Apartments can be seen from Mount Nam, Seoul, April 26. Yonhap
The government will look into all "perfect-score" winners in apartment applications since July last year to see if any foul play was involved, officials said Monday, amid complaints that perfect scores should be rare in principle but too many such cases have been reported.
In Korea, those wanting to buy newly built apartments should file applications in usually highly competitive processes, and winners are determined by lottery weighted by points based on how long they have been living without owning homes and how many dependents are in their families.
The system is designed to give priority to those in real need of homes.
Perfect scores should be rare because the size of a family living together for the full score is seven, which is not common in a nation where household sizes have become increasingly smaller. But the Office for Government Policy Coordination said Monday that the country has seen a series of "unrealistic" score winners recently.
"We will carry out an intensive inspection of fraudulent applicants in cooperation with related ministries and agencies," the office said in a release.
Cases subject to the inspection are all apartment complexes sold since July last year in regions under toughened house transaction rules in Seoul and elsewhere and other highly sought-after complexes, with a focus on whether all family members actually lived together.
Officials suspect some relatives could actually have their addresses registered with their families while living elsewhere.
"The housing subscription system is aimed at guaranteeing those in real need of homes the opportunities to have their own homes. The government will not tolerate any acts of exploiting this," said Kim Yong-soo, an official in charge of the crackdown, in the statement.
Those found with any irregularities will face criminal punishment, contract cancellations and other measures, he said.
Source: Korea Times News
