FOUR apartments in Luohu District were dismantled in an operation by law enforcement officers Tuesday morning, marking the first time that compulsory enforcement has been exercised since the regulations on housing expropriation and compensation took effect May 1, 2013, the Shenzhen Evening News reported Thursday.

The four apartments were located in two different buildings. Three of the apartments were housed in Building No. 69 of Gangpengxincun housing estate in Donghu Subdistrict, while the other was in Building 113A of Gangfaxincun housing estate in Dongxiao Subdistrict.

Before the demolition, aside from the four apartments, all of the other homeowners in the two buildings had reached compensation agreements within a designated time period. The four apartments were uninhabited, three of which had no articles for daily use left inside.

Entrusted by the Luohu District Government, the district’s housing expropriation department, in accordance with relevant regulations, applied to Yantian District People’s Court for compulsory enforcement and took action after a ruling was granted and effective.

The regulations on housing expropriation and compensation were introduced in response to some property owners’ refusal to vacate the property to make way for urban renovation projects.

Several residential buildings east of Shenzhen North Railway Station in Mingzhi Subdistrict, Longhua District, had been widely known among residents as “nail buildings” for at least seven years, during which owners of other buildings in the neighborhood had made way for the construction of the high-speed train station.

The owners of the buildings refused to sign compensation-package agreements which they said were far below what they wanted. But their requirements were rejected by the Mingzhi Subdistrict Office, leaving the buildings standing in the way of the construction of the train station.

The “nail buildings” were finally dismantled late last year when agreements were finally reached between the authority and the property owners after seven years of negotiation.

(Zhang Yu)