Lease Law Including Jeonwolse Limit System, 49.5% Oppose, 43.5% Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Opposition to the revised Housing Lease Protection Act, which includes the rent ceiling system and the right to request contract renewal, was found to be higher than support. In particular, the metropolitan area showed a gap of nearly 10 percentage points with opposition exceeding support, and opposition was also higher in non-metropolitan areas.

According to Realmeter's survey commissioned by OhmyNews, conducted on 1,000 people from the 4th to the 5th, opposition to the revised Lease Protection Act was 49.5%, while support was 43.5%, the agency announced on the 6th. The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The revised law guarantees tenants a minimum residence period of four years and limits the rent increase rate upon contract renewal to no more than 5%.

In the metropolitan area, opposition was 50.0% and support was 40.3%, showing the largest gap. In non-metropolitan areas, opposition was 49.0% and support was 46.7%. By region, opposition rates were 52.5% in Seoul and 48.5% in Gyeonggi-Incheon. Daegu-Gyeongbuk (TK) and Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam (PK) showed the highest levels at 58.7% and 57.8%, respectively. Conversely, in Gwangju-Jeolla, support was overwhelmingly high at 74.3%, and in Daejeon-Sejong-Chungcheong, support was 51.3%, higher than opposition at 46.2%.

Responses differed depending on whether respondents owned a home. Among homeowners, opposition was 51.0% and support was 43.1%, whereas non-owners showed a smaller gap with opposition at 46.8% and support at 44.3%. In the metropolitan area, homeowners showed opposition at 55.9%, significantly higher than support at 36.5%, but among non-owners, support was higher at 45.7% compared to opposition at 41.7%.

Meanwhile, in a public opinion poll conducted on the 5th with 500 adults asking whether multi-home high-ranking officials should be excluded from real estate duties (sampling error ±4.4 percentage points at 95% confidence level), 73.7% overwhelmingly supported exclusion. Those who answered "It doesn't matter even if they take the role" were 16.1%, and "Don't know" was 10.2%.

By region, the highest support for exclusion was in PK at 79.4%. Gwangju-Jeolla (77.0%), Gyeonggi-Incheon (74.6%), TK (71.5%), and Seoul (71.2%) followed, while Daejeon-Sejong-Chungcheong showed the lowest at 66.4%.