[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] A subcommittee responsible for adjudication will be newly established within the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Defect Review and Dispute Mediation Committee. Additionally, detailed standards for operating the adjudication procedure for apartment defect disputes have been prepared.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will publicly notify the amendment drafts of the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Act on the Management of Multi-family Housing, which include these contents, for 40 days starting from the 28th.
First, according to the amendment, a subcommittee dedicated to dispute adjudication will be newly established within the Ministry's Defect Review and Dispute Mediation Committee.
Adjudication is a procedure different from mediation and was introduced through a legal amendment on December 8 last year. It will be implemented from December 9 this year.
In the case of mediation, it is a dispute resolution procedure with a flexible format, and the parties are free to accept the outcome. In contrast, adjudication follows a strict quasi-judicial investigation procedure, and if the parties do not file an appeal within 60 days, it is recognized as having the effect of a judicial settlement.
The amendment also establishes detailed procedures for adjudication, such as notification of hearing dates, attendance requests, oath-taking by attendees, matters to be recorded in the interrogation report, and referral of adjudication cases to the mediation subcommittee if necessary.
Furthermore, to strengthen the defect management system of multi-family housing, the amendment obliges the management entity acting on behalf of residents to keep records of defect claims, stipulating the list of documents to be kept, methods and periods of storage, and procedures allowing residents to view and copy them after identity verification.
Starting from April, since local government heads must provide the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport with usage and payment details of defect repair deposits, the amendment requires the project owner to deposit 3% of the construction cost upon completion to guarantee defect repairs if the project owner fails to fulfill defect liability.
Each local government must register the usage and payment details of defect repair deposits in the Defect Management Information System by the end of January of the following year annually.
Kim Kyunghun, Director of the Housing Construction Supply Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "We expect that this amendment will enhance the speed and effectiveness of resolving multi-family housing defect disputes."
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