Grand Bench: "Proper Land Share Acquirers Have the Right to Use and Benefit from the Entire Land"
[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Supreme Court has ruled that owners of collective buildings such as apartments or villas who own part of the land do not need to pay separate land usage fees to the landowners.
The Supreme Court en banc (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheol-sang) on the 25th unanimously overturned the lower court ruling that had favored plaintiff A, who owned only a land share, in the unjust enrichment refund lawsuit against B, an individual villa owner and land share owner, and remanded the case to the Seoul Central District Court.
Accordingly, the previous precedent that a person owning only land could claim unjust enrichment refund from individual homeowners with appropriate land shares based on general civil law principles regarding co-owned property has been changed.
A became the owner of part of the land in Bangbae-dong, Seoul, through a gift from his father in 1978 and additional inheritance in 2011. A four-story villa was built on the land in 1980, which was co-owned by B and others. In 2003, a temporary building was also constructed, so the entire land was used as the site for the villa and the temporary building.
B owned part of the building as well as the corresponding land share, but A only held the land share without ownership of the building.
In 2014, A filed a lawsuit claiming that B and others should return the ‘unjust enrichment’ corresponding to the land share, arguing, "B and others benefit from using the land, but I cannot use it at all, so I am suffering damages."
The first and second trials ruled in favor of A. The legal principle of civil law that a co-owner who exclusively uses part of the shared land and benefits from it must return unjust enrichment to other co-owners regardless of their share ratio was the basis.
However, the Supreme Court stated, "In the case of collective buildings, the land usage right, i.e., the land share, is integrated and dependent on the exclusive part (building part), so the general civil law principles cannot be directly applied to the shared land relationship of collective building land," presenting a new standard of judgment.
The en banc ruled, "A unit owner who has acquired an appropriate land share has the right to fully use and benefit from the entire land according to its purpose," and "Since the unit owner does not need to acquire or benefit from other land co-owners’ shares to own the exclusive part, it cannot be considered an infringement on the land co-owner’s share rights."
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