Liaoning Container House Procedures

In Liaoning, using containers as houses requires going through relevant planning approval procedures; otherwise, the lease contract may be invalid.

Planning Approval Requirements

According to Article 44 of the Urban and Rural Planning Law of the People's Republic of China, temporary construction within urban and town planning areas shall be approved by the urban and county people's government urban and rural planning authorities. Transforming containers into houses with residential attributes and placing them on the site in question constitutes temporary construction within the planning area. Without approval from the relevant government planning department, such structures shall not be put into production or living use. This is because unauthorized temporary construction not only affects the overall urban and rural planning but also poses significant safety risks.

Lease Contract Validity

According to Article 3 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in the Trial of Disputes over Lease Contracts for Urban Houses (Revised in 2020), a lease contract entered into by a lessor with a lessee for a temporary building that has not been approved or has not been constructed in accordance with the approved content is invalid. However, if the construction is approved by the competent authority before the end of the first-instance court debate, the people's court shall recognize its validity. For example, in a container house lease case concluded by the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court, Company A leased an unapproved container to Company B for use, and the House Lease Contract entered into by both parties was deemed invalid by the court.

Special Project Approval

For the approval of container terminal projects, the construction unit must obtain materials such as the planning site selection and sea use pre-review opinions issued by the provincial department of natural resources and the project social stability risk assessment opinions issued by the municipal government before applying for approval. This indicates that there are also strict approval and approval requirements for certain specific container-related projects to ensure their legality and standardization.