Trusted the Real Estate Agent... Landlord Disappeared, Tenants Still in the Jeonse House

Netizens are reacting to a story where, after paying the remaining balance on moving day and loading the moving items into the jeonse house, another tenant was found living there. On the 2nd, YTN reported the story of Mr. A, who rented a jeonse house worth 150 million won in Deungchon-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul. Recently, Mr. A visited a real estate agency to find a jeonse house and found one he liked. Before the contract, Mr. A did not meet the landlord in person, but trusted the real estate agent who had a power of attorney and proceeded with the contract.

Netizens are reacting to a story where, after paying the remaining balance on moving day and loading belongings into a rented house, another tenant was already living there. On the 2nd, YTN reported the story of Mr. A, who rented a Jeonse house worth 150 million won in Deungchon-dong, Gangseo-gu, Seoul. The photo is not related to the specific content of the article.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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Later, on moving day, Mr. A paid the remaining balance and went to the jeonse house. However, the previous tenant was still living there without moving out. It turned out that the landlord had fled to Vietnam without returning the jeonse deposit to the previous tenant. Mr. A was furious, saying he lost the remaining balance by trusting only the real estate agent. He lamented that if the real estate agent had confirmed the landlord’s whereabouts before paying the balance, he would not have lost such a large sum of over 100 million won.

On the other hand, the real estate agent claimed there was no problem with the contract procedure and denied any fault. Having already moved out of his previous home, Mr. A is now reluctantly staying in a temporary monthly rental room. Mr. A claimed that the real estate agent told him the house he was moving into was vacant. If his claim is true, experts point out that this violates the duty to explain. Ultimately, Mr. A, who proceeded with the contract based solely on the real estate agent’s words, filed a fraud complaint against the landlord and is preparing a civil lawsuit against the real estate agent.

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Meanwhile, real estate agents must subscribe to indemnity insurance from the real estate agents’ association to operate their brokerage business, and the certificate states a coverage amount of 200 million won. However, when an accident occurs, tenants must file a civil lawsuit against the real estate agent or landlord and win before they can apply for insurance benefits. After that, the claim must pass the association’s review, leading many to give up midway.

Among these cases, deposit accidents caused by jeonse fraud have increased more than 13 times in the past five years, but the amount paid by the real estate agents’ association has only increased by 10%.

The average amount received by a single victim was about 34 million won. This is because the 200 million won insurance amount stated in the indemnity certificate is not per accident but the total insurance amount for all accidents related to one real estate agent. In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the real estate agents’ association acknowledged the problem and promised improvements, but they have only just begun research on the matter.

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