Dongdaemun-gu, Safety Inspection of Small-Scale Multi-Family Housing

Inspection of 18 Small Apartment and Row House Complexes with Fewer Than 150 Units and No Elevators, Over 15 Years Since Completion... Notification to Managers and Repair or Reinforcement if Serious Defects Occur

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) will conduct safety inspections on aging small-scale multi-family housing in the area.

This inspection targets a total of 18 complexes: six small apartment complexes without elevators, each with fewer than 150 households and over 15 years since construction, and 12 row house complexes.

Under the Multi-Family Housing Management Act, multi-family housing with 300 or more households, or 150 or more households with elevators installed, is subject to mandatory management and must undergo regular safety inspections. In contrast, small-scale multi-family housing is excluded from mandatory management under current law, so they are not required to have a management office or other management entity, resulting in inadequate building safety management.

The district will conduct regular safety inspections twice a year, detailed safety inspections (hereafter referred to as detailed inspections) every three years, and emergency inspections as needed to prevent disaster accidents in small-scale multi-family housing, which are blind spots in safety management.

To prevent damage caused by the unprecedented longest rainy season in the summer of 2020 and to respond proactively, emergency inspections will be conducted by external experts, and detailed safety inspections are scheduled for October.

Detailed safety inspections were conducted on six complexes in 2018 and five complexes in 2019, and in 2020, inspections will be carried out on seven complexes.

This small-scale multi-family housing safety inspection will investigate ▲ changes in building floor plans, elevations, cross-sections, and usage ▲ changes in structural members ▲ variations in load conditions, foundation and ground conditions, surrounding environmental conditions, as well as using specialized equipment to examine ▲ presence of cracks ▲ building tilt, among other factors.

If significant defects are found in the structural components during the inspection, the owners (managers) will be notified and repairs and reinforcements will be carried out.

Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, stated, “Small-scale multi-family housing lacks a separate management entity and is a blind spot in safety management. We will do our best to secure a safe residential environment for residents through continuous and systematic safety inspections going forward.”

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