Court Rules "Refusal of Move-in Registration for Actual Residents of Guryong Village is Illegal"

Guryong Village. Photo by Seoul City

The court ruled that refusing to accept the resident registration transfer application of residents who are recognized as actual residents, under the pretext of preventing disguised moves for speculative purposes in Guryong Village, is illegal.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Seoul Administrative Court, Administrative Division 5 (Presiding Judge Kim Sun-yeol) ruled in favor of plaintiff A in a lawsuit against the head of Gaepo 1-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, who had refused to accept A's resident registration transfer application.

The court stated, "It is reasonable to view that A filed the transfer application with the intention to reside at the address in question for more than 30 days, as required by the Resident Registration Act," and "the refusal based on other premises is illegal and must be canceled."

A’s mother, who lived in Guryong Village, Gangnam-gu, had registered her residence at the address in 2011 and maintained it until her death in 2021. A, who claims to have lived with his mother since 2008, filed a transfer application on April 5 last year but was refused on the grounds that "the area is designated as an urban development zone, so acceptance of transfer applications is restricted," prompting him to file a lawsuit.

Guryong Village, a shantytown, had prohibited residents from registering their residence due to illegal occupation of private land until 2011, but after litigation, about 1,000 households, including A’s mother, had their registrations accepted in 2011.

Known as the "last prime land in Gangnam," Gangnam-gu has since established criteria to restrict acceptance of transfer applications to prevent speculative disguised moves. Based on this, A’s application was rejected.

However, the court judged that it is difficult to consider A’s claim?that he had been residing at the address for a long time?as false, based on the on-site investigation by the Gaepo 1-dong office. The court cited as evidence that the provided daily necessities and food supplies did not appear to have been hastily prepared for a sudden inspection, and that phone call records confirmed continuous use of the address day and night until recently. The Seoul Administrative Court had also ruled in favor of Guryong Village residents in similar lawsuits in 2021 and last year.

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