Gwangju City Extends Reduction of Public Property Rental Fees Until Next Year

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 27th that it will extend the reduction of rental fees for public property until June next year.

Gwangju City decided to reduce rental fees for public property until June next year, following this year, to alleviate the economic burden on small business owners facing difficulties due to the resurgence of COVID-19 and to actively participate in the 'Good Rent Reduction Movement' promoted by the private sector.

The rental fee reduction for public property next year will target small and medium-sized enterprises, small business owners, and individual entrepreneurs using public property from January to June, marking the third time following the first and second rounds.

The support includes reducing the usage and lease rate from the existing 5% to 1%, resulting in an 80% reduction in rent, or extending the lease period by the amount of time the public property could not be used. However, cases without damage caused by COVID-19, such as residential or cultivation use, are excluded from support.

Gwangju City plans to provide reduction benefits through a settlement process including rent refunds by receiving applications from tenants after deliberation by the Public Property Deliberation Committee.

Meanwhile, through the amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Public Property and Goods Management Act (effective December 22, 2020), tenants who suffered damage from disasters such as COVID-19 and are unable to pay rent can postpone the payment deadline for up to one year and receive a reduction of up to 50% on late fees. Additionally, if the annual rent exceeds 1 million won, installment payments up to six times are allowed.

Lee Jeong-sik, Director of the City’s Autonomous Administration Bureau, said, “As the regional economy has been stagnating for a long time due to COVID-19, small business owners are in a situation where they must pay rent regularly even if they cannot operate their businesses.” He added, “We hope that this extension of the public property rental fee reduction will encourage the private sector to actively participate in the Good Rent Reduction Movement.”

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