Apartment Privacy Video Distribution?...Gyeonggi Province Amends Multi-Unit Housing Management Bylaws

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] As concerns grow among Gyeonggi Province residents over hacking of home network devices, including the illegal distribution of private videos of residents at a domestic apartment complex, Gyeonggi Province has prepared and begun implementing institutional improvements to address this issue.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 5th that the "Gyeonggi Province Multi-Unit Housing Management Bylaws Revision" has been in effect since December 30 last year, reflecting the requirement that management entities continuously maintain and manage relevant security facilities to prevent the infringement of residents' privacy and property rights due to damages such as smart home network hacking in multi-unit housing.

The Gyeonggi Province Multi-Unit Housing Management Bylaws Standard is a reference guideline for the management or use of multi-unit housing to protect residents of multi-unit housing within the province and maintain residential life order.

Residents and others in multi-unit housing in the province establish management bylaws for their respective multi-unit housing by referring to the management bylaws standard set by Gyeonggi Province.

The current revision, which passed the Multi-Unit Housing Management Bylaws Review Committee last month, explicitly specifies preventive measures against smart home network hacking.

Smart home networks are facilities that utilize Internet of Things (IoT) technology to allow residents to remotely control front doors, lighting, and other systems. If installed cameras are hacked, it can lead to infringement of privacy and property rights.

Under this bylaws revision, management entities of multi-unit housing must reflect in the complex's management bylaws the improvement of security vulnerabilities in smart home network facilities or continuous maintenance and management thereof.

Looking at other contents of the revision, new regulations have been established requiring management entities to make efforts, including re-alerts, to ensure that all residents and others are aware of disaster information when a disaster occurs at multi-unit housing.

Additionally, the foundation for implementing electronic document management methods has been prepared for document security and to ensure transparency in multi-unit housing management.

In addition, there are ▲Changes in the method of electing officers of resident representative meetings in multi-unit housing complexes with fewer than 500 units ▲Increase in the maximum attendance allowance for resident representative meetings (from 50,000 won per meeting to 100,000 won, from 100,000 won per month to 200,000 won) ▲Establishment of basis for expenditure of tax costs such as corporate tax from profit-generating businesses ▲Setting the range of management fee delinquency rates, and others.

Based on the revised standard, approximately 4,600 complexes in the province subject to mandatory management (300 units or more, or 150 units or more if equipped with elevators) will pursue revision of their multi-unit housing management bylaws suitable to their respective complexes with the approval of more than half of all residents and others.

Ko Yong-soo, Director of the Multi-Unit Housing Division at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "With this bylaws revision, safety management has been strengthened in areas such as disaster, smart home networks, and document security, and I hope this will serve as an opportunity for safe and transparent residential culture to take root. Going forward, we will strive to ensure rational and efficient multi-unit housing management by actively accepting items for improvement in multi-unit housing management in the province and operating the bylaws accordingly," he said.

The revised standard can be found on the Gyeonggi Province website (www.gg.go.kr) in the Multi-Unit Housing Management Bylaws Standard bulletin board.

For inquiries regarding the revision, contact the Gyeonggi Province Multi-Unit Housing Management Team (031-8008-4953).