A Ferrari in Public Rental Housing... No Renewal for Low-Income Cosplay

Revision of Public Housing Work Guidelines Following National Audit Criticism
Highest-Priced Vehicle Owned by Household Valued at 97.94 Million Won

Regulations have been revised to prevent 'fake commoners' driving expensive vehicles like Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz from taking away opportunities from those who truly need them and from residing in public rental housing.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 7th, the revised "Public Housing Work Processing Guidelines" came into effect on the 5th of this month.

LH Korea Land and Housing Corporation.
Photo by Yonhap News

Until now, to support asset formation of public rental housing tenants, re-contracting was possible even if income and asset requirements were exceeded after moving in. However, under the revised regulations, re-contracting is limited to once if income or assets exceed the criteria.

Also, the value of automobiles has been excluded from the possible asset excess criteria. This is because cases arose where tenants continued to live in rental housing after purchasing expensive imported cars post-move-in.

As of 2023, the selection criteria for public rental housing tenants are ▲ households without home ownership ▲ total assets of 255 million KRW (permanent) or 361 million KRW (national) ▲ automobile value of 36.83 million KRW or less.

From now on, if tenants want to re-contract, they may exceed income and asset standards, but must not exceed the automobile value standard.

According to data submitted by the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and the Housing Management Corporation to Jang Cheol-min, a member of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, during last year's National Assembly audit, 61 households owning high-priced vehicles exceeded the public rental housing tenant criteria.

There were 61 households owning luxury passenger cars such as sports cars like Ferrari and Maserati, as well as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jeep, and Genesis, and among these households, some were delinquent in rent payments.

The household owning the most expensive vehicle was a resident of Gwangju Areum Village Complex 1, possessing a BMW (model iXxDrive50) valued at 97.94 million KRW.

Assemblyman Jang Cheol-min stated, "Granting re-contracting grace periods to households with high-value assets could inadvertently take away opportunities from those who meet the conditions more perfectly and truly need housing. For tenants exceeding the asset value criteria, instead of blanket re-contracting grace periods, it is necessary to improve the system so that they are given a certain period to vacate or dispose of assets, ensuring that rental housing benefits go to those who really need them."

Accordingly, the revised regulations will apply to public rental housing recruitment announcements made after the 5th of this month.

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