Gyeonggi-do Special Judicial Police Take Action to Eradicate Real Estate Corruption

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is set to take full-scale action to eradicate corrupt practices in real estate.

The Gyeonggi Province Fair Special Judicial Police Unit announced on the 19th that it plans to significantly expand its investigative personnel this year and conduct intensive investigations to eliminate corrupt real estate practices.

First, the Special Judicial Police will reorganize the Real Estate Investigation Team, which was newly established last April with five investigators, and expand the team to nine members. Additionally, to broaden the scope of investigations, cooperation with special judicial police officers in cities and counties (167 personnel) will be strengthened.

The main targets of investigation include ▲ fraudulent apartment subscription applications ▲ illegal resale ▲ price collusion ▲ unqualified or unregistered brokerage ▲ excessive brokerage fees ▲ and brokerage activities involving temporary brokerage facilities (tteotdabang).

To eradicate illegal acts such as false residency registration and forged pregnancy certificates that deprive legitimate applicants of their subscription rights, the Special Judicial Police began investigations this month into 22,464 households across 20 apartment complexes in the province where subscription competition rates exceeded 10 to 1 last year.

Furthermore, starting from the 20th of next month, following amendments to the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act, investigations will be possible into price-fixing activities such as displaying or advertising prices significantly higher than market value or restricting or inducing brokerage requests to specific licensed real estate agents, and such investigations will be conducted accordingly.

Kim Young-soo, head of the Special Judicial Police Unit, emphasized, "Based on the core values of fairness, peace, and welfare in the 7th elected provincial administration, this year we will focus our investigative capabilities on blocking unfair gains from corrupt real estate practices and ensuring the rights of the residents."