Floor leader Chun Ha-ram of the Reform Party said on the 5th that he will file an administrative lawsuit, arguing that the dispositions designating a total of eight areas—including four in Seoul and four in Gyeonggi Province—as areas subject to adjustment under the Oct. 15 real estate measures did not meet the legal requirements.
On this day, Floor Leader Chun held a press conference at the National Assembly communication center and said, "Seoul's Dobong-gu, Gangbuk-gu, Jungnang-gu, and Geumcheon-gu, as well as Uiwang in Gyeonggi Province, Jungwon-gu in Seongnam, and Jangan-gu and Paldal-gu in Suwon, cannot be designated as areas subject to adjustment because they do not meet the dwelling price increase rate requirement," adding, "If the government does not revise the measures on its own, we will file an administrative lawsuit within this month as soon as possible seeking to cancel the 10.15 measures."
Under the current Housing Act, to designate a specific area as an area subject to adjustment, the dwelling price increase rate statistics must retroactively meet the increase rate requirement through the immediately preceding month. The increase rate requirement is that the dwelling price increase rate must exceed 1.3 times the regional consumer price inflation rate. However, the Oct. 15 measures selected areas subject to adjustment using statistics from June to August, not from July to September. According to Representative Chun, when looking at the statistics from July to September that include the September figures, Seoul's Jungnang-gu, Gangbuk-gu, Dobong-gu, and Geumcheon-gu, as well as Uiwang in Gyeonggi Province and Jangan-gu and Paldal-gu in Suwon, do not meet the increase rate requirement and cannot be included as areas subject to adjustment.
Floor Leader Chun emphasized, "Areas such as Dobong-gu and Gangbuk-gu have not seen apartment prices surge recently to a degree that warrants regulation," adding, "There is also no legal basis at all to designate areas subject to adjustment without the dwelling price increase rate requirement on the grounds of preemptively worrying about a 'balloon effect.'"
Floor Leader Chun noted that the nationwide dwelling price trend survey for September was scheduled to be released on the same day the Oct. 15 measures were announced, pointing out, "The Lee Jae-myung administration convened the Housing Policy Deliberation Committee one day before the September statistics were released and announced the measures on the very day the September statistics were released."
Chun argued, "They predetermined an answer to put all of Seoul, among others, into regulated areas, and selectively picked statistics only up to August while excluding the unfavorable September statistics that did not fit their conclusion," adding, "From the residents' standpoint, it can only feel like 'broad statistical manipulation.'"
Attorney Kim Yeon-gi, who serves as the Reform Party's chief legal advisor, explained, "In administrative law, the established principle and Supreme Court precedent is that the legality of an administrative disposition must be judged based on the 'time of disposition' when its effect arises," adding, "The effective date of these measures is Oct. 16."
Attorney Kim pointed out, "The government claimed that, as of the morning of Oct. 15, the time of announcement, September statistics did not exist, and on that basis used the June, July, and August statistics under the exception clause of the Enforcement Decree that applies 'when statistics for the relevant period do not exist,'" adding, "The time when the designation disposition for areas subject to adjustment takes effect is the notice date of Oct. 16, and the September consumer price trends were already published on Oct. 2, while the nationwide dwelling price trend survey was released at 2 p.m. on Oct. 15, so by the time the disposition took effect, all September statistics had been secured."
The point is that including eight areas as areas subject to adjustment in the Oct. 15 measures violated the Enforcement Decree of the Housing Act. Attorney Kim said, "If the government had lawfully reflected the September statistics, many areas such as Jungnang, Gangbuk, Dobong, Geumcheon, and Uiwang would not have met the regulatory requirements," adding, "People in these areas suffered massive infringements on their property rights in just one day due to the government's unlawful disposition."
The Reform Party plans to file an administrative lawsuit within this month seeking the cancellation of the 10.15 designation dispositions for areas subject to adjustment and, at the same time, to file suits seeking the cancellation of re-designation denials after submitting de-designation applications with the authorization of residents in the areas subject to adjustment.
Floor Leader Chun said, "We also ask the National Assembly members for the districts of Dobong, Gangbuk, Jungnang, Geumcheon, Uiwang, Seongnam Jungwon, and Suwon Jangan and Paldal to join the administrative lawsuit and take the lead in protecting the rights and interests of local residents," adding, "The Reform Party will defend a society where it is acceptable to dream of living in a good home with one's family, a society where the government does not toy with statistics, and a society where the government's unlawful and unjust dispositions are rectified under the principle of separation of powers."