Commute Takes 1 Hour 40 Minutes... Middle School Teacher Who Won Housing Lottery by Falsifying Residence Registration

302 Cases of Disruptive Acts Including Fraudulent Subscription and Illegal Supply Detected
299 Cases Referred for Investigation... Contract Cancellations and 10-Year Subscription Restrictions

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] Mr. B, who works as a middle school teacher in A-gun, moved his address to C-gun, which is 119 km one way from his middle school, just before the resident recruitment announcement date. This was to win a lottery for an apartment being sold nearby. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) viewed that since the commute takes 1 hour and 40 minutes, Mr. B likely committed 'false address registration' by only registering his address there to obtain eligibility for the housing subscription application, and requested an investigation.

On the 24th, MOLIT announced that as part of efforts to eradicate fraudulent housing subscriptions and other acts disrupting the housing supply order, a joint inspection with the Korea Real Estate Board was conducted on housing complexes sold in the second half of last year, resulting in the detection of a total of 302 cases of supply order disruption, including fraudulent subscriptions and illegal supply. MOLIT has referred 299 of these cases for investigation.

Among the detected types, 185 cases involved 'subscription account trading,' where subscription brokers received financial certificates of applicants with high chances of winning to apply on their behalf or signed proxy contracts after winning. There were also signs of organized fraudulent subscriptions, such as brokers applying for dozens of subscriptions at once per complex and listing the proxy contract holder's contact information instead of the applicant's during the application.

There were 57 cases of fraudulent subscriptions through false address registration, where applicants moved their addresses without actually residing there to gain eligibility as local residents. Additionally, 57 cases of illegal supply were detected, such as only informing some prospective residents of canceled winning units or contracting with acquaintances of the project owner. Although canceled, uncontracted, or terminated units should be supplied to prospective residents in order of priority and, if exhausted, offered to the general public through open recruitment, many cases of non-compliance were confirmed.

MOLIT plans to refer the 299 cases suspected of fraudulent subscriptions and illegal supply to the National Police Agency for investigation. If violations of the Housing Act are confirmed, criminal penalties will be imposed along with contract cancellations (housing repossession) and restrictions on housing subscription eligibility for the next 10 years.

In December last year, MOLIT also detected 228 cases of supply order disruption in housing complexes sold in the first half of the year and referred them for investigation. So far, investigation results for 53 cases (with prosecution opinions) have been notified, leading to contract cancellations and subscription eligibility restrictions, while investigations for the remaining 175 cases are ongoing. Starting in July, a focused inspection will be conducted on housing complexes sold in the first half of 2021 to check for fraudulent subscriptions and illegal supply.

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