Man builds illegal elevator for lazy son-in-law

A man from southwest China’s Chongqing city has built a non-stop elevator leading directly to an apartment where his daughter and son-in-law live because his son-in-law said he got tired of walking up and down the stairs.

It has been months since the man, surnamed Xiong, finished building the steel-and-glass elevator against the exterior of a seven-story building in Fajian residential complex of the city’s Tongliang District. It lifts passengers straight to a duplex apartment on the sixth floor.

The residential buildings in the complex were all built without elevators, and were built in the 1980s and 1990s.

According to the district’s planning bureau supervisors, the elevator is considered illegal as it hasn’t undergone any approval procedures, and also impinges on public space. They will inspect the situation on site and decide which measures to take.

Residents living in older residential communities can apply for elevator installation, according to a new rule the city released in June.