Property owners have stopped the construction of rental housing inside a civil defense bunker at one of Beijing's largest housing communities, amid protests from residents.

Chen Fengshan, director of the owners' committee at Baiziwan Home community, said he had received reports from property owners that a construction team was carrying bricks into the basement of Tower B in the community on Wednesday morning. He then stopped the team.

Chen said no individual or group has admitted to being the operator of the rental housing project. He added that property owners were not notified about the construction.

The construction team said they were asked to build rental housing in the empty civil defense basement but declined to reveal from where the order came. They added that the plan was approved by Chaoyang civil defense authorities but the construction was not fully licensed.

Chaoyang civil defense authorities said the case is under investigation and refused to comment on Thursday.

Most communities in Beijing employ a maintenance team, whose responsibilities include ensuring uninhabitable areas are secure and not used for commercial purposes without authorization.

Chen said the maintenance service of Baiziwan Home community did not initially stop the construction, as they should have done. He said only after his intervention did they post notices saying the construction project was in violation to community rules, according to Beijing News.

The maintenance service refused to comment on the construction project on Thursday.

Property owners posted pictures of the project and wrote letters of protest on an online discussion board. One photo showed completed partitions in the shapes of rooms and corridors in the basement.

A property owner surnamed Wang said residents of the community would be in danger of fire and theft if the rental housing was completed.

"The rental housing is not managed by our community, so I don't believe anyone would take responsibility if problems occurred," Wang said.

Residents of neighboring communities have also reportedly complained of surging numbers of thefts and fires after similar rental housing projects in civil defense basements were completed.

Committee director Chen called the construction a violation of the property owners' rights.

"The property owners had paid for the basement space, but they will not benefit from the project. At the same time, they are responsible for the risks," Chen said.

"The rights of property owners have been ignored," he said.

Baiziwan Home community is one of the largest economic housing communities in Beijing, with 4,465 households and more than 13,000 residents.