Amendment Effective from the 21st
5 Million Won Fine Imposed for False Management Fee Disclosure
From now on, if the flat-rate maintenance fee for small-scale housing such as one-room apartments and officetels exceeds 100,000 won, detailed breakdowns must be displayed. This is to prevent the trick of shifting monthly rent to maintenance fees, ensure transparency in maintenance fees, and guarantee tenants' right to know.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that, as a follow-up measure to the 'Small-scale Housing Maintenance Fee Transparency Plan,' the revised notice on the 'Detailed Standards for Display and Advertisement of Brokerage Objects,' which requires detailed breakdowns of flat-rate maintenance fees for small-scale housing such as one-room apartments and officetels in advertisements, will be enforced from the 21st.
Until now, there have been no separate regulations on maintenance fees for apartments, multi-family houses, officetels, etc., with fewer than 50 households. Because of this, university students, young workers, and others living in these residences found it difficult to obtain accurate maintenance fee information when searching for or signing contracts for properties.
Among some landlords, there were deceptive contracts where monthly rent was lowered and maintenance fees increased to evade the monthly rent reporting system or to receive benefits as cooperative landlords.
However, according to this revised notice, when a flat-rate maintenance fee of 100,000 won or more is charged, the detailed items must be specifically displayed and advertised by categorizing them into ▲general management fees ▲usage fees ▲other management fees.
If violated, simple failure to indicate maintenance fee details will result in a fine of 500,000 won, and false, misleading, or exaggerated maintenance fee display advertisements will incur a fine of 5,000,000 won.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to operate a six-month guidance period until the end of March next year to reduce confusion in the field due to this notice revision. Additionally, to ensure the system is well established, intensive monitoring of unfair maintenance fee displays and advertisements on the internet will be conducted.
Nam Woo-young, Director of Land Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “The purpose of this notice revision is to transparently disclose maintenance fees for one-room apartments and officetels mainly used by young people. During the guidance period, we will strengthen education for licensed real estate agents, who are the main actors in real estate advertisements, and simultaneously conduct public awareness campaigns to ensure the system is stably established.”
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