Monthly Inspections of Brokerage Offices Starting This Month
Selection of Target Areas Including Regions with Rising Housing Prices
Penalties for Collusion, False Listings, and Unqualified Brokerage
Seoul City will conduct intensive inspections every month starting this month on real estate brokerage offices in areas where illegal brokerage activities are suspected, aiming to eradicate illegal real estate brokerage practices and stabilize the real estate market.
According to the city on the 26th, the first inspection target is brokerage offices around Olympic Park Foreon (Dunchon Jugong Reconstruction) in Gangdong-gu. Olympic Park Foreon is a large apartment complex with a total of 12,032 households, scheduled for move-in at the end of November this year. The city explained, “Over the past year, the sale price of this complex has risen by more than 20%, and the opening and relocation of brokerage offices around the complex increased by 36% (97 out of 269 offices) over six months, raising concerns about illegal brokerage activities.”
The inspection will be jointly conducted by the Seoul City Rapid Response Team, the Civil Life Judicial Police Bureau, and Gangdong-gu. All real estate brokerage offices in Gangdong-gu will be informed about major legal violations and penalty regulations, and a notice requesting restraint from illegal brokerage activities will be sent.
Collusive price-fixing, false listings, exaggerated advertisements, unlicensed brokerage activities, and other violations will also be inspected. If illegal activities are detected, they will be immediately transferred to investigation for strict punishment, and minor issues will be subject to corrective actions and administrative guidance.
Additionally, cases violating the Personal Information Protection Act and the Information and Communications Network Act, such as illegal acquisition of personal information and spam calls or text messages caused by overheated competition among new real estate brokerage offices, will be investigated and reported to relevant agencies.
In the first half of this year, the city conducted joint inspections with autonomous districts on 39 real estate brokerage offices, and among them, 33 offices were subject to business suspension and fines due to improper confirmation and explanation of brokerage objects, advertising violations, missing signatures, and unreported employees.
The city plans to continue analyzing factors driving regional real estate price increases to select inspection targets and operate the “Real Estate Illegal Activity Rapid Response Team” to conduct monthly planned inspections on speculative activities such as illegal resale of pre-sale rights and price collusion.
Meanwhile, citizens who discover illegal real estate activities or suffer damages can report through smartphone applications and the Seoul City website. Informants can receive rewards of up to 200 million KRW.
Cho Nam-jun, Director of the Seoul City Urban Space Headquarters, stated, “Illegal brokerage activities disrupting the order of real estate transactions are still occurring in various forms,” and added, “If such cases are found, we will respond with a zero-tolerance policy to create a transparent real estate market.”
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