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I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. I’d be pretty upset if my landlord showed up one day and just bulldozed the

I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. I’d be pretty upset if my landlord showed up one day and just bulldozed the apartment with me still in it. Maybe he was planning it as a political act, a performance piece of sorts. Regardless, I still don’t think having an expired lease should be met with a destroyed workspace.

nordsieck 8y ago
>>> The AFP reports that the rental contract on Ai's studio expired last fall, > I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. The reason that works in NYC is because by law rental contracts that expire (without specific language to the contrary) become month to month leases. That may or may not be the case in China.
oh_sigh 8y ago
Have you considered the rights of the landlord? From the video, it looks like a single large "studio"(aka multi-thousand meter-squared building for one person), and not a multi-tenant dwelling like one might expect in SF, NYC, or BJ/京. Imagine the landlord wants to sell the property to a large property developer, one who may want to place 100+ units on your previously single unit rental. Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out?
- dis-sys 8y ago
  > Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out? Of course he can - he is an activist, he doesn't need a rental agreement or title of land, he owns the place where he wants, he is an activist! as clearly stated by the article, the lease expired last fall, almost 1 year after the expiration of the lease, he just have too much stuff stored in that place, how that is not a strong enough reason to keep staying there? why the landlord can't just give him another 3-5 years rent free period so he can slowly move his stuff as he want? He is an activity against the Chinese government, he is entitled to do/own anything he wants. You are brainwashed if you don't agree with that.
  - dang 8y ago
    We've warned you before about using HN for national and political flamewar. Since you haven't heeded the warning, I was going to ban you for this. But you've also posted good, substantive comments on other topics, so instead I'll ask you once more to please not break the rules like this. Instead, please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow them from now on, including these: 1. Be civil. 2. Comments should get more civil and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
- __m 8y ago
  Just a side note: the property doesn’t belong to the landlord, just a 70 years grant to use the land, which can be revoked (with compensation)
  - Macuyiko 8y ago
    For what it's worth, the concept of land ownership is a pretty fluid concept in all countries. USA for example, has the concept of Eminent domain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain#United_States): > In federal law, Congress may take private property directly (without recourse to the courts) by passing an Act transferring title of the subject property directly to the government. In such cases, the property owner seeking compensation must sue the United States for compensation in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The legislature may also delegate the power to private entities like public utilities or railroads, and even to individuals.[8] The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently deferred to the right of states to make their own determinations of "public use".
justin66 8y ago
I expect Beijing has laws determining how the property of an evicted tenant can be handled just like NYC does, and I imagine those laws were broken in this case.
crazygringo 8y ago
I think your landlord would be pretty upset if you refused to sign a new lease and also refused to move out. Which is why we have a legal process for eviction. And while there are more protections for residences (so you don't become homeless overnight), there are less for commercial spaces (like an artist's studio) because you're expected to be commercially responsible about these things. If you can't move your stuff out of a commercial space several months after your lease has ended, then the problem is with you, no?

nordsieck 8y ago

>>> The AFP reports that the rental contract on Ai's studio expired last fall, > I’ve had rental contracts expire in NYC and you just pay month to month after that. The reason that works in NYC is because by law rental contracts that expire (without specific language to the contrary) become month to month leases. That may or may not be the case in China.

oh_sigh 8y ago

Have you considered the rights of the landlord? From the video, it looks like a single large "studio"(aka multi-thousand meter-squared building for one person), and not a multi-tenant dwelling like one might expect in SF, NYC, or BJ/京. Imagine the landlord wants to sell the property to a large property developer, one who may want to place 100+ units on your previously single unit rental. Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out?

dis-sys 8y ago
> Is it fair that Ai can just stay there...perpetually - holding up 99 extra units on the market because he can't be bothered to move out? Of course he can - he is an activist, he doesn't need a rental agreement or title of land, he owns the place where he wants, he is an activist! as clearly stated by the article, the lease expired last fall, almost 1 year after the expiration of the lease, he just have too much stuff stored in that place, how that is not a strong enough reason to keep staying there? why the landlord can't just give him another 3-5 years rent free period so he can slowly move his stuff as he want? He is an activity against the Chinese government, he is entitled to do/own anything he wants. You are brainwashed if you don't agree with that.
- dang 8y ago
  We've warned you before about using HN for national and political flamewar. Since you haven't heeded the warning, I was going to ban you for this. But you've also posted good, substantive comments on other topics, so instead I'll ask you once more to please not break the rules like this. Instead, please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow them from now on, including these: 1. Be civil. 2. Comments should get more civil and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
__m 8y ago
Just a side note: the property doesn’t belong to the landlord, just a 70 years grant to use the land, which can be revoked (with compensation)
- Macuyiko 8y ago
  For what it's worth, the concept of land ownership is a pretty fluid concept in all countries. USA for example, has the concept of Eminent domain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain#United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain#United_States): > In federal law, Congress may take private property directly (without recourse to the courts) by passing an Act transferring title of the subject property directly to the government. In such cases, the property owner seeking compensation must sue the United States for compensation in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. The legislature may also delegate the power to private entities like public utilities or railroads, and even to individuals.[8] The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently deferred to the right of states to make their own determinations of "public use".

justin66 8y ago

I expect Beijing has laws determining how the property of an evicted tenant can be handled just like NYC does, and I imagine those laws were broken in this case.

crazygringo 8y ago

I think your landlord would be pretty upset if you refused to sign a new lease and also refused to move out. Which is why we have a legal process for eviction. And while there are more protections for residences (so you don't become homeless overnight), there are less for commercial spaces (like an artist's studio) because you're expected to be commercially responsible about these things. If you can't move your stuff out of a commercial space several months after your lease has ended, then the problem is with you, no?