No Illegal Subscription Allowed! ... Gyeongnam Province Strictly Cracks Down on Falsified Residency and Divorce Cases

Large-Scale Apartment Sales Scheduled in the Province, Housing Market Supply Order May Be Disrupted

Gyeongsangnam-do is conducting a campaign to establish transparent real estate transaction order.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Gyeongnam Province plans to take strong action against illegal subscription activities that disrupt the supply order in the real estate market.

Gyeongsangnam-do anticipated market disruption activities as the housing subscription market heats up due to the upcoming large-scale apartment sales in Changwon City, Gimhae City, Yangsan City, and other areas.

They emphasized that acts disrupting the housing market supply order, such as false address registration, subscription account trading, fake divorces, and illegal resale, are punishable under the Housing Act.

According to the province, false address registration refers to moving the registered address solely to obtain subscription eligibility in a certain area, without actual residence, such as registering residence only for houses, commercial buildings, or farm sheds.

False address registration violates the Resident Registration Act, and applying for housing subscription through this method also constitutes a violation of the Housing Act.

Subscription account trading involves subscription brokers receiving financial certificates or other credentials from applicants with high chances of winning, applying on their behalf, or signing proxy contracts after winning, effectively buying or selling subscription accounts or eligibility.

Fake divorce refers to falsely divorcing to receive special supply benefits again or to increase subscription points targeting the special supply for newlywed couples in public housing sales.

Among newlywed special supplies, public housing selects residents based on quantitative evaluations such as the number of children, continuous residence period in the housing construction area, number of payments into the housing subscription savings, marriage duration, or the age of the youngest child; fake divorces exploit this selection method.

Illegal resale refers to signing side contracts during the resale restriction period and, after the restriction period ends, transferring rights and obligations of the sales rights with the developer.

Those who illegally resell housing, mediate illegal resale, or violate prohibitions such as subscription account trading are subject to imprisonment of up to three years or fines up to 30 million KRW under Article 101 (Penalties) of the Housing Act.

If the profit gained from the violation exceeds 10 million KRW, a fine up to three times the amount of the profit must be paid. Along with criminal penalties, contracts are canceled, housing is reclaimed, and subscription eligibility is restricted for the next 10 years.

The province is guiding the types of disruptive acts to stabilize the housing market and conducting campaigns to eradicate illegal brokerage activities to protect genuine housing demanders from damage.

Heo Dongsik, Director of the Urban Transportation Bureau, said, “We will promote major violation cases and penalty regulations to prevent disruptive acts in advance so that residents do not suffer damages, and we plan to carry out intensive inspection activities.”