The government decided to relax the owner-occupancy requirement only for people without homes if they buy a multi-homeowner's "tenant-occupied listing." The scope of people without homes will be limited to the minimum. People who sold the home they live in but have not yet completed the transaction—"temporary one household, one home owners"—as well as those who hold pre-sale rights or move-in rights are not included as people without homes.
According to the government on the 12th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Financial Services Commission will end the deferral of the heavy taxation on capital gains for multi-homeowners on May 9, and put in place a supplemental measure allowing, depending on the area, final payment and registration within four to six months for properties that signed sales contracts by that day.
For listings owned by multi-homeowners that have tenants, the government decided to relax the owner-occupancy requirement in land transaction permit zones. This follows criticism that in 12 areas of Seoul and Gyeonggi designated as land transaction permit zones under the Oct. 15 measures last year, even if multi-homeowners wanted to put tenant-occupied listings on the market to avoid heavy capital gains taxes, they could not sell because an owner-occupancy requirement was imposed.
Instead, the government limited eligibility to buy listings whose owner-occupancy requirement is deferred until the lease contract ends to people without homes. It opened a path for only those without homes to purchase multi-homeowners' tenant-occupied listings.
The government decided to define people without homes as restrictively as possible in terms of dwelling purchases and loans. People without homes must have no household members who own dwellings. They must also not hold pre-sale rights or move-in rights.
People who sold a home they owned but have not yet reached the final payment stage and therefore own a "temporary one household, one home" will also not be regarded as people without homes. If someone sells their own home and wants to buy a tenant-occupied listing put up by a multi-homeowner, they must have no dwellings at the stage of applying for a land transaction permit after completing all contracts. A Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) official said, "You must be verified as a person without a home when applying for a land transaction permit."
A government official said the decision was "to avoid stoking the market and to prevent excessive benefits for people without homes."