2018.8.2
Luke Hung
The Ministry of the Interior amended the Rules for Evaluating the Structural Safety Performance of Dangerous and Old Buildings in Cities (hereinafter, the “Rules”) on August 2, 2018 to ease the qualifications for the reconstruction of dangerous and old buildings. Relevant amendments are highlighted below:
First, the evaluation standard in the schedule stipulated in Article 2 of the Rules is adjusted as “30 < Total Evaluation Score for Degree of Danger £ 45; or 70 > Evaluation Score ³ 55.” As long as this standard is met, an application may be filed for reconstructing a building since “the results of structural safety performance evaluation indicate the minimum required level was not reached” in order to expand the scope of reconstruction application for dangerous or old buildings. For cases whose preliminary evaluation has been completed with the evaluation results obtained before the effective date of the amendments, if the evaluation results meet the evaluation standard in these amendments, the new evaluation level and standard may apply directly after the effective date of the amendments with no need to conduct re-evaluation.
In addition, the evaluation content and the score sheet for the preliminary evaluation of the structural safety and earthquake-resistant capability of buildings with reinforced concrete structures, reinforced brick structures, steel and light steel structures, wooden structures and brick structures are added so that evaluation operation can be conducted after the amendments for cases which could not be evaluated in the past due to special structures.
Finally, although application for structural safety performance evaluation requires the consent of the majority of building owners along with relevant documents, still the documents that were required before the amendments were too complex. Article 3 of the Rules as amended allows application for structural safety performance evaluation by a management committee of a condominium by attaching meeting minutes showing that a resolution was adopted during a unit owners’ meeting as well as relevant documents.