2142 Rental Dispute Mediation Applications from 2020 to August This Year
44 Cases in 2020 → 665 Cases in 2023
Conflicts Mainly Due to Deposit or Housing Return Issues
Conflicts between landlords and tenants have been increasing every year. The number of applications for dispute mediation in housing lease agreements rose more than 15 times, from 44 cases in 2020 to 665 cases last year. This reflects issues related to deposit or housing returns following the impact of jeonse fraud.
Mang Seong-gyu, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Chairman of the Land Committee), announced this on the 16th based on the "Status of Applications and Processing of Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committee" received from the Korea Real Estate Board and Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). From 2020 to last month, a total of 2,142 applications were submitted to the Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committee.
Conflicts between tenants and landlords are steadily increasing. The number of applications submitted to the Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committee, managed by the Korea Real Estate Board and LH, by year are ▲ 44 cases in 2020 ▲ 353 cases in 2021 ▲ 621 cases in 2022 ▲ 665 cases in 2023. This year, 459 applications have been received up to last month.
The Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committee is an organization established to mediate and resolve various disputes arising between parties in lease contract relationships. When tenants and landlords apply for dispute mediation through this committee, conflicts can be resolved at a lower cost than litigation.
The most common conflicts between tenants and landlords were related to deposits or housing return issues. Among the 2,142 dispute mediation applications received from 2020 to last month, conflicts over deposits or housing returns accounted for the largest share at 35.8% (768 cases). These conflicts increased annually with ▲ 17 cases in 2020 ▲ 118 cases in 2021 ▲ 165 cases in 2022 ▲ 248 cases in 2023. This year, 220 cases have been received up to last month.
Next were conflicts due to compensation issues (22.8%, 489 cases) and conflicts related to lease contract renewal or termination issues (19.7%, 422 cases).
Although the number of dispute mediation applications is increasing, the effectiveness of mediation is declining. The number of cases where actual mediation was achieved through the Dispute Mediation Committee was 474, accounting for 22.1% of the total. There were also 107 cases where mediation failed because landlords and tenants did not accept the mediation proposals suggested by the committee.
There were 802 cases, or 37.4% of the total, where tenants or landlords applied for mediation but the committee did not proceed with the mediation process. According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the dismissal rate of mediation includes cases where both parties reconciled through the committee's persuasion before mediation was established and thus did not proceed with mediation.
Assemblyman Mang said, "It is necessary to actively analyze dispute cases and seek fundamental measures to prevent conflicts between landlords and tenants."
Meanwhile, the statutory processing period for the Dispute Mediation Committee is 60 days according to the Housing Lease Protection Act. In unavoidable cases, a 30-day extension is possible. The mediation processing period takes about 32 days for committees under LH jurisdiction and about 37 days for committees under the Korea Real Estate Board jurisdiction.
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