310 Malicious Landlords Defaulted on Jeonse Deposits Worth 1.3 Trillion KRW... Top 10 Alone Account for 500 Billion KRW

HUG Intensive Management of 310 Multi-Home Debtors
Top 10 Subrogation Amounts Total 500 Billion KRW
List of Malicious Landlords to Be Released in Second Half of Year

It has been revealed that 310 so-called 'malicious landlords' who have withheld tenants' jeonse deposits more than three times have failed to return a total of 1.3 trillion won, averaging 4.2 billion won per person. Among them, the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) has repaid about 500 billion won on behalf of the top 10 malicious landlords.

Victims of jeonse fraud and empty jeonse are participating in a relay speech on the 25th at a sit-in in front of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, urging for proper resolution of jeonse fraud and empty jeonse issues. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

According to data submitted by HUG to Democratic Party lawmaker Maeng Seong-gyu of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on the 23rd, the number of multi-home debtors under HUG's intensive management (malicious landlords) was identified as 310 as of the end of April this year. This represents an increase of 77 people (33%) in four months. As of the end of last year, the number of multi-home debtors under intensive management was 233.

HUG classifies and manages landlords who have repaid jeonse deposits on behalf of tenants three or more times but have since cut off contact or have not repaid any guarantee debt in the past year as multi-home debtors under intensive management.

The total amount of jeonse deposits repaid by HUG to tenants on behalf of the increased number of malicious landlords (subrogation payment amount) was tallied at 1.3081 trillion won. Considering that as of last September, 203 malicious landlords had withheld jeonse deposits amounting to about 730 billion won, the scale of subrogation payments has nearly doubled.

In particular, the subrogation payment amount for the top 10 malicious landlords was 503.8 billion won, accounting for 38.5% of the total. The number of households affected by these 10 landlords was investigated to be 2,370.

HUG repaid 82 billion won on behalf of 377 households that failed to recover deposits from the worst malicious landlord. The second-ranked malicious landlord, who did not return deposits to 410 households, caused HUG to repay 78.3 billion won. The third-ranked landlord withheld deposits of 58.6 billion won from 248 households, while the fourth and fifth ranked landlords had subrogation payments of 58 billion won (286 households) and 54.6 billion won (233 households), respectively.

As the number of cases where HUG repays jeonse deposits withheld by landlords increases, HUG's guarantee multiple rose from 49 times in 2021 to 54.4 times last year, and is expected to reach 60.5 times by December this year.

When the amended Housing and Urban Fund Act takes effect on the 29th of next month, the names of these malicious landlords will be disclosed. Since the parties will be given an opportunity to explain and the final decision must go through the Landlord Information Disclosure Deliberation Committee, the actual timing of the list disclosure is expected to be around the end of this year.

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