A 30-Year-Old Who Won Newlywed Special Housing by Falsifying Address Faces a 2 Million Won Fine

Appealed Summary Order with Formal Trial Request but 'Guilty'
Upon Guilty Confirmation, Housing Confiscation and 10-Year Subscription Ban

A man in his 30s who won a special supply apartment lottery for newlyweds through false address registration filed a formal trial after appealing a summary order but was ultimately sentenced to a fine. According to Yonhap News on the 23rd, the 3-3 Criminal Appeal Division of the Busan District Court dismissed the appeal of Mr. A, a man in his 30s indicted for violating the Housing Act, and sentenced him to a fine of 2 million won. In June 2022, Mr. A won the special supply lottery for newlyweds at a newly built apartment in Busan by registering an address there without actually residing in Busan.

Busan District Court.

Under the current Housing Act, only those residing in the relevant area are given priority qualification for apartment lottery draws. Also, housing must not be obtained through false or fraudulent means. Ultimately, Mr. A received a summary order imposing a fine of 2 million won for violating the Housing Act. A summary order is a procedure where fines or penalties are imposed by the district court based solely on written examination without a trial. However, he appealed this decision and requested a formal trial.

During the first trial, Mr. A claimed that he registered his move to Busan to take care of his brother living there and that he did not intentionally violate the Housing Act. However, the court did not accept Mr. A’s claim. The court reasoned that since Mr. A could have taken care of his brother without changing his registered address, there was no need to register his move to Busan, and in fact, his actual residence was not in Busan.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, Mr. A appealed. In the appeal trial, he argued that he won the lottery regardless of his residence, but the court dismissed the appeal, stating that since Mr. A was selected by lottery among Busan residents who had priority qualification for the newlywed special supply, guilt was established. If the violation of the Housing Act is confirmed, criminal penalties (up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine up to 30 million won) will be imposed, housing will be reclaimed, and lottery eligibility will be restricted for 10 years.

Meanwhile, on the 20th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport inspected the housing lottery and supply status for the first half of this year and detected a total of 127 cases of supply order disturbances. The Ministry announced that it has requested the National Police Agency to investigate these acts. The detected cases included various offenses such as false address registration, qualification trading, and false divorce. Among them, false address registration was the most frequent, with 107 cases. Most of the detected cases involved registering moves to houses, commercial buildings, factories, or vinyl greenhouses in the relevant area without actually residing there to obtain lottery eligibility.