Concentrated Occurrence of Jeonse Fraud at Seoul Southwestern Police Station... 48.7% of Total Cases

Hwagok, Sinwol, Sillim, Doksan Order
Assemblyman Jo O-seop "Need for Intensive Crackdown on Multi-family Housing in High-risk Areas"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] This year, 'jeonse fraud,' where tenants are unable to get their jeonse deposit refunded, has been concentrated in multi-family housing in the southwestern areas of Seoul such as Hwagok, Sinwol, and Sillim.

On the 14th, Jo O-seop, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, analyzed data from the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) and Seoul City. According to the analysis, there were 965 cases of jeonse deposit refund guarantee insurance (jeonse guarantee insurance) incidents in Seoul from January to August this year. The total amount involved was 230.1 billion KRW.

By neighborhood, the highest amount of guarantee incidents was in Hwagok-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul, with 68.2 billion KRW (312 cases). This was followed by Sinwol-dong, Yangcheon-gu with 13.5 billion KRW (64 cases), Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu with 8.5 billion KRW (31 cases), Doksan-dong, Geumcheon-gu with 8.4 billion KRW (35 cases), and Deungchon-dong, Gangseo-gu with 7.2 billion KRW (28 cases). Approximately 20% of jeonse fraud cases were concentrated in some administrative neighborhoods in the southwestern region.

In particular, most incidents where tenants lost their deposits occurred in multi-family housing. Out of a total of 470 incidents, 419 cases, or 90%, were in multi-family housing. In Sinwol-dong, 62 out of 63 cases occurred in multi-family housing, and in Hwagok-dong, 280 out of 312 cases were multi-family housing guarantee incidents, accounting for nearly 90%. In Hwagok-dong, incidents involving multi-home debtors accounted for 174 cases, or 56%, of the total incidents.

These areas also have high jeonse price ratios (jeonse price compared to sale price), requiring caution. According to Seoul City's Jeonse and Monthly Rent Information Database, as of August, the average jeonse price ratio for row houses and multi-family housing in Seoul was 84.5%, but Gangseo-gu was 96.7%, Geumcheon-gu 92.8%, Yangcheon-gu 92.6%, and Gwanak-gu 89.7%, all exceeding the average.

Assemblyman Jo said, "To prevent jeonse fraud, the guarantee incident and jeonse price ratio information currently provided at the district level should be provided at least down to the neighborhood level in the metropolitan area," adding, "For row houses, multi-family housing, and high-risk areas, focused inspections and crackdowns are necessary."

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