Nowon-gu, Diligently Monitoring Irregularities in Apartment Complexes

Expansion of survey complexes from 12 to over 30 annually, survey cycle shortened from about 10 years to 4 years... External survey committee formed to investigate 33 complexes in the district by October... Total of 467 corrective actions including 32 fines and 258 administrative orders

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) has completed the 2020 joint housing management status survey and inspection to eliminate apartment management corruption and create a transparent apartment management system.

The joint housing management status survey is conducted on apartment complexes with 300 or more households according to the Joint Housing Management Act, but due to limitations such as external expert labor costs, the survey was conducted on 12 complexes annually.

According to current standards, it would take 10 years to survey the 122 mandatory management apartment complexes out of 252 joint housing complexes located in Nowon-gu.

Accordingly, Nowon-gu increased the number of surveyed complexes by 2.5 times (about 30 complexes) starting this year, significantly shortening the survey cycle to 4 years and further strengthening the monitoring system for overall management fees.

A budget of 105 million KRW was allocated accordingly, and 33 complexes were surveyed this year, with 30 complexes scheduled for next year.

The survey is conducted by an external inspection team composed of accountants, housing managers, and experienced personnel related to joint housing, who visit the target complexes for 5 days. The survey is conducted in depth on all aspects of joint housing management, including housing management and construction/service fields over the past 5 years, budget and accounting fields, long-term repair plans and long-term repair reserves, and resident representative meetings, management entities, and election management committees.

From March to October, this year’s survey results found violations in ▲housing management and construction/service fields 59 cases (12.6%) ▲budget and accounting fields 181 cases (38.8%) ▲long-term repair plans and long-term repair reserves 76 cases (16.3%) ▲resident representative meetings and related fields 151 cases (32.4%). Other detailed violations include improper work of the election management committee and improper use of contingency funds and miscellaneous income.

In response, the district took administrative actions totaling 467 cases, including 50 recommendations, 127 administrative guidances, 258 correction orders, and 32 fines (totaling 83.4 million KRW).

Among the actions, recommendations refer to suggestions to improve the efficiency of joint housing operations, and administrative guidance is a method to induce voluntary correction for minor violations by guiding improvement directions.

Furthermore, correction orders are imposed on rectifiable violations and their compliance is checked in the next survey. Fines are imposed on matters that cannot be corrected, considering the damage caused to residents and intentionality, and simultaneously require compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

The district plans to prepare a casebook analyzing this year’s survey results and distribute it to joint housing complexes in the district for reference in joint housing management tasks.

District Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “Through the joint housing status survey, we can promote transparency and efficiency in joint housing management, protecting residents and users as well as reducing management fees,” and added, “We will continue to conduct regular surveys to encourage voluntary self-correction efforts by resident representative meetings and management entities, prevent conflicts among residents in advance, and do our best to ensure stable residential life.”

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