In four public-supported private rental housing projects, including the Youth Housing in Seoul, 297 households have not received approximately 370 billion won in deposits. As of now, the city of Seoul has disbursed 151.4 billion won, which accounts for 40.9% of the total unreturned amount.
According to data released on September 30 by Democratic Party lawmaker Boo Seung-chan, the total unreturned deposits from the four projects—Jamsil Central Park, Sadang COVE, Oksan Green Tower, and Edgar Sangmun—amount to 369.9 billion won since 2021. Jamsil Central Park has the highest amount at 22.8 billion won, followed by Sadang COVE at 10.4 billion won, Oksan Green Tower at 2.65 billion won, and Edgar Sangmun at 1.14 billion won.
All four projects were found to be without rental deposit insurance. Oksan Green Tower and Edgar Sangmun were not insured due to financial difficulties faced by the project implementers. Jamsil Central Park was denied insurance due to tax arrears, while Sadang COVE was rejected because of personal debts of the business operator.
The current Private Rental Housing Act mandates that rental business operators must enroll in rental deposit insurance when leasing private rental housing. If they fail to enroll despite being requested three times by the relevant city or district mayor, it can lead to the cancellation of their rental business registration.
There have been instances where it took considerable time for the city of Seoul to act after identifying the lack of insurance. In the case of Sadang COVE, the lack of insurance was confirmed in May of last year, but the cancellation of the rental business registration did not occur until May of this year. Oksan Green Tower's lack of insurance was identified in April 2022, and its registration was canceled in February of the following year.
For Jamsil Central Park, the city became aware of the delay in insurance enrollment in August 2024 and requested management and oversight from the relevant district, but as of the time of this report, the registration has not been canceled. In August 2022, Edgar Sangmun was ordered to return the full deposit and prohibited from recruiting additional tenants, yet its registration remains active.
Support for rental deposits through SH has also been provided to these projects. According to supplementary data, the total support provided to the four projects amounts to approximately 8.163 billion won, with Jamsil Central Park receiving about 3.948 billion won, Sadang COVE about 3.052 billion won, Edgar Sangmun about 660 million won, and Oksan Green Tower about 520 million won.
The scale of advance payments to affected tenants varies by project. Of the 22.8 billion won unreturned from Jamsil Central Park, 14.7 billion won (64.4%) has been paid out, while Oksan Green Tower has only paid 50 million won (1.8%) of its 2.65 billion won unreturned amount. Edgar Sangmun has disbursed 390 million won (34.2%) of its 1.14 billion won, while Sadang COVE, which has 10.4 billion won unreturned, has recorded no advance payments.
Lawmaker Boo stated, “Given the significant public support that followed the failure to prevent the lack of insurance, the management and oversight system of the city of Seoul must be completely overhauled.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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