What’s the story behind Songpa District Mayor Park Seong-su’s thank-you call to landlords who reduced rent?

Songpa-gu Sees Continued Support from 'Good Landlords' Offering Rent Reductions and Deferrals

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa District, is making a thank-you and encouragement call to a landlord who recently reduced the rent at 3 p.m. on the 26th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) announced on the 27th that recently, as the economy stagnated due to the spread of COVID-19, local building owners have reduced rents to support tenant self-employed business owners and small business owners in the area.

Building owners are voluntarily extending a helping hand for mutual growth to overcome the crisis together, such as shrinking consumer sentiment and management difficulties, drawing attention.

According to the district, recently, building owner A in Munjeong-dong decided to reduce the monthly rent by 30% (approximately 20 million KRW) for 10 stores in his building for the next three months.

News of participation also came from Pungnap-dong, where concerns about urban hollowing out were rising in conjunction with the urban regeneration project. Building owner B in Pungnap-dong, who readily agreed to tenants' requests for rent reduction, expressed his intention to reduce the monthly rent by 12% (200,000 KRW) for the next three months.

Building owner C in Garak-dong also decided to defer monthly rent worth approximately 1 million KRW for a long period until the business conditions of the tenant stores improve. In particular, C has frozen the tenant security deposits of small business owners for the past 25 years and has been leading regional economic coexistence by reducing monthly rents for stores that are usually struggling financially.

In response, Mayor Park Seong-su of the district office called the building owners who set an example for neighbors to express gratitude and encouragement.

The district hopes that the good deeds of building owners who extended a warm hand despite the difficult situation will spread.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa-gu, said, “I am grateful to those who readily offered help during these difficult times,” and added, “We will mobilize all our capabilities to protect the safety of residents and help the local economy recover as soon as possible to overcome this crisis.”