Punishment Now Possible for Real Estate 'Fake News'... Legal Basis Established for Land Compensation Enforcement Penalties

Imprisonment Possible for Spreading False Information on Development Plans

Mandatory Verification of Poster Identity on Online Direct Real Estate Listings

Enforcement Charges for "Holdouts" at Public Project Sites After Compensation

C

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on May 8 that the amendment to the Act on Report of Real Estate Transactions, which prohibits the dissemination of unconfirmed development plans as facts through YouTube or social networking services (SNS), was passed by the National Assembly's plenary session the previous day.

This amendment is a legislative initiative promoted by the Lee Jaemyung administration as part of its national agenda to eradicate disruptive practices in the real estate market. The government’s policy is to strictly crack down on actions that disturb the market with false information and cause harm to ordinary citizens, while accelerating stalled public interest projects to realize housing welfare for the public.

Following the passage of the bill, anyone caught providing false or distorted development information to induce transactions will face up to one year of imprisonment or a fine of up to 20 million won.

Regulations on online direct real estate transactions will also be strengthened. Operators of online direct transaction platforms will be required to directly verify the identity of the poster and their relationship to the property owner. Failure to comply will result in an administrative fine of up to 5 million won. The aim is to prevent non-face-to-face fraud targeting consumers with limited access to information and to raise the level of consumer protection.

The plenary session also processed an amendment to the Land Compensation Act to prevent delays in public interest projects. The amendment provides the legal basis for administrative agencies to impose enforcement charges on obligors who refuse to vacate or hand over property even after compensation has been completed through expropriation adjudication. This is expected to resolve the chronic issue of delayed supply of public housing and expansion of infrastructure such as roads due to some owners’ refusal to cooperate. However, the imposition of enforcement charges will only apply to cases where the start date of expropriation or use occurs after the law comes into effect.

An amendment to the National Land Planning and Utilization Act, aimed at reducing donation disputes between developers and local governments, was also passed. When a developer builds new public facilities such as roads and transfers them to the local government, the scope of existing public facilities that the developer can acquire free of charge in return will be clearly defined by presidential decree. The amendment also clarifies the legal grounds for establishing sectional superficies rights for three-dimensional urban planning facilities, such as underground parking lots, that occupy only part of the land space. This is expected to make it easier to install and operate facilities that utilize only part of a land parcel without purchasing the entire property.

The provisions of the amended Act on Report of Real Estate Transactions prohibiting the dissemination of false information, as well as the revision to the National Land Planning and Utilization Act, will take effect six months after promulgation. Verification obligations for platform operators and similar provisions will be enforced one year after promulgation, in consideration of the time required to establish the necessary systems.

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