The government will tighten its crackdown on the practice of lending names to exploit the special supply of dwellings for people with disabilities and national merit honorees. It will also launch a joint inspection to block under-the-table contracts for newly built villas that report prices lower than the actual transaction price to reduce taxes.
The Office for Government Policy Coordination's real estate supervision task force said on the 11th that it held the 18th council on countering illegal real estate activities at the government complex in Sejong and discussed these measures. At the meeting, related agencies, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Financial Services Commission, the National Tax Service, and the Korean National Police Agency, shared the status of investigations and probes into illegal real estate activities by each ministry and future plans, and discussed ways to strengthen interagency cooperation.
The agency-recommended special supply system for dwellings is operated to stabilize housing for people with disabilities, national merit honorees, and long-serving soldiers, but illegal activities involving lending names to exploit it are occurring. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) said it would work with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and other related ministries to strengthen procedural improvements and inspections to block illegal activities that can occur at each stage of special supply at the source. The Korean National Police Agency also plans to strengthen crackdowns in cooperation with MOLIT and others.
Regarding under-the-table contracts for newly built villas, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) will expand and strengthen the targets of in-depth investigations into abnormal transaction cases in Seoul and Gyeonggi, and, in cooperation with local governments, step up focused monitoring of transaction reports and on-site guidance and inspections of brokerages. The National Tax Service will check whether villa developers omitted business income and take stern action if caught, and it will also look into whether taxation is appropriate when a person who bought a villa sells a dwelling.
Plans to expand joint inspections with local governments on illegal activities arising during the promotion of redevelopment and reconstruction maintenance projects were also discussed.
Director General Kim Yong-su, the second vice minister for government policy coordination, said, "As illegal real estate activities such as fraudulent subscriptions, under-the-table contracts, and illegalities in maintenance projects threaten people's housing stability and undermine market fairness, related agencies including government ministries and local governments will work together to do our best to establish market order."