Yongin City: "Building Use Approval Process Speeds Up"

Yongin City will improve its building use approval procedures and implement them starting March 3 to shorten civil complaint processing periods and secure objectivity and transparency in building administration.

According to the Building Act, completed buildings must be inspected by a responsible public official on-site to verify that construction was completed according to design documents, and only upon passing inspection can a building use approval certificate be issued.

Previously, Yongin City had building use approval inspections conducted by having applicants file a building use approval application with the Yongin Architectural Society before submitting it to the city, with local architects acting as agents for the inspections.

However, problems arose in which architects delegated to conduct inspections failed to meet inspection deadlines, causing delays, and some architects were disciplined for overlooking illegal matters without reporting them to the city. To prevent these issues, the city has improved its building use approval procedures.

Key improvements include changing the timing of on-site inspections for building use approval from before to after the application is submitted, and limiting the inspection period to within three days.

Additionally, the qualifications for selecting agents have been significantly strengthened by restricting work-suspended architects and architects who failed to meet processing deadlines from conducting on-site inspections for six months, and preventing all architects involved in the design and supervision of the relevant building from participating in on-site inspection work. The methods and procedures for designating agents have also been clarified.

As a result of these measures, Yongin City's actual building use approval processing period, including inspection time, is expected to be shortened to within five days, and the transparency and objectivity of on-site inspection work for building use approval are expected to improve, thereby increasing citizens' confidence in building administration.