Mapo-gu Launches Nationwide First Recommendation for Apartment Management Regulations... Limits Term of Resident Representatives

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Mapo-gu (District Mayor Park Gang-su) is gaining significant local attention for the 'Standard Management Regulations for Mandatory Management Apartment Complexes,' which it established last year as the first of its kind nationwide.

Mandatory management apartment complexes are complexes required to have professional managers and their own decision-making bodies to enact management regulations aimed at protecting residents and maintaining residential order. There are a total of 101 such complexes in Mapo-gu.

Currently, these mandatory management apartment complexes are drafting and revising their management regulations based on the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s standard management regulations.

However, over the past two years, more than 440 complaints related to apartment management have been filed with Mapo-gu, including issues such as legality reviews of apartment management regulations and conflicts or disputes involving residents' representative meetings and management offices. This has strongly highlighted the need for self-improvement in overall apartment management.

In fact, from 2022 to 2023, regular and special audits were conducted on 14 apartment complexes in Mapo-gu across four areas: general management, budget and accounting, long-term repair, and construction services. A total of 338 violations were identified, proving the necessity for improvements in apartment management.

Accordingly, Mapo-gu formed an Apartment Management Regulations Win-Win Advisory Group in 2022 to gather expert opinions, and based on this, established the Mapo-gu Apartment Management Regulations Standard in October last year.

The Mapo-gu Apartment Management Regulations Standard includes recommendations such as strengthening electronic voting to enhance transparency in apartment decision-making, limiting consecutive terms for building representatives in complexes with over 1,000 households, and prohibiting political activities by residents' representative meetings and election committees that could affect many residents.

The district expects that the Mapo-gu Apartment Management Regulations Standard will help resolve concerns and conflicts faced by residents' representative meetings and residents who must smoothly manage large-scale apartment complexes.

However, considering that the 'Mapo-gu Apartment Management Regulations Standard' contains non-binding recommendations but the term 'standard' might cause confusion, the district plans to rename it as the 'Mapo-gu Apartment Management Regulations Recommendations' for use.

Going forward, the district plans to actively promote the Mapo-gu Apartment Management Regulations Recommendations by distributing them primarily to apartment complexes within the area.

Park Gang-su, Mayor of Mapo-gu, expressed regret, saying, "We judged that the existing apartment management regulations were somewhat insufficient in solving chronic problems such as excessive reappointment of residents' representative meeting officers and collusion or corruption with bidding companies. We repeatedly requested revisions to the standards from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, but these were not accepted."

He added, "It is true that some residents' representative meetings oppose Mapo-gu’s apartment management regulations standard, but the recommendations are the result of careful consideration to protect the rights of the majority of residents and to ensure transparent and fair apartment living. We hope that through these recommendations, the quality of life for many residents living in communal housing will be significantly improved."

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