"Full-option near station with moving cost support? Beware of villa scams"

Attorney Jo Se-young Appears on CBS Kim Hyun-jung's News Show to Analyze 'Kkangtong Villa'
Consulting Firm's 'Systematic Jeonse Fraud'... Difficult to Recover Deposit in Auction

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] "In the case of newly built villas, there are many cases where they hang banners and advertise that they offer full options, are located near subway stations, and even provide moving expenses. At this time, you need to be a bit more suspicious."

Attorney Jo Se-young appeared on CBS Radio's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show' on the 13th and expressed concerns regarding villa fraud. Tenants are currently anxious as the owner, who was a credit defaulter and owned as many as 1,139 'empty-can villas,' has passed away.

Attorney Jo explained, "Because newly built villas come with full options and neat interiors, many newlyweds or young professionals want to move in with jeonse (long-term lease) contracts," adding, "they deceive the market price by getting a higher appraisal value and sign jeonse contracts with deposits much higher than the actual market price."

On the 11th, the view of a villa neighborhood from a building in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, where villa transaction volumes are increasing. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

Attorney Jo said, "The 'Villa King' case is still under investigation, so nothing is certain yet, but usually, a person lends their name to act as a proxy to conclude the sales contract and transfer the title. Most of the deposit money received is then divided among the conspirators," he said.

Attorney Jo also explained why those called 'Villa Kings' actually have credit problems to the extent that normal social life is difficult. He said, "Because they own multiple units, property tax and comprehensive real estate tax naturally occur. Ultimately, this structure is set up with bankruptcy in mind," indicating that the essence of the fraud is a gang targeting deposits from tenants.

The problem is that tenants may suffer without even realizing they are victims. Attorney Jo pointed out, "From the tenant's perspective, there is still no established system to check whether the landlord has any arrears, so tenants cannot know this information," he noted.

Attorney Jo warned that if the problematic villa goes to auction, tenants might receive less than their deposit or find it difficult to recover it. Even if the landlord they contracted with has good credit, when the house is sold with tenants in place, it is uncertain whether the new landlord will have good credit.

Attorney Jo explained, "Even if the landlord changes, there is currently no notification system to inform tenants. Tenants may remain unaware until they are directly contacted or obtain the registry themselves," adding, "The government is also discussing establishing a system to publicly announce or notify tenants when the landlord changes."

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