Multi-Billion Won Rolls-Royce Parked in Rental Apartment Parking Lot... Controversy Over Long-Term Free Parking

Sightings on Online Communities: "Long-term Free Parking"
Rental Housing Lease Renewal Not Allowed If Car Exceeds Standard Amount

There is controversy over claims that a Rolls-Royce worth hundreds of millions of won has been parked for an extended period in the parking lot of a rental apartment in Gyeonggi Province.

On the 13th, an online community, Bobae Dream, posted an article titled "Free Parking of Rolls-Royce at LH Rental Apartment (Happy Housing) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province."

The poster, Mr. A, revealed photos of the vehicle, stating, "The car is worth several times the maximum vehicle value allowed for registration in rental apartments and has been parked for several months free of charge."

A Rolls-Royce vehicle parked at a rental apartment in Paju, Gyeonggi-do. (Photo by Online Community)

The eligibility criteria for moving into LH national rental housing and Happy Housing (as of 2024) require total assets, including real estate, financial assets, and automobiles, to be under 345 million KRW, and the vehicle's standard value must be 37.08 million KRW or less. University students must not own any vehicles subject to vehicle value calculation.

Mr. A added, "Since the vehicle value far exceeds the limit, it naturally has no parking registration sticker or visitor pass. At first, I thought it was a visitor's car, but I saw it leave and come back, and since it keeps being parked there, it seems to be a regular parking."

This is not the first time that expensive cars parked in rental housing have caused controversy. Witness reports of high-end cars such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ferrari, and Maserati have continuously appeared on online communities and social media (SNS).

In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced in January that it would implement the revised "Public Housing Work Processing Guidelines." Previously, to support asset formation for public rental housing tenants, even if income and asset requirements were exceeded after moving in, tenants could renew their contracts.

The revised regulation limits contract renewal to one time if income or assets are exceeded. The value of automobiles is excluded from the asset excess criteria because there have been cases where tenants purchased expensive imported cars after moving in and continued to live in rental housing. If tenants want to renew their rental contract, they can do so once even if income and asset criteria are exceeded, but if the vehicle value exceeds the standard, contract renewal is not allowed.

However, Mr. A claimed that nothing has changed despite filing complaints with the relevant ministries. He said, "Even if I file complaints with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, LH, or the management office, they only say they will take action but do nothing," adding, "I am thinking about reporting this to the news."