Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Expand Investigation into Real Estate Illegal Activities to Establish Trading Order

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] The Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police are conducting preemptive investigations into real estate illegal activities closely related to residents' lives to block real estate speculation in advance and prevent damage to end-users.

The main targets of investigations to be conducted throughout this year include ▲illegal acquisition of status in apartments and housing associations with overheated subscription competition rates in the province in 2021 ▲acts of disrupting real estate trading order such as price-fixing ▲illegal brokerage of lease rights for public rental housing ▲illegal brokerage by unregistered and unqualified individuals ▲real estate illegal activities in land transaction permit zones, among others.

In detail, 'fraudulent applications' in which apartments are illegally purchased through improper means, depriving homeowners of opportunity to purchase apartments, will focus on Hwaseong Dongtan New City and Suwon Gwanggyo New City areas where subscription competition rates were overheated last year.
The province's special police will conduct intensive investigations centered on special supply categories such as newlyweds, elderly parents, people with disabilities, and multi-child families, and will take strong measures including criminal punishment and cancellation of sale rights.

Additionally, investigations will be pursued into real estate trading order disruption activities, including price-fixing conducted covertly on online cafes, and illegal sales by speculators targeting profits from pre-sale right transfers.

Furthermore, the agency will strongly respond to illegal real estate speculation activities including false relocation and name-lending within the Third New Town land transaction permit zones, as well as illegal activities such as misuse of registration reports to avoid land transaction permits. The agency will block speculative land transactions that excessively increase land prices and eliminate damage to end-users.

In addition, the special police will expand investigation areas this year and actively respond to real estate crimes conducted covertly and intelligently. Examples include illegal acquisition and inheritance of cooperative member status in local housing associations, illegal brokerage by unqualified individuals such as local figures that are often considered customary in local communities, and illegal brokerage of rental housing where subletting is not permitted.

Kim Young-soo, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police, said, "We will thoroughly crack down on and investigate all real estate illegal activities so that housing issues cannot be abused as a means of speculation," and urged, "Do not condone real estate speculation forces that disrupt real estate trading order, and actively report and provide information on illegal activities."

Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police have identified a total of 309 people in the real estate sector last year, including 43 illegal speculators in Yongin SK Hynix Semiconductor Cluster designated as a land transaction permit zone and 178 fraudulent applicants in Gwacheon Knowledge Information Town apartment sales that recorded a subscription competition rate of 245:1 in 2020.