In order to prevent charter fraud, which is causing damage cases one after another across the country, voices are growing that the institutional loopholes that enable such fraud must be filled.
In order to prepare for charter scams, it is pointed out that it is necessary to effectively improve the rental insurance to be subscribed to and to make it possible to obtain information about the lessor in advance to avoid 'bad landlords'.
Victims of Mr. Kim (42), the 'Villa King' who died after committing charter fraud by buying 1,139 villas and officetels in the metropolitan area, point out loopholes in charter insurance.
According to Internet cafes where the tenants of the villa king damage gathered, many of the victims believed in the words that "it is possible to sign up for the housing city guarantee corporation (HUG)'s jeonse deposit return guarantee" and signed a charter contract.
In fact, among the victims, 440 people signed up for the deposit return guarantee.
HUG subrogates the deposit to the lessee through legal procedures after the lease contract is terminated in the event of a charter accident by a subscriber with a return guarantee for the deposit.
Subrogation means that the guarantor returns the deposit to the tenant first and then returns it to the lessor.
However, 171 of the return guarantee subscribers have not received their deposit even though their charter contracts have already ended.
The problem arose when Mr. Kim died in October last year.
In order for the guarantee to be fulfilled, the lessees must notify Mr. Kim of the termination of the contract, as his heirs have not been determined and therefore he is not subject to the termination notice.
If no next of kin inherits, tenants will have to wait for the court to appoint an administrator for the estate.
In the case of Mr. Kim, the house he owned was foreclosed last year when he paid 6.2 billion won in final tax, and it seems difficult to find an heir because there is a high possibility that he will not be able to return the deposit even if he sells all the houses.
Experts point out that HUG's lax qualification review is one of the causes of this situation.
It is said that the situation was aggravated by the decision to qualify for the guarantee without considering that Mr. Kim owns too many houses and is also causing an accident of returning the deposit.
Jung Joon-ho, a professor of real estate at Kangwon National University, pointed out that "HUG basically plays the role of a financial institution even if it has a cause for the welfare of the housing disadvantaged."
"This is an insufficient measure as an institution responsible for the risk," he said.
Kang Jeong-gyu, dean of the Graduate School of Real Estate at Dong-Eui University, said, "It is important for HUG to create reasonable screening standards by considering various factors such as the number of houses owned by the lessor and the jeonse rate compared to the sale price of each property."
He said, "Especially in the event of a large-scale delay in the payment of the jeonse guarantee, it is worth considering the government's provision of emergency support costs."
As the situation grew, HUG decided to hold a briefing session on the damage to the villa king scam today (22nd) at the FKI Hall in Yeouido, Seoul.
At this briefing, attended by Minister Won Hee-ryong of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, it is said that the government will explain measures to support damages at the government level, such as speeding up subrogation through prompt legal procedures or providing temporary shelters for victims.
As the damage from charter fraud continues to grow, the political world is also busy preparing legislation that contains institutional preventive measures.
In particular, bills have been proposed to help chartered tenants obtain various information about the landlord in advance to avoid 'bad landlords'.
Representative Heo Jong-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea recently proposed the 'Three Acts to Prevent Damages on Jeonse', which amended the Licensed Real Estate Registration Act, the Housing Lease Protection Act, etc.
The amendment to the Certified Real Estate Agent Act contains contents that allow real estate agents to request information such as 'fixed date grant date', 'mortgage loan', and 'senior relationship' from the landlord.
The amendment to the Real Estate Registration Act requires landlords to record unpaid national and local tax information in a certified copy of the register.
This is to prevent the tenant from getting their security deposit back due to the landlord's delinquent taxes.
The amendment to the Housing Lease Protection Act required the state and mayors and governors to establish a jeonse damage support organization and provide various administrative and financial support.
Rep. Heo explained, "The government is operating a charter damage support center, but there is no legal basis for installation and operation, so sustainability is low."
(Photo = Yonhap News)