"Vacant Houses to Be Verified by Postal Workers" Korea Post Headquarters Launches Pilot for Vacant House Confirmation Registration Service

A new initiative is being promoted in which postal workers will visit sites in person to check for vacant houses, aiming to improve the accuracy and efficiency of actual condition surveys.

On December 3, Korea Post Headquarters announced that it had signed a business agreement with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the Korea Real Estate Board to implement the "Vacant House Confirmation Registration Mail Service."

This service will be piloted in areas such as Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province and Gimcheon in North Gyeongsang Province to more accurately and efficiently identify vacant houses nationwide.

(From left) Park Seungjun, Director of Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries; Park Sungwoo, Director General of Rural Policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Lee Sangju, Director General of Land and Urban Affairs at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Kwak Byungjin, Acting Director of Korea Post Headquarters; and Kim Namseong, Director of Industry Support Headquarters at the Korea Real Estate Board, are posing for a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement to promote the pilot project of the "Vacant House Confirmation Registration Postal Service" on the 3rd at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport meeting room in the Government Complex Sejong. Provided by Korea Post Headquarters

Until now, vacant house surveys have been conducted by the Korea Real Estate Board and others every five years under the "Small-scale Housing Maintenance Act," targeting houses that have been unoccupied or unused for more than one year. Investigators would visit houses suspected of being vacant based on checks of electricity and water usage. However, the actual vacancy determination rate averaged only 51%, leading to unnecessary survey costs.

In response, Korea Post Headquarters, together with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (urban areas), the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (rural and fishing villages), and the Korea Real Estate Board, has decided to conduct a pilot project for the "Vacant House Confirmation Registration" to improve the accuracy and efficiency of vacant house surveys.

This year, the pilot project will target 579 presumed vacant houses in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province and Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. Next year, the project plans to expand by selecting an additional four or five local governments.

In the Vacant House Confirmation Registration service, the Korea Real Estate Board, which conducts the vacant house surveys, sends a confirmation registration to locations suspected of being vacant. Postal workers, who are familiar with the local area, then visit the designated houses to check the exterior and whether they are occupied, fill out a checklist, and report the results back to the Korea Real Estate Board.

The Korea Real Estate Board will prioritize sending investigators to houses confirmed as vacant based on the responses from the Vacant House Confirmation Registration, conducting on-site investigations to finalize vacancy status and assign grades. This is expected to reduce unnecessary survey costs incurred by visiting non-vacant houses and improve the accuracy of vacancy statistics by increasing the vacancy determination rate.

Based on the results of the pilot project, including any increase in the vacancy determination rate, the actual adoption of the mail service will be considered.

Kwak Byungjin, Acting Director of Korea Post Headquarters, stated, "The Vacant House Confirmation Registration service will be an opportunity to effectively identify vacant houses and improve the accuracy and efficiency of maintenance projects. Korea Post Headquarters will continue to expand public services that contribute to local communities, with the participation of over 3,300 post offices and 43,000 employees nationwide."

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