Gyeonggi Province Significantly Strengthens Investigation into Real Estate Corruption
Suwon NewsPublished 2020.01.19 17:46
Gyeonggi Province's Fair Special Judicial Police Division Launches Intensive Crackdown on Real Estate Corruption Including Fraudulent SubscriptionFocused investigations into fraudulent subscriptions, illegal resales, price-fixing, unlicensed brokerage operations, and unauthorized land transaction permits
[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province is expanding its real estate investigation personnel to launch a high-intensity crackdown on real estate corruption.
The Gyeonggi Province Fair Special Judicial Police Division announced on the 19th that it will strengthen the real estate investigation team, which was newly established on April 1st of last year with 5 investigators, to 9 personnel through organizational restructuring, and will expand investigation scope through collaboration with 167 special judicial police officers from cities and counties.
Priority investigation targets include ▲fraudulent apartment subscription ▲illegal resales ▲price-fixing ▲unlicensed and unregistered brokerage operations ▲excessive brokerage fees ▲temporary brokerage facilities (pop-up offices) ▲unauthorized and fraudulent permit practices within land transaction permit zones.
The special judicial police division, particularly to root out fraudulent subscriptions where individuals use false domiciles, forged pregnancy certificates, and purchase priority subscription eligibility targeting special supply categories (newlyweds, disabled persons, etc.) to unjustly deprive legitimate applicants of qualification opportunities, launched investigations in January on 22,464 units across 20 complexes with subscription competition rates of 10:1 or higher among developments in the province last year.
Additionally, when the Real Estate Brokerage Act is amended next month on the 20th, investigations will proceed on ‘price quote collusion’—displaying or advertising prices significantly higher than market rates or restricting or inducing brokerage requests to specific real estate brokers.
Furthermore, the division plans to strengthen investigations in collaboration with the Real Estate Brokerage Association and cities and counties against practices that use borrowed real estate brokerage credentials to register and operate brokerage business or conduct brokerage under the guise of real estate consulting without registration, thereby disrupting real estate transaction order.
The division also plans to vigorously investigate illegal land purchases through false domiciles or land purchases without authorization within land transaction permit zones for the third new cities announced last year, and prosecute those responsible.
Meanwhile, the real estate investigation team newly established on April 1st of last year with 5 investigators investigated 263 individuals engaged in illegal real estate activities including fraudulent subscriptions, illegal resales, and unlicensed brokerage operations over approximately ten months, sending 84 of them to the prosecution.
Kim Young-su, Head of the Fair Special Judicial Police Division, stated, “Based on the core values of the 7th civilian administration's provincial policies—'fairness, peace, and welfare'—in 2020, we will focus all available investigation capabilities to block illicit gains from real estate corruption and ensure residents' legitimate rights are protected,” and added, “Real estate corruption such as fraudulent subscriptions, price-fixing, and unlicensed brokerage operations occur covertly, making residents' reports and complaints extremely important.”
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