"500 Won for External Vehicles per 30 Minutes" Policy at Busan Apartment... District Office Says "No"

Decision by Residents' Association of 7,300-Unit Large Apartment Complex in Busan
Starting January Next Year, External Vehicles Charged 500 Won Every 30 Minutes
Nam-gu Office "Fines Will Be Imposed If Not Withdrawn"

LG Metrocity, located in Yongho-dong, Nam-gu, Busan Metropolitan City, is the largest large-scale apartment complex in Busan, combining two complexes with over 80 buildings and 7,374 households. It is also called Metrocity or Metro. Since it was built in the early 2000s, it has above-ground parking lots and underground parking up to the third basement level. The number of parking spaces per household is 1.7, which is relatively ample. Due to its large scale, about 30,000 vehicles come and go daily.

LG Metro City Complex Internal Road. Photo by Yonhap News

As parking difficulties and safety concerns increased, the apartment complex planned to charge facility usage fees for external vehicles staying longer than one hour starting in 2019. At that time, external vehicles were considered illegally parked if they stayed beyond two hours, and a facility usage fee of 500 KRW per 30 minutes, up to a maximum of 7,500 KRW per day, was proposed. However, Nam-gu Office, the local district office, issued correction orders to the management entity and the residents' representative council, stating that charging parking fees was not allowed. In August last year, a fine of 3.12 million KRW was also collected.

The apartment complex recently approved a plan to charge facility usage fees for vehicles passing through the roads within the complex starting next year. From January, external vehicles will be charged 500 KRW every 30 minutes from the moment they enter the complex.

On the 21st, Nam-gu Office announced that it sent an official letter to the residents' representative council demanding the withdrawal of the apartment’s internal regulation that prohibits external vehicle passage. They also warned that if the apartment regulations are not revised by the 19th of next month, a fine of 5 million KRW will be imposed.

Nam-gu Office views the collection of tolls within the complex as a violation of the Apartment Housing Management Act, as it constitutes using apartment facilities for commercial purposes. According to this law, roads within the complex are auxiliary facilities of the apartment housing and must not be used for profit-making purposes.

Busan Ilbo cited reasons for the apartment’s stricter toll collection, including indiscriminate long-term parking by external vehicles and inconvenience to residents’ parking. It also explained that when roads around the apartment are congested, vehicles use the internal roads of the complex as a “shortcut,” which is another cause of the issue.