Hong Jun-pyo Proposes 'Conservative Real Estate Bill'... Democratic Party Focuses on Tenant Protection

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] Independent lawmaker Hong Jun-pyo has proposed real estate bills aimed at enhancing the profitability of housing construction projects, including the abolition of the private land price ceiling system. This move appears to emphasize clarity as a conservative opposition presidential candidate. On the other hand, the ruling party is focusing on tenant protection laws such as the right to request contract renewal and the cap on monthly rent increases.

According to the National Assembly on the 15th, Representative Hong proposed amendments to three laws: the 'Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act,' the 'Housing Act,' and the 'Excessive Profits Recovery Act for Reconstruction.'

The amendments include deleting regulations related to the private land price ceiling system and reducing the designation scope of speculative overheated districts to administrative units of eup, myeon, or dong or higher. Additionally, the criteria for designating speculative overheated districts will be elevated to statutory law.

Representative Hong stated, "The expanded application of the price ceiling system distorts the housing market and causes various problems such as shrinking the housing construction industry and investment," adding, "Although it directly affects citizens' property rights, the criteria for designating speculative overheated districts are stipulated in enforcement rules, so it is necessary to elevate them to statutory law."

Furthermore, he proposed a bill that mandates the construction of rental and public housing only for residential environment improvement and redevelopment projects with relatively high public interest during maintenance projects. This is based on the background that some reconstruction projects are not progressing smoothly.

The bill also includes lowering the weighting of safety evaluation in the safety diagnosis criteria for reconstruction projects from the previous 20%. The imposition of excessive profit recovery charges on reconstruction projects is postponed until 2025.

He holds the view that citizens' property rights are excessively infringed upon due to the government's real estate regulation-focused policies and that housing supply should be expanded. The bill reflects a conservative approach to real estate issues, differentiating itself from Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman of the United Future Party, who has raised agendas such as basic income and universal childcare.

The leadership of the Democratic Party of Korea recently announced plans to stabilize the real estate market, which has shown abnormal signs, by accelerating regulatory bills that were not passed during the 20th National Assembly. Tenant protection bills have already been introduced first.

Democratic Party lawmaker Baek Hye-ryun recently proposed an amendment to the Housing Lease Protection Act introducing the right to request lease contract renewal and a cap on monthly rent increases. The contract period is set to a minimum of four years, including the initial lease period, and upon renewal, the deposit or rent can only be adjusted within 5%.

Lawmaker Baek pointed out, "Among the total 19,979,000 households, 43.8% are non-homeowners, and in Seoul, it exceeds half at 50.9%. The average residence period for tenants is only 3.2 years, and the rent-to-monthly income ratio for tenant households reaches 16.1%, causing significant difficulties in housing stability."

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