Fake Address Registration and Divorce for Subscription Wins... Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Uncovers 170 Cases of Illegal Subscription

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 12th that it had requested an investigation after detecting a total of 170 cases of supply order disruption among 50 suspected fraudulent subscription complexes from the second half of 2021 housing supply complexes, in a joint inspection with the Korea Real Estate Board on housing subscription and supply status.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will request an investigation by the National Police Agency for the 170 cases detected this time, and will take strict measures such as criminal punishment for violations of the Housing Act, contract cancellation (housing recovery), and restricting housing subscription eligibility for the next 10 years.

Representative disruptive acts in housing supply order include false residence registration, fake divorce, account trading, and illegal supply. False residence registration is a method of moving only the address to obtain subscription eligibility as a resident of the area or a member of a household without a home. According to this investigation, there were 128 cases of false residence registration in Bucheon subscriptions alone. In reality, people do not live there but register their residence as a house, commercial building, or vinyl greenhouse in the area and then apply for subscription.

For example, brothers A and B, who actually reside in the Chungcheong area, registered their residence at a rural farmhouse located in the metropolitan area in 2021. A applied for a general supply housing subscription in the metropolitan area in 2021, and B did so this year, both winning the subscription. It was also found that B had attempted about 10 subscriptions after false residence registration prior to this case.

There were also cases of fake divorce for subscription purposes. This refers to falsely divorcing and subscribing by registering as 'cohabitant' on the resident registration to evade restrictions on the number of special supply subscriptions or re-winning restrictions. There were nine cases of fraudulent subscriptions using this method. Special supply is limited to once per household, and households winning under the price ceiling system are restricted from re-winning for 10 years. However, cases were caught where couples won redundantly by fake divorcing. There was also a case where a couple, cohabiting without marriage registration, received a newlywed special supply using a fetus, and then received a birth special supply using the subsequently born child (fetus).

In fact, Mr. D, after divorcing Mrs. E (his wife), lived as a 'cohabitant' with three children in a house owned by Mrs. E, and won a general supply subscription through the point system as a non-homeowner (six months after divorce).

Account trading involves brokers and subscribers conspiring to hand over financial certificates and other documents to proxy subscribe or sign contracts after winning. The investigation found 29 such fraudulent subscriptions. In cases of account trading, brokers usually deliver the deposit to the subscriber who illegally lent their name and demand a waiver of rights and an anonymous resale contract.

Illegal supply refers to cases where the project owner signs a supply contract with a winner despite being notified (by the Korea Real Estate Board) of the winner’s special supply count limit or re-winning restriction. Two of the total detected cases fall under this category.

Kim Hyo-jung, Director of Housing Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "To create a fair and transparent real estate market and eradicate supply order disruption acts, we will strengthen cooperation with investigative agencies and local governments (such as distributing casebooks to support investigations) and continuously expand the scope of inspections."

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