lawyer emphasized that in this case, it is also necessary to clarify the responsibilities of competent state agencies (Thanh Xuan District People's Committee, Khuong Dinh Ward) in granting construction permits, coordinating the inspection of construction implementation according to permits to ensure compliance with construction laws.
Regarding civil liability, to determine civil liability, competent State agencies need to determine the cause of the fire and explosion to determine the fault and responsibility of the parties involved. If the cause is due to construction that is not in accordance with the Construction Permit, due to the lack of a fire protection system or the fire protection system of the apartment building does not meet the prescribed standards, the main responsibility will belong to the apartment building investor.
Regarding the above issue, Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh - Director of the Department of Science, Technology and Environment (Ministry of Construction) said that the mini apartment building that caught fire did not comply with the original design of the building.
Through inspection, the mini apartment building above has many factors that do not ensure fire safety. When a fire breaks out, many residents have to risk their lives jumping onto the roof of a neighbor's house to escape. In addition, this house also has a series of violations such as illegally building 4 more floors, the escape stairs are not qualified enough to ensure safety, the local authorities have lax management in granting construction permits, etc.
According to Mr. Vu Ngoc Anh, the construction permit issued to Mr. Nghiem Quang Minh (the owner of the burnt house) clearly stated that "permission to build a 6-storey private house" was granted, but did not specifically describe whether this house had many apartments or not. However, in reality, the burnt house was a private house combined with business (for rent or sale), consisting of 10 floors with 45 apartments, commonly known as a "mini apartment building" .
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