Seocho District in Seoul will convene a mediation committee this month to broker a settlement in a dispute over the winding up of a major apartment reconstruction association near Gangnam Station. The association is the Ramian Leaders One reconstruction association, which took occupancy in 2020 and held a dissolution general meeting in 2023 but has yet to complete liquidation. An emergency committee says the funds left in the association amount to 9.5 billion won.
According to the maintenance industry on the 8th, Seocho District is conducting an inquiry into the delay in liquidating the Seocho Useong 1st reconstruction association. After hearing from members and the chief liquidator, Seocho District plans to hold a mediation committee this month composed of a support group of liquidation experts.
A Seocho District official said, "We are proceeding with the process of hearing opinions from the members and the chief liquidator," and noted, "To manage internal conflict in the association, we plan to hold a mediation committee composed of a support group of liquidation experts in mid-month."
Seocho Useong 1st is an apartment complex at 1755 Seocho-dong, Seocho District, Seoul, which, after reconstruction, is now Ramian Leaders One. The complex is a five-minute walk from Gangnam Station, where Line No. 2 and the Shinbundang Line run. Consisting of 12 buildings and 1,317 households, it was completed and occupied in Sep. 2020. The reconstruction was carried out in integration with the Seocho Useong Shopping Center, a retail complex within the site.
Seocho District stepped in because the association's liquidation remains unfinished in the sixth year after occupancy, and conflict between members and the chief liquidator is growing. The association has received a request for materials from the district office. An association official said, "Seocho District requested an explanation of the reasons for the uncompleted liquidation," and added, "We plan to submit a response after seeking legal advice."
The association held a dissolution general meeting on Mar. 30, 2023. The scheduled liquidation date was reportedly set for Mar. 2026. However, even after the scheduled date passed, the liquidation was not completed. The association planned to hold an extraordinary general meeting on Apr. 25 to vote on liquidation-related agenda items, but that meeting was also postponed.
At the heart of the conflict is the money left in the association. The association liquidation emergency committee claims the funds currently remaining amount to 9.5 billion won. However, the amount that will go back to members may change during the actual liquidation process. That is because IMGC, a maintenance firm that supported liquidation tasks through 2023 before its contract was terminated, filed a lawsuit seeking the remaining service fee, and a settlement issue remains with the retail unit owners within the complex who joined the integrated reconstruction.
A member of the emergency committee said, "Even after excluding the money to be paid to the maintenance firm and the retail unit owners, we see that a considerable sum remains," and added, "It is hard to understand why liquidation is being delayed."
Our newsroom made multiple attempts to contact the chief liquidator's side for comment but could not reach them.
Cases in which reconstruction and redevelopment associations delay dissolution or liquidation even after finishing their projects are appearing across Seoul. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, as of the end of last year, 158 reconstruction and redevelopment associations in Seoul had not dissolved or liquidated after project completion. Among them, 16 had not dissolved, and 142 had not liquidated.
Choi Seong-tae, head of the association operations improvement team in the Housing Maintenance Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "We are continuously monitoring maintenance project associations that have not dissolved or liquidated," and added, "We are urging those associations to wrap up promptly."