▲ Maintenance Fee Statement
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced today (July 13) that it is pre-announcing amendments to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Special Act on Private Rental Housing, aimed at increasing the transparency of maintenance fees and usage charges for private rental properties.
Once the amendments take effect, maintenance fees and usage charges will be included as mandatory items for reporting rental contracts.
Currently, only the rental period, rent amount, loan amounts for purchased rental housing, and tenant status for quasi-housing are subject to reporting. However, in the future, the specific amounts or calculation methods for maintenance fees and usage charges must also be reported.
These additional mandatory reporting items must also be clearly stated in the standard rental contract.
This measure is intended to prevent cases where landlords circumvent rent caps by charging extra fees for options such as home appliances, furniture, system air conditioners, and built-in closets, while also enhancing the transparency of maintenance and usage costs.
Furthermore, if tenants or a tenant representative council request an audit of maintenance fees and usage charges from the landlord, the landlord will be prohibited from refusing such requests without a justifiable reason.
The management authority of local governments over private rental housing will also be expanded.
Previously, only local municipal governments (cities, counties, and districts) had the authority to set rent increase rates for private rental complexes with 100 or more units via ordinances and allow access to security deposit guarantee information through the RentHome system. This authority will now be extended to the metropolitan city and provincial government levels.
While rental conditions reported by rental business operators are currently only published in local government gazettes by the heads of cities, counties, and districts, they will now also be posted on official websites.
Reflecting feedback from local governments that fines for minor violations, such as simple omissions in rental contract reporting, were excessively high, some of these penalties will be reduced.
The public notice period for the legislation is from July 14 to August 24, and the proposed amendments can be viewed on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport website under the Legislative and Administrative Notice page.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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