Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Implements Pre-Occupancy Visits and Quality Inspection Teams for Apartment Residents
Project Owners to Repair Defects Identified During Pre-Visits Before Move-In
Quality Inspection Teams Operated by 17 City and Provincial Governors Also Fully Activated
[Asia Economy Reporter Jo Gang-wook] Pre-move-in defect repair measures will be mandatory for newly constructed apartments. Accordingly, any defects discovered and pointed out during the pre-move-in inspection must be repaired or otherwise addressed before move-in.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that the revised Housing Act, which introduces a pre-move-in visit and quality inspection team system for prospective residents of apartments and other multi-family housing, will take effect from the 24th.
Accordingly, newly constructed multi-family housing will allow prospective residents to receive appropriate measures such as repair work before move-in through pre-move-in visits and expert quality inspections.
Construction companies and other multi-family housing project entities must conduct pre-move-in visits for prospective residents for at least two days, starting 45 days before the designated move-in period. Additionally, they must establish an action plan for issues pointed out by prospective residents during the pre-move-in visit and submit it to the inspection authority (mayor, county governor, or district head).
Project entities must provide prospective residents with a pre-move-in checklist referring to the standard checklist. Furthermore, for defects pointed out during the pre-move-in visit, major defects must be repaired before the usage inspection, and other defects must be repaired before move-in. Failure to comply will result in a fine of 5 million KRW.
Major defects refer to defects that cause or may cause serious safety or functional problems in living in the multi-family housing, such as cracks in reinforced concrete structural members, exposed rebar, subsidence of retaining walls or roads, leaks, electrical leakage, gas leaks, and elevator malfunctions.
However, repairs may not be completed before move-in due to unavoidable circumstances of the project entity. In such cases, the local government must officially recognize the reason, and the project entity must separately negotiate the defect repair schedule with the prospective residents and carry out the repairs accordingly.
If the project entity judges that a defect pointed out by a prospective resident during the pre-move-in visit is not a defect, the project entity may request the local government to verify the defect status. The local government must determine the defect status independently or confirm it through consultation with the quality inspection team.
This system applies to multi-family housing where pre-move-in visits for prospective residents are conducted after this date.
In addition, cities and provinces will form and operate multi-family housing quality inspection teams.
The inspection teams, composed of architects, engineers, university professors, and other experts with housing construction expertise, will inspect common areas that prospective residents find difficult to check directly and the construction status of exclusive-use areas with three or more households in complexes with 300 or more households.
Kim Kyung-heon, Director of the Housing Construction Supply Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "With the enforcement of the revised Housing Act, defects in multi-family housing will be repaired early, reducing inconvenience for residents. We plan to continuously promote system improvements to supply high-quality multi-family housing and enhance residents' rights and interests."
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