As President Lee Jae-myung pointed out rent hikes through loopholes, the government decided to crack down intensively on such practices.
The Office for Government Policy Coordination's real estate supervision task force said this at the eighth meeting of the council on responding to illegal acts in real estate, held at Government Complex Seoul on the afternoon of the 26th. At the meeting, each ministry, 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 and future plans, and discussed interagency cooperation measures.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will conduct a joint special inspection with local governments in March on acts by registered rental business operators that circumvent the rent cap obligation through option fees and the like, and will focus on checking whether there are other forms of rent cap violations.
In addition, through the currently operating "report center for illegal acts in registered rentals," it will receive reports on legal violations together with local governments and, upon confirmation of violations, strengthen management by imposing fines (up to 30 million won), and, depending on the case, revoking rental business registrations and clawing back tax benefits.
In particular, the meeting discussed response measures against price-fixing of home prices intended to unduly influence market prices through online communities and the like. Related agencies, including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the Korean National Police Agency, and local governments, agreed to work closely together and respond actively with a zero-tolerance principle toward illegal acts.
With the introduction of special judicial police in the real estate sector enabling direct investigations, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to take swift and proactive action against unlawful acts such as collusion reported to the center.
The Korean National Police Agency, which is conducting a special crackdown on real estate crimes, plans to strengthen intelligence gathering and enforcement against attempts at artificial price formation, such as collusion on home prices.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to operate a center for reporting crimes that harm people's livelihoods and, in particular, to conduct intensive inspections and investigations focused on densely populated large-apartment areas (Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa, etc.).
Gyeonggi Province plans to further strengthen on-site response by expanding the investigation task force (T/F), conducting joint special investigations with cities and counties, operating a report center, and paying rewards for reports.
Kim Yong-su, head of the real estate supervision task force, said, "The government will work closely with related agencies to respond strictly to acts that disrupt order in the real estate market, such as price collusion."