'I also pay maintenance fees...' Tenants can become building representatives starting April

Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] From April, tenants will be allowed to serve as apartment building representatives, a role previously limited to owners. Additionally, apartment complexes with fewer than 150 households will be required to form resident representative meetings and disclose management fees if residents agree.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 28th that it will publicly notify the amendment drafts to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Apartment Management Act on the 29th as a follow-up procedure to the amendment of the Apartment Management Act in April last year. The amendment drafts will undergo public consultation from the 20th until May 9th and are scheduled to take effect on April 24th.

The amendment allows tenants to become building representatives of apartment complexes. Until now, only owners residing in the apartment complex could run as candidates for building representatives. The amendment relaxes the qualification so that if no candidates appear or no election is held after two announcements, tenants (users) can also run as candidates.

However, if users constitute the majority of the resident representative meeting members, prior consent must be obtained from non-resident owners for matters affecting ownership rights.

Furthermore, apartment complexes with fewer than 150 households can be converted into "mandatory management apartment complexes," which are required to form resident representative meetings and disclose management fees, if two-thirds or more of the homeowners or tenants agree. Until now, "mandatory management apartment complexes" were limited to complexes with 150 or more households (or 300 households if no elevator is installed). However, even after conversion, it is possible to be excluded again from mandatory management if two-thirds or more agree.

Fines for violations of obligations will also be increased. If a complex subject to management fee disclosure obligations fails to comply, fines ranging from 1.5 million to 2.5 million KRW can be imposed. Additionally, if the conversion to mandatory management is not reported to the head of the local government within 30 days after obtaining consent, fines ranging from 500,000 to 1 million KRW will be imposed depending on the delay period.

A Ministry of Land official explained, "While conversion to mandatory management apartment complexes enables efficient management, considering that the burden of management fees may increase somewhat, conversion will only be allowed with the consent of residents."

The decision-making process for mixed housing complexes, where rental and sale housing coexist, will also be improved. Until now, the decision criteria for mixed housing complexes varied by issue, requiring either a majority or two-thirds approval, causing delays in agreements between resident representative meetings and rental business operators.

The amendment unifies the decision-making method so that five joint decision matters?▲determination and change of management methods ▲selection of housing management companies ▲adjustment of long-term repair plans ▲replacement and repair of major facilities using long-term repair reserves and special repair reserves ▲various construction and services carried out using management fees?are decided by the party managing more than half of the area, either the resident representative meeting or the rental business operator.

Additionally, the amendment restricts building representatives who have been dismissed due to disqualification from running in by-elections for the remaining term or one year, and requires management office managers to receive apartment management and ethics education within three months of appointment.

Lee Yuri, Director of the Housing Construction Supply Division at the Ministry of Land, said, "Through this amendment, transparency and professionalism in apartment management will be strengthened, enabling faster decision-making and improving management efficiency."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.