Received a refund of 45.63 million KRW from the Korea Land Safety Management Institute through swift decision-making and proactive administration on government policy
Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Lee Seong-heon) announced on the 7th that it recently saved budget by receiving a refund of 45.63 million KRW after withdrawing its request for a ‘Reconstruction Feasibility Review’ for the DMC Hanyang Apartment in Bukgajwa-dong, which had been requested from the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency.
Until last year, if a ‘conditional reconstruction’ judgment was issued in a private institution’s reconstruction safety diagnosis, it was mandatory to undergo a feasibility review by a public institution (Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency).
Accordingly, the district requested a feasibility review from the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency in May 2022 after the DMC Hanyang Apartment in Bukgajwa-dong received a ‘conditional reconstruction’ judgment in September 2021.
Subsequently, the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency requested Seodaemun-gu to supplement materials for the feasibility review. However, the district withheld submitting the materials in July 2022, following the government’s planned announcement to relax the reconstruction safety diagnosis standards.
As scheduled, the government revised the ‘Safety Diagnosis Standards for Housing Reconstruction Judgments’ in January 2023 to allow local governments discretion over detailed safety diagnoses conducted by public institutions.
Based on this, the district withdrew its request for the feasibility review from the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency in January 2023.
Additionally, the district conducted its own review of the feasibility of the DMC Hanyang Apartment in Bukgajwa-dong and made a final decision to pass the reconstruction safety diagnosis in February 2023.
The relevant departments of the district actively requested a refund of the feasibility review fee by sending multiple official letters and making phone calls to the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency.
Accordingly, the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency settled part of the fee based on the ratio of the review period performed (3 days) to the statutory review period (60 days) from the total amount paid by Seodaemun-gu (48.038 million KRW) and refunded 45.6361 million KRW to Seodaemun-gu last month.
If the district staff had mechanically responded to the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Agency’s request for supplementary materials and proceeded with the feasibility review regardless of the government’s planned policy change announcement, the district might not have been able to recover the full amount depending on the circumstances.
Lee Seong-heon, Mayor of Seodaemun-gu, stated, “Thanks to the staff’s quick judgment and proactive administration regarding government policy, we were able to save valuable budget, which we plan to use to enhance welfare for our residents.”
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