LH to Purchase 5,000 Houses Affected by Jeonse Fraud... Ongoing Applications Accepted

Simplified Purchase Procedures and Relaxed Purchase Requirements Starting August
Currently 1,519 Consultations, 141 Purchase Applications Completed

Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) will purchase approximately 5,000 rental fraud victim households. To this end, LH has decided to reflect rental fraud victim households in the purchase categories within the ‘Purchase Lease Business Processing Guidelines.’

According to LH on the 4th, applications for the purchase of rental fraud victim houses to stabilize the housing of rental fraud victims are being accepted on an ongoing basis, with the scale reaching about 5,000 households.

LH headquarters exterior. [Photo by LH]

As of mid-November, a total of 8,284 people have been confirmed as rental fraud victims, and the number of consultations requested from LH regarding the purchase of victim houses reached 1,519 cases. Among these, 141 cases have completed the purchase application.

There are 150 cases where urgent housing support was needed due to forced eviction or where priority move-in qualifications were granted to enter public rental housing.

According to the Special Act on Support for Rental Fraud Victims and Housing Stability (hereinafter referred to as the Special Act), which was enacted on June 1, rental fraud victims can apply to LH for the purchase of victim houses.

LH acquires the right of first refusal from the victims and participates in public auctions or sales on behalf of the victims, exercising the right of first refusal under certain conditions. If LH wins the bid for the house, it supplies the house as public rental housing to the victims under affordable lease conditions at about 30-50% of the market price for up to 20 years.

The right of first refusal is the right to purchase first at the highest bid price of the successful bidder in the public auction or sale.

LH has significantly relaxed the existing exclusion criteria for purchases to enable as many rental fraud victims as possible to receive housing support.

While LH only purchases houses built within the last 10 years under normal circumstances, no construction age limit is applied to victim houses.

However, houses that are illegal (violating) constructions, houses with rights transferred after public auction or sale, (semi-)basement houses and houses failing minimum housing standards, and victim houses with serious defects making it impossible for tenants to continue residing are excluded from purchase targets.

Simplified Purchase Procedures for Rapid Housing Support to Victims

The purchase procedures have also been greatly reduced. Considering the characteristics and situations of victims, the process is expected to shorten by about 2 to 3 months compared to existing purchase projects by reducing field surveys, integrating document review and purchase deliberation committees, and omitting seller verification.

In detail, upon the victim’s application, preliminary consultations are conducted, and if purchase is possible, the right of first refusal is transferred to LH to participate in public auctions or sales.

At this time, LH exercises the right of first refusal only if a third party is selected as the successful bidder and the winning bid price is below the purchase standard price set by LH.

The purchase standard price is determined comprehensively by considering the appraisal value from the public auction or sale agency, the average auction winning bid rate by region, and LH’s existing housing purchase project price standards, with price differences based on the house’s location and condition.

If LH cannot exercise the right of first refusal in the public auction or sale, or if the house falls under exclusion criteria and purchase is not possible, the victim is granted priority eligibility to move into nearby public rental housing owned by LH.

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis for rental fraud victims confirmed by the Rental Fraud Victim Support Committee within the validity period (until May 31, 2025) according to the Special Act. The period may be extended following amendments to the Special Act.

An LH official said, “We will faithfully carry out LH’s role in line with government policies to reduce the difficulties of rental fraud victims as soon as possible,” adding, “We hope that victims can restore their daily lives promptly.”

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