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There have been reports of so-called 'down contracts' in Songdo, Incheon, where officetel prices are traded lower than the actual price. Some brokerages almost openly induce illegal download contracts.
Reporter Shin Jeong-eun confirmed what a newlywed couple had been told.
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Mr. A, who was looking for a place to live in Songdo International City, Incheon, before getting married, heard an embarrassing story from a real estate agent.
[Mr A/Informant: Naturally, he asked for 100 million cash preparation, and 'this amount is not down and there is no risk of getting caught'. .] The
so-called 'down contract', in which the contract is lower than the actual transaction price to avoid taxation, is absolutely illegal.
I said I couldn't do that because I felt uncomfortable, so the price jumped.
[Mr. A/Informant: 'The buyer has to bear the transfer tax'. Maybe we should postpone the marriage now.] When
I
went
to the real estate around Songdo, I found that 3 or 4 out of 10 places can buy a house with a 'down transaction'. I was able to get guidance.
Songdo, Incheon, where apartment prices rose to an all-time high this year.
The sale price of residential officetels also soared.
At the real estate I visited, I immediately brought up the story of a down contract,
[Incheon Songdo Authorized Broker: If you want to buy it, you have to think about whether you can download it. You won't be caught anyway. Because I've never been caught in this many deals. They buy other real estate rights in Songdo. Everything is 100% down.]
He also gave me a specific method.
[Incheon Songdo Real Estate Broker: If you withdraw 6 million won (at an ATM) once a day, it does not go into the Financial Supervisory Service. If the seller gives you two or three account numbers for your mother or friend, there is also a way to split it and transfer it.] The
reason why illegal down contracts are concentrated in officetel transactions is that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport does not have to register in the open system for real transactions, and there is no need to write a financing plan when selling. Because it is easy to contract illegally.
Local governments promised a large-scale joint inspection, but it was postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19.
[Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority person in charge: In short, it is not captured by statistics. Although there are many officetels, Songdo is not the only one. For now, we are only concerned with the investigation from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.] If a
down contract is discovered, both the buyer and seller will be fined, and the broker may be subject to suspension of qualifications and penalties such as fines.
(Video coverage: Chan-soo Lee, video editing: Ji-in Park)