"Stop Smoking in Apartments"… Complaints of Harm Triple in 5 Years

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Complaints about secondhand smoke and noise between floors in apartment complexes and other multi-family housing have more than tripled over the past five years.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Min Hong-cheol, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from 2017 to 2021, there were 135,232 cases in which residents of multi-family housing complexes reported damage caused by noise between floors or secondhand smoke, prompting the management authorities to conduct investigations to verify the facts.

By year, the cases were ▲15,091 in 2017 ▲18,503 in 2018 ▲23,654 in 2019 ▲34,605 in 2020 ▲43,379 in 2021, showing an increase every year.

Among the fact-finding investigations conducted in multi-family housing complexes over the past five years, the number of cases in which the management authorities recommended residents who actually caused the damage to stop generating noise between floors, take noise-blocking measures, or prohibit smoking in certain areas totaled 95,219. The issuance rate of recommendations compared to the total number of investigations was 70.4%. However, the issuance rate has been declining, with 75.8% in 2017, 70.2% in 2019, and 67.2% in 2021.

Assemblyman Min said, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and local governments should carefully identify the causes of the recent surge in complaints about noise between floors and secondhand smoke in multi-family housing complexes, and establish effective measures that guarantee residents' right to rest, such as revitalizing related autonomous organizations within the complexes."

Meanwhile, according to Articles 20 and 20-2 of the current "Multi-Family Housing Management Act," the management authorities of each multi-family housing complex have the authority to conduct necessary investigations to verify the facts and issue recommendations to prevent similar cases when complaints about damage caused by noise between floors or secondhand smoke are received from residents of the complex.

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