LH "Rental Apartment Parking Controversy: 'Rolls-Royce' Owned by Outsider... Apology After Exit"

Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) clarified on the 15th regarding the controversy over a Rolls-Royce vehicle parked for a long time at a rental apartment in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, stating, "The vehicle in question has been confirmed as an unauthorized parked vehicle without contact information, not a vehicle belonging to a tenant of the rental housing."

It added, "As of today, the vehicle has been removed, and we have received an apology from the owner for the unauthorized parking along with a promise to prevent recurrence."

Rolls-Royce vehicle parked at LH rental apartment in Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do. / Photo by Online Community

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

The author, Mr. A, revealed a photo, saying, "A car worth several times the maximum vehicle value allowed for registration in rental apartments has been parked for free for several months." The vehicle in the photo was a black Rolls-Royce parked in what appeared to be an underground parking lot of a building. Netizens speculated it was a Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Badge. This model is worth several hundred million won per unit.

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

As of this year, the eligibility for LH public rental housing and Happy Housing tenants requires total assets, including real estate, financial assets, and vehicles, to be 345 million won or less. The vehicle value must be 37.08 million won or less. University students must not own vehicles subject to vehicle value calculation.

This is not the first controversy over high-priced vehicles parked in rental apartments. Due to frequent controversies, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport implemented a revised "Public Housing Work Processing Guideline" starting January. If the income or assets of public rental housing tenants exceed the requirements after moving in, contract renewal is limited to once. Furthermore, vehicle value is strictly regulated, and if it exceeds the asset threshold, contract renewal is prohibited due to the high risk of abuse.

As the controversy spread, LH explained, "We placed parking violation stickers several times to remove the vehicle," adding, "The apartment parking lot is not subject to the Road Traffic Act (road), so immediate forced enforcement such as towing is not possible due to concerns about property damage charges."

It further stated, "To minimize inconvenience to tenants, we will strengthen the management system of rental housing," and "Additionally, we will propose institutional improvements to the government to enable immediate action against unauthorized parked vehicles."