Seoul City Joins Rent Reduction Effort... "Supporting Small Business Owners"

Common maintenance fees waived for 6 months, rent payment deferred until August
A total of 9,106 stores expected to receive benefits worth 55 billion KRW
Anticipated spread of private local commercial rent reduction campaign

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is delivering opening remarks at the 'COVID-19 District Mayors Meeting' held on the 26th in the Planning Situation Room of Seoul City Hall. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] To support small business owners affected by the novel coronavirus infection (hereinafter COVID-19), Seoul City has decided to charge only half of the public market rent for a certain period or defer the payment.

On the 28th, Seoul City announced that it will reduce the rent of public markets owned by the city by 50% for six months starting from February. Common maintenance fees will also be fully waived, and the rent payment deadline will be extended until August.

Seoul City is working with the City Council to amend the Seoul Metropolitan Shared Property and Goods Management Ordinance to include these measures. The support targets include underground shopping centers, World Cup Stadium, Gocheok Dome, subway shopping centers, and others owned by Seoul City and its investment and affiliated institutions. Seoul City expects that "a total benefit of 55 billion KRW will be provided to 9,106 stores."

The rent reduction for shopping centers will apply to small business owners from February to July. During this period, common maintenance fees such as security and cleaning staff wages will also be fully waived. For underground shopping centers, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), Gocheok Dome, World Cup Stadium shopping centers, etc., where one year’s rent must be paid in advance, the payment deadline extension means rent only needs to be paid until August.

The Seoul City Council plans to process the rent reduction-related ordinance within this session (the 291st extraordinary session), which ends on March 6. Seoul City is also considering various support measures if private landlords voluntarily reduce rents.