"LH Public Rental Housing Must Undergo Annual Audit of Management Fees"... Amendment Proposed

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] A bill has been proposed to mandate annual audits of management fees for public rental apartments managed by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and others.

On the 13th, Lee Gyumin, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced that he had taken the lead in proposing the "Partial Amendment to the Special Act on Public Housing," which mandates audits for public rental apartments such as those managed by LH.

According to the amendment, public rental housing must conduct at least one audit annually on management fees and disclose the audit results.

Under current law, private apartments are required to undergo an audit once a year, but public rental apartments are not subject to mandatory audits.

As a result, there has been an issue where management fees for public rental apartments are charged somewhat higher than those for private apartments, but detailed information is not available. Additionally, it has been difficult to detect and monitor fraudulent use of management fees by management companies, leading to dissatisfaction among residents.

Lee said, "Because rental apartment management fees have been operated in a black-box manner, there have been unreasonable cases where management fees exceeding twice the monthly rent are charged," adding, "I hope this amendment will help increase transparency in publicly led rental housing and guarantee a higher quality living environment for the public."