The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the Office for Government Policy Coordination's Real Estate Supervision Task Force have launched an intensive investigation into fraudulent housing subscription winners, following a surge in winners with housing subscription scores detached from reality. The authorities plan to conduct a full inspection to verify whether dependents actually reside with the applicants.
MOLIT announced Tuesday that it will investigate a total of 43 complexes and 25,000 housing units, covering all complexes sold in regulated areas including Seoul since July last year, as well as popular complexes in other regions. The probe will examine the full range of suspected fraudulent subscription cases involving falsified subscription qualifications, including fake residency registration, sham marriages and divorces, trading of subscription accounts and qualifications, and document forgery.
The investigation will focus particularly on winners with perfect scores under the subscription point system, intensively verifying whether their parents and children actually reside with them. The subscription point system is calculated on a maximum of 84 points, comprising duration of homelessness (32 points), number of dependents (35 points), and duration of subscription account enrollment (17 points).
The investigation significantly expands verification methods. For adult children, workplace locations will be confirmed through health insurance enrollment certificates, while for parents, three years of health insurance medical benefit records will be collected to identify residence based on the locations of hospitals and pharmacies actually used. The investigation will also use dependents' jeonse and monthly rent contracts and home ownership status to verify actual residence.
On-site inspection personnel will be increased from eight to 15, and the inspection period per complex will be extended from one day to three to five days. The results of the investigation are scheduled to be announced at the end of next month.
Institutional improvements will also be pursued in parallel. To block the loophole of short-term fake residency registration using adult children, the residency requirement for children aged 30 and older will be tightened from one year to three years. MOLIT is also pushing to revise the Housing Supply Rules to make the submission of health insurance enrollment certificates mandatory.
"If fraudulent subscription is confirmed, we are taking strong measures including criminal punishment of up to three years in prison or fines of up to 30 million won, along with contract cancellation, forfeiture of the down payment (10% of the sale price), and a 10-year restriction on subscription qualifications," said Jung Soo-ho, director of MOLIT's Housing Fund Division. "We urge applicants to exercise special caution to avoid civil and criminal penalties."
