Supreme Court: "School Site Contribution Charges Are Justified... Calculation Criteria Are Clear"

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Supreme Court has ruled that it is legitimate for administrative authorities to impose school site contribution fees on redevelopment implementation associations.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Min Yoo-sook) overturned the lower court's ruling in favor of the plaintiff in the appeal case filed by A Redevelopment Project Association against the Yeonje District Office of Busan regarding the cancellation of other contribution fee imposition, and remanded the case to the Busan High Court on the 25th.

In March 2014, A Association received approval to implement the project and completed the sale of 10 apartment buildings with 3 basement floors and 29 above-ground floors in Yeonje District, Busan. Yeonje District imposed approximately 1.5 billion KRW in school site contribution fees, and A Association filed a lawsuit. The school site contribution fee is a charge imposed on those who sell multi-family housing or single-family housing lots in development project areas to secure funding for school site acquisition.

During the trial, A Association argued that there were no specific regulations on how to calculate the school site contribution fee.

The first trial partially accepted A Association's claim and ruled that 70 million KRW out of the 1.5 billion KRW imposed on the association should be canceled. The second trial ruled in favor of the association, stating, "The School Site Act does not provide any specific regulations on the method of calculating the number of households or the method of calculating the sale price for the contribution fee."

However, the Supreme Court overturned the second trial's decision, ruling that the imposition of the school site contribution fee is legitimate. The Supreme Court stated, "Considering the legislative purpose, system, and intent of the School Site Act, it is clear that the contribution fee should be calculated based on the actual number of households residing within the project area."

It added, "Considering the possibility of population influx and changes in regional circumstances, as well as educational policy objectives, it cannot be concluded that there will be no demand for new schools in the vicinity of the project area in the future."

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