Donation Requirement for Zoning Changes to Be Capped at 25%

Ministry of Land Amends Donation Requirements for Housing Projects

When local governments grant housing project permits, a new regulation will be introduced to limit the maximum amount of land that can be requested as a donation during changes between zoning districts to 25% of the project site area. Previously, there were no such restrictions, which sometimes led to excessive burdens on developers. This measure aims to reduce that burden.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will issue an administrative notice from November 4 to November 24 regarding a partial amendment to the operational standards for donations of infrastructure facilities in housing construction projects. Under this new measure, when changing between zoning districts, the additional donation burden rate can only be increased by up to 17 percentage points from the existing upper limit.

The standard donation burden rate for infrastructure facilities is set at up to 8% of the project site area. With the approval of the architectural committee, this can be increased by up to 50%, raising the rate to 12%. Conversely, if the project obtains eco-friendly building certification, the local government can reduce the rate by 15%, lowering it to as little as 6.8%.

Seoul Eunpyeong-gu Municipal Eunpyeong Silver Care Center. It is an elderly care facility created through a donation in the redevelopment area of Susaek District 13. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

Currently, for changes within zoning districts, such as from Type 1 Residential District to Type 3 Residential District, the maximum donation burden rate can be increased by 10 percentage points, up to 18%. In contrast, for changes between zoning districts, such as from a residential district to a commercial district, there have been no separate restrictions set by the approval authority. The new regulation will introduce an upper limit to reduce the burden on developers.

The amendment also includes a provision to lower the donation burden rate to a maximum of 15% if the project is recognized as an industrialized house using modular or precast concrete construction methods. If this reduction is combined with the eco-friendly building certification reduction, the total burden can be lowered by up to 25%. As a result, for general housing construction projects, the donation burden rate can be reduced from 8% to 6%. For changes within zoning districts, the rate can be reduced from 18% to 16%. For changes between zoning districts, it will decrease from 25% to 23%.

This measure is a follow-up to the housing supply expansion plan announced in September. Kim Youngah, Director of Housing Construction Supply at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "By alleviating the donation burden on developers, cases where excessive donation requirements hinder supply will decrease." She added, "If the scope of integrated reviews increases in line with the previously proposed amendment to the Housing Act, the permit period could be shortened by more than six months."

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