Hong Nam-ki: "Government Will Cover Half If You Join the 'Good Landlord' Campaign"

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, is speaking at an emergency joint briefing on stabilizing mask supply held at the Government Seoul Office Building on the 27th. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki announced on the 27th, "If private 'good landlords' reduce rent, the government will cover half of the reduction."

At a briefing held at the Government Seoul Office on the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "The government has prepared a 'three-part support package for small business owners' rent' to help spread this (good landlord movement) throughout society."

The government plans to support half of the rent reduction through tax cuts. For landlords who reduce rent for tenants classified as small business owners during the first half of this year (six months), 50% of the rent reduction will be deducted from income tax and corporate tax regardless of the landlord's income or the amount reduced. Deputy Prime Minister Hong requested, "This requires a legal amendment, so we ask for the active cooperation of the National Assembly."

Additionally, if many landlords participate in rent reductions and more than 20% of stores in a specific market receive rent reduction benefits, the government will provide a fire safety package including old electrical wiring maintenance and sprinkler installation.

The government will also significantly reduce rent for tenants of government-owned properties. First, for properties directly owned by the state, rent will be reduced to about one-third of the current level from as early as April until the end of the year.

For properties owned by local governments, related laws will be promptly revised to lower rent from the current level of about 5% of the property value to a minimum of 1%. The targets include all 103 public institutions operating rental facilities such as Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL), Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), and Incheon International Airport Corporation. After consultation with tenants, rent will be reduced by at least 20% and up to 35% for six months depending on the institution. If rent is linked to sales and automatically decreases with reduced sales, payment of the lowered rent will be deferred for six months.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "We understand well that rent reductions alone cannot completely resolve the difficulties faced by small business owners, but I believe that these warm movements can come together to become a driving force to overcome the crisis." He added, "We will announce a multifaceted package of support measures for small business owners along with rent reductions tomorrow."

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