Supreme Court: Redevelopment Association Must Pay Relocation Expenses to Receive Real Estate Delivery

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that redevelopment associations must pay moving expenses or relocation costs in advance before taking possession of real estate from cash settlement recipients or tenants.

On the 30th, the Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Noh Jeonghee) overturned the lower court's ruling in favor of a redevelopment association in Cheongcheon-dong, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, in an appeal case where the association filed a lawsuit to claim possession of real estate from a landowner named Lee in the project area, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

The Cheongcheon 2 District Housing Redevelopment Maintenance Project Association applied to the Incheon Metropolitan City Local Land Expropriation Committee for an expropriation decision after failing to reach a compensation agreement with landowners including Lee within the project area. Subsequently, the committee made a land expropriation decision, and the association also deposited the compensation money.

However, during the litigation process, Lee argued that the loss compensation procedure was not completed because he had not received relocation settlement money, relocation costs, or moving expenses.

The first and second trials ruled that since the association had deposited the compensation money and acquired ownership of Mr. B's real estate, the loss compensation was completed, and Lee must hand over the real estate to the association.

However, the Supreme Court's judgment differed. The Supreme Court stated, "Relocation costs stipulated in the Land Compensation Act also fall under 'loss compensation according to the Land Compensation Act' as defined in the former Urban Maintenance Act," and "If Lee is a recipient of relocation costs, the association must pay Lee the relocation costs for the loss compensation stipulated in the Urban Maintenance Act to be completed." It further explained, "This is the first ruling that a housing redevelopment project operator must fulfill the payment procedures not only for loss compensation for land or buildings but also for relocation settlement money, relocation costs, and moving expenses in order to claim possession of real estate from cash settlement recipients."

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