Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee Accidents Increased Fivefold in One Year

Assemblyman Song Seok-jun: "Accident Amounts for People in Their 20s Increased More Than 7 Times"

On the 26th, members of the National Countermeasure Committee for Jeonse Fraud and Empty Jeonse Victims held a press conference in front of the main building of the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, urging the enactment of a special law on Jeonse fraud. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

It has been revealed that the number of incidents and the amount of damages related to reverse jeonse and jeonse fraud in the Korea Housing Finance Corporation's Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee have surged about fivefold from last year to August this year.

According to data submitted by the Korea Housing Finance Corporation to Song Seok-jun, a member of the People Power Party on the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, the number of incidents in the Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee increased from 51 cases last year to 260 cases as of the end of August this year. The amount of damages rose from 11.1 billion KRW to 55.9 billion KRW.

By age group, the scale of incidents among those in their 20s and 30s sharply increased between 2022 and 2023 (as of the end of August). For people in their 20s, incidents rose from "12 cases, 2 billion KRW" to "76 cases, 14.4 billion KRW," and for those in their 30s, from "29 cases, 7.1 billion KRW" to "140 cases, 30.7 billion KRW." In terms of amount, this represents a 7.2-fold increase for the 20s and a 4.3-fold increase for the 30s. The incident amount for those in their 20s and 30s accounted for 82% in 2022 and 80.7% in 2023.

By region, the scale of incidents in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, and Busan?areas where jeonse fraud has been severe this year?were 86 cases with 21.5 billion KRW, 79 cases with 18.3 billion KRW, 24 cases with 3.9 billion KRW, and 31 cases with 5.6 billion KRW, respectively. These amounts accounted for 88.2% of the total damages.

As the number of incidents and damages in the Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee surged, the amount of subrogation payments made by the Korea Housing Finance Corporation to tenants on behalf of landlords also increased more than sevenfold, from 6.1 billion KRW in 2022 to 44.4 billion KRW as of the end of August this year. This is the largest scale since the launch of the Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee by the Housing Finance Corporation in July 2020.

Among the subrogation payments, the amount recovered this year was only 6.8 billion KRW as of the end of August, resulting in a recovery rate of just 13.59%.

Assemblyman Song Seok-jun said, "Following last year, incidents of reverse jeonse and jeonse fraud where tenants fail to get their deposits back are increasing this year as well." He added, "Accordingly, the scale of subrogation payments under the Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee is expected to increase, so the Korea Housing Finance Corporation needs to thoroughly prepare related measures, including reviewing plans for debt recovery."

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