Assemblyman Sobyeongcheol Proposes 2-Year Extension of the Real Estate Ownership Transfer Registration Act Considering the COVID-19 Situation

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[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] The enforcement period of the 「Special Measures Act on Real Estate Ownership Transfer Registration, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Real Estate Ownership Transfer Registration Act’)」, which is set to expire on August 4, will be extended until August 31, 2024, and measures to improve the guarantor’s residence period requirement at the real estate location and excessive fees will be promoted.

Democratic Party lawmaker So Byung-chul (Jeonnam Suncheon Gwangyang Gokseong Gurye·Gap, National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee) announced on the 12th that he has introduced the 「Partial Amendment Bill to the Real Estate Ownership Transfer Registration Act」 with such contents as the main sponsor.

The Real Estate Ownership Transfer Registration Act was temporarily enacted in 1978 to simplify the process of correcting discrepancies between actual rights related to real estate and registered rights, which were often inconsistent due to historical events such as liberation and the Korean War.

Since then, it has been implemented three more times up to the current 4th phase, but in local and rural fishing and farming areas, there are still many cases where the owner and the registrant differ due to lack of publicity and other reasons.

However, the current 4th phase of the Real Estate Ownership Transfer Registration Act, enacted in February 2020 without anticipating the COVID-19 pandemic, requires direct face-to-face verification with the guarantor as a registration condition. This has raised concerns that compliance with the law is practically impossible in areas with a high elderly population, such as some rural fishing and farming areas in Suncheon, due to the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Additionally, despite population movement and aging in rural areas leading to a decrease in residents living long-term, the current guarantor qualification requires residence at the real estate location for more than 25 years. The fee level for qualified guarantors such as lawyers and judicial scriveners, uniformly set at less than 4.5 million KRW without considering regional land prices, is also a burden for rural residents and guarantors.

Accordingly, the amendment bill extends the expiration date of the current law, scheduled for August 4, to August 31, 2024, and adjusts the guarantor’s residence period at the real estate location from the current ‘more than 25 years’ to ‘more than 15 years.’

The fees for qualified guarantors are also set at about 10% of the individual land official price to reduce the burden on the public.

Lawmaker So Byung-chul emphasized, “If the validity period of the current law, which has only four months left, ends as it is, people in local and rural areas will not be able to properly use the law due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will have to restore their rights only through complicated and costly procedures such as civil lawsuits in the future.” He added, “Since it was impossible to use the law due to a national infectious disease disaster that was not their responsibility, it is necessary to protect the legitimate rights of our people and facilitate the exercise of rights through the swift passage of the amendment bill.”

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