Suwon-si to Operate Residential Accommodation Support Center Starting December

The city of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province will establish and operate a 'Living Accommodation Support Center' next month.

The Living Accommodation Support Center will explain to owners of living accommodations the contents of the 'Support Plan for Legal Use of Living Accommodations' announced by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last October, and guide them on lodging business registration requirements and procedures. It will also provide consulting on the process of changing the use designation and support measures.

According to the support plan for legal use of living accommodations announced by the government in October, existing living accommodations will receive customized support to be used legally, and the occurrence of new living accommodations will be fundamentally blocked. Owners who have preliminarily applied for use designation changes or lodging business registration by September 2025 will have the enforcement penalty imposition procedure deferred until the end of 2027.

Suwon City Hall

Accordingly, the Suwon Living Accommodation Support Center will encourage owners of living accommodations to apply for lodging business registration and use designation changes by sending guidance letters until September 2025.

A Suwon city official explained, "As the demand for tourism by long-term foreign residents increased, the government introduced living accommodations in 2012 as 'long-term stay accommodations with cooking facilities.' However, contrary to the original purpose, many have been used as residential units. In 2021, the government announced the 'Measures to Prevent Illegal Use of Living Accommodations' and partially relaxed regulations to allow changing the use designation of living accommodations to officetels, but many living accommodations still have not complied."