Real Estate Agents Association "Legal Action Against Real Estate Brokerage Platform 'HomeSquare'"

"Real Estate Brokerage Platforms Proliferate... Legal Violations and Distribution Structure Distortions"

[Asia Economy Reporter Noh Kyung-jo] The Korea Association of Certified Realtors announced on the 30th that it will take legal action against the real estate brokerage platform 'HomeSquare' for violating the Certified Realtors Act.

On the same day, the association held a Members' Policy Research Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) meeting at the Sejong Real Estate Policy Research Institute, where it called for ▲ restrictions on the number of brokerage assistants ▲ legislative promotion of punishment regulations for one-time unregistered brokerage ▲ suspension of KT's AI real estate advertisements, according to the announcement.

The decision to take legal action was based on recent cases of brokerage assistants impersonating certified realtors and engaging in illegal brokerage activities, which have led to infringements on citizens' property rights and defamation of certified realtors. The association plans to establish a foundation for prompt policy formulation, including amendments to the Certified Realtors Act, by appealing to the government and the National Assembly to eradicate these issues.

Previously, the Committee had filed a complaint against a brokerage assistant named Park, who impersonated a certified realtor on various TV entertainment programs, for violating the Certified Realtors Act. Regarding HomeSquare, the association explained that it is causing confusion in the real estate brokerage distribution market by using a similar name, 'Saenghwal Certified Realtor' (Lifestyle Certified Realtor).

Current law stipulates that persons who are not certified realtors are prohibited from using the title 'certified realtor' or any similar designation. Additionally, brokerage activities cannot be conducted without registering the real estate brokerage business with the relevant city, county, or district registration authority.

The Committee stated, "Recently, real estate brokerage platform companies have been proliferating rapidly in the real estate market, violating the Certified Realtors Act without a clear understanding of the current law and distorting the distribution market structure. Such actions are a clear challenge to licensed certified realtors, and the government must take strong measures."

They emphasized that considering real estate brokerage is a labor-intensive and knowledge-intensive profession, AI can never replace certified realtors. The Committee added, "Nevertheless, various real estate proptech companies are entering the brokerage market under names such as AI call assistants, which encourages illegal activities in the real estate distribution process. KT's AI call assistant real estate advertisements must be stopped immediately."

The Committee is composed mainly of doctorate holders in related fields among the 120,000 licensed certified realtors nationwide. They provide policy formulation opinions for the healthy development of the domestic real estate distribution market and the fostering of the certified realtor professional qualification system, and they exert research capabilities to improve unreasonable systems.

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