Potential risks with mini apartments

The Hanoi City Police Department has just issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused and issue a 4-month temporary detention order for Nghiem Quang Minh (born in 1979, residing in Yen Hoa, Cau Giay, Hanoi) to investigate the crime of Violating fire prevention and fighting regulations under Article 313 of the Penal Code. Minh is the owner of the mini apartment building at No. 37, Alley 29/70, Khuong Ha Street, where a particularly serious fire occurred late at night on September 12.

Up to now, 56 people have died in the mini apartment fire in Khuong Ha.

Up to now, authorities have identified 56 dead and 37 injured (of which, 39/56 dead have been identified).

Regarding the incident, Mr. Nguyen Duy Thanh, General Director of Global Home Management Company, said that the concept of mini apartments has been clearly defined in Article 22, Decree 71, Decision 24/2014/QD-UBND.

Accordingly, mini apartments are houses built by individuals or households. They consist of 2 floors with each floor having 2 or more apartments. Apartments in mini apartments are designed and built in a closed style, including private rooms, toilets, bathrooms, private kitchens... with a minimum floor area of ​​30m2 and often have an additional attic to optimize the area.

Mr. Nguyen Duy Thanh, General Director of Global House Management Company

With modest area and affordable price, mini apartments are often suitable for people with average income but want to live near the central area, convenient for going to school, going to work...

However, mini apartments must meet the regulations on apartment buildings stipulated in Article 70 of the 2014 Housing Law, that is, there must be sufficient minimum floor area standards for each apartment according to construction standards and regulations; there must be a part of the area that is privately owned, and a part of the area that is commonly owned by the apartment building.

"Therefore, there are often very few mini apartments that meet the legal and fire safety requirements. Therefore, mini apartments are often spontaneous and unsafe when it comes to fire prevention and elevator operation. The roles and responsibilities of owners have not been strictly defined," Mr. Thanh assessed.

According to him, in reality, there are very few mini apartments that fully meet the above conditions of the Housing Law, and many mini apartments are even built without permission with typical violations such as: building more floors than allowed; not meeting the conditions for wastewater treatment, fire prevention and fighting, unsafe security and order, poor general environmental sanitation, etc.

Along with that, in these cases, the buyer of the mini apartment will not be able to be granted a pink book. Without a pink book, the buyer will face many difficulties in transferring as well as not being able to mortgage to borrow capital, not being able to inherit and being restricted in some other civil rights...

Mini apartments often have the common characteristics of being located near the center, but in small alleys, fire fighting equipment is difficult to access when a fire occurs. Mini apartments are often built in a tube house model with many rooms that optimize the construction area, even built illegally without fire escape stairs and fire safety standards are not respected.

"Mini apartments are often confused with rental rooms because they have many separate rooms and are always occupied by many people. Therefore, fire prevention and fighting inspection agencies pay little attention to strengthening inspection and supervision of fire safety activities in these mini apartment buildings," Global Home CEO pointed out.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/tu-tham-hoa-chay-o-khuong-ha-rui-ro-tiem-an-voi-chung-cu-mini-post264556.html