Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police Crack Down on 73 Illegal Real Estate Transactions Involving Foreigners... Worth 10.9 Billion Won

Cases of Illegal Real Estate Speculation Transactions Involving Foreigners and Others Detected

Gyeonggi Province has uncovered 73 foreigners and others who engaged in unauthorized real estate land acquisition activities in land transaction permission zones such as military facility protection areas. The speculative amount resulting from their illegal activities is estimated at 10.94 billion KRW.

The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Unit announced on the 3rd that, based on on-site investigations and inquiries conducted intensively from July to November, they identified 73 individuals, including foreigners and illegal planned real estate operators, involved in speculative illegal real estate transactions.

Regarding illegal acquisitions by foreigners within military facility and cultural heritage protection zones, a Chinese national A (64, female) residing in Bucheon signed a sales contract for forest land within a military facility protection zone in Anyang without going through the land acquisition permission process. A, an employee of a planned real estate company, speculated by anticipating price gains after development based on insider information that a nearby military unit would relocate, and actively participated in speculation by encouraging others around her to purchase as well.

Chinese national D (67, male) signed a sales contract for a multi-family house within a cultural heritage protection zone in Suwon without obtaining land acquisition permission from the reporting authority. According to tenant statements and inquiry investigations, from the contract date until now, D has been residing only in Seoul and has leased all five units of the multi-family house in Suwon under monthly or yearly rental agreements.

A mother and daughter who illegally acquired real estate through name trust were also caught. Chinese national E (65, male), residing in Gapyeong, signed a sales contract for a house within a military facility protection zone in Gapyeong for 230 million KRW without following the foreigner land acquisition permission procedures. Moreover, the actual resident of the house was his daughter, who used E's name to obtain additional bank loans.

German national G (57, male), who violated mandatory occupancy obligations, signed sales contracts totaling 1.1 billion KRW without foreigner land acquisition permission for six units including a knowledge industry center factory site and dormitory located within a military facility protection zone in Yangju. Upon reviewing dormitory management fee details, it was revealed that from February last year to June this year, the property was illegally leased to parties other than the tenant companies such as ○○ Golf.

By nationality, Chinese nationals accounted for the largest share of illegal speculative activities with 31 people (56.4%). This was followed by ▲United States 13 people (23.6%) ▲Canada 4 people (7.3%) ▲Bangladesh 3 people (5.5%) ▲Japan 2 people (3.6%) ▲Germany 1 person (1.8%) ▲Australia 1 person (1.8%).

There was also a case of illegal speculation involving planned real estate with 17 participants. The representative H (51, female) of a planned real estate corporation purchased forest land (area 13,884㎡) in Hwaseong City in 2021 at 140,000 KRW per 3.3㎡, totaling 580 million KRW, then resold it to 16 buyers at 480,000 KRW per 3.3㎡, totaling 2 billion KRW, earning about 1.4 billion KRW in price difference over seven months.

During this process, when the land was designated as a land transaction permission zone, to avoid the land transaction permission procedure, mortgages were set on the plots corresponding to buyers' contract shares under the condition that ownership would be transferred once the land was deregulated from the permission zone. Additional violations of the 'National Land Planning and Utilization Act' were found, such as obtaining permission under other people's names during land subdivision, and the case was referred to the relevant investigative authorities.

According to the current 'Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act,' foreigners who enter into land acquisition contracts without permission or by fraudulent means in land acquisition permission zones face up to two years imprisonment or fines up to 20 million KRW. Those who fail to obtain permission or obtain it fraudulently in land transaction permission zones face up to two years imprisonment or fines up to 30% of the land price based on the individual publicly announced land price at the time of contract.

Kim Gwang-deok, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Unit, stated, "As illegal real estate transactions by foreigners and others continue to be uncovered during periods of rising housing prices, we will strictly investigate speculative activities to establish a sound real estate transaction order." He emphasized, "We will thoroughly investigate not only illegal real estate transactions over the past five years but also future illegal transactions by foreigners and others to establish a healthy real estate transaction order."

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