Songpa-gu to Prevent Damage to Juyuk Housing Association... Implementation of Improvement Measures

Create Standard Forms and Strengthen Land Acquisition Criteria
Seoul City's First Plan to Improve Jiju Taek

Seok-Seok Seo, Mayor of Songpa District.

Seoul Songpa-gu District Office (District Mayor Seo Gang-seok) announced on the 1st that it has established and will implement the first-ever improvement measures for local housing association projects in Seoul to prevent damages to local residents and association members caused by local housing associations in advance.

The local housing association project is a system designed to help homeowners (with exclusive area under 85㎡) and low-income residents without homes in a certain area secure housing. While it offers the advantage of acquiring housing relatively cheaper than general apartments, many victims have occurred due to operational corruption by association executives and management agencies or delays in land acquisition.

District Mayor Seo Gang-seok explained, “Contrary to the original purpose of introducing the local housing association system, cases of material and mental damages to association members due to project delays and cancellations are rapidly increasing,” and added, “To prevent resident damages, Songpa-gu has independently prepared improvement measures.”

On the 17th of last month, the district prepared improvement measures related to local housing association projects, including ▲establishing Songpa-gu standard forms such as land use consent forms ▲strengthening the securing of land use rights ▲adjusting the timing of architectural review applications.

Establishment of Songpa-gu Standard Forms such as Land Use Consent Forms and Land Use Agreement Forms

Under current laws, there are no specific forms for securing land use rights, so most consent and agreement forms without detailed project explanations are arbitrarily created, signed, and submitted, resulting in many cases where opposition and conflicts from landowners cause project delays during subsequent processes.

Accordingly, the district prepared standard forms that include project details, procedures, and information about the recruiting entity so that landowners can properly understand the project and agree to land use. From now on, when applying for association establishment approval and member recruitment notification, the Songpa-gu land use consent form should be used, and when applying for architectural review, the Songpa-gu land use agreement form should be used.

Strengthening Criteria for Securing Land Use Rights at Association Establishment Approval

Even if a local housing association secures land use rights for more than 80% of the project area and establishes the association, there is a high probability that the project will be prolonged or canceled because the remaining 20% of landowners oppose, preventing the purchase of the entire land.

Therefore, the district added a condition requiring mandatory securing of land use rights for ‘important land’ within the project area. ‘Important land’ that may hinder the project, as defined by the district, includes ▲land with detached houses, multi-family houses, neighborhood living facilities (shops), etc. ▲land occupying 5% or more of the total project area.

Adjusting the Timing of Architectural Review Applications to After Association Establishment

Current housing laws do not mandate the timing of architectural review applications, so if the application for architectural review such as designer selection and housing project plans occurs during the member recruitment stage, unnecessary costs arise and members’ rights are infringed. Therefore, the timing of architectural review applications has been adjusted to after association establishment, allowing members to select the designer directly through a general meeting, thereby protecting members’ rights.

District Mayor Seo Gang-seok stated, “We hope that with the implementation of these improvement measures, there will be no more resident damages related to the six local housing association projects currently underway in the district,” and added, “We will continue to discover and improve unreasonable systems in local housing projects.”