"Deposit Not Returned"... Landlord of 600 Million Won Jeonse Fraud Found to Be 'Already Deceased'

Police to Close Case Due to "No Right of Prosecution"
Victims Preparing for Civil Lawsuits

A landlord (lessor) who owns several buildings in Daejeon has been reported to the police for not returning the jeonse and monthly rent deposits, prompting an investigation. However, with the landlord's death, tenants are now at risk of losing their deposits.

On the 31st, the Yuseong Police Station in Daejeon received seven complaints since around November last year requesting an investigation into landlord Mr. A (in his 60s) on charges of fraud, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency on the same day. The deposit amounts lost by the victims range from as little as 60 million KRW to as much as 170 million KRW per household. Additionally, the total confirmed amount of deposits not returned after lease contracts expired reaches 630 million KRW.

After completing the complainants' investigations, the police planned to question Mr. A, but the investigation was halted when he passed away by suicide around mid-month. The police intend to close the case against Mr. A due to lack of prosecution rights but will continue to investigate whether there were any accomplices. A police official told Yonhap News Agency, "We need to investigate whether Mr. A was already unable to return the deposits at the time of the contracts, which is essential to determine fraud charges, but his death has made the investigation difficult. It is still under investigation whether this was a jeonse fraud or a personal guarantee issue."

With Mr. A's death, tenants are anxious about not being able to recover their deposits. It is known that a senior lien exceeding the amount of the lost deposits is registered on Mr. A's buildings, and the possibility of the building heirs returning the deposits is uncertain. During his lifetime, Mr. A owned six multi-family and multi-unit houses and reportedly signed lease contracts with about 50 tenants, collecting approximately 4.5 billion KRW in deposits.

One tenant who lost a jeonse deposit of 170 million KRW said, "Many of the victims are tenants whose contract periods have not yet ended," adding, "Recently, Mr. A's family notified that they would renounce inheritance, so the victims are gathering to prepare legal actions such as civil lawsuits for deposit returns."