A dispute over housing view rights has broken out once again among conglomerates.

Chairman A is building a luxury home in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, prompting Chairman B to seek a legal judgment, arguing that the project infringes on view rights.

According to the business and legal circles on August 15, Chairman B filed an application for an injunction to suspend construction at the Seoul Western District Court on May 14, claiming that the house being built by Chairman A in front of his property rises higher than surrounding homes and obstructs his view of the Han River.

Chairman A is currently constructing a detached single-family house with a total floor area of 2,014.19 square meters (approx. 609 pyeong), consisting of two basement levels and two above-ground levels, on a vacant lot directly in front of the house where Chairman B currently resides.

The construction period runs from April 4 of last year to December 1 of this year.

In fact, at the construction site of Chairman A's new house, the steel-reinforced concrete structure under construction was one to two floors higher than neighboring houses.

Because of this, looking toward the Han River from beside Chairman B's house, the Hannam Bridge and the Han River were blocked from view.

The court reviewing the injunction application acknowledged that Chairman A's new housing construction would cause some restrictions on the Han River view from Chairman B's house.

However, it judged that because Chairman A's house is located diagonally rather than directly in front of Chairman B's house, the view would not be completely blocked.

In addition, noting that the structural work for the new building has already been completed, leaving little practical benefit to halting construction, the court dismissed the injunction application on July 27.


In the injunction application, Chairman B also raised issues such as the possibility of Chairman A's building violating relevant construction laws and flaws in the building permit process.

The court stated that these matters must be determined in a primary lawsuit and did not issue a separate judgment on them.

Chairman B's side filed a lawsuit with the Seoul Administrative Court in June against the head of Yongsan-gu Office seeking to nullify the building permit for Chairman A's house.

The house being built by Chairman A is located on a slope, with roads situated both in front and behind the property.

Chairman B's side argues that it violates the Building Act, which stipulates that "if a plot abuts two or more roads, the building height must be calculated based on the widest road."

Chairman B's position is that the building height was illegally increased by obtaining a building permit based on a narrow road located at a higher elevation.

They also claim that administrative authorities failed to properly review development activity permissions regarding "embankment" work, where Chairman A's side altered the land's topographical characteristics for the purpose of raising the ground level.

In particular, Chairman B plans to newly build his own home on a vacant lot directly behind Chairman A's house.

He also contends that Chairman A's house, built higher than surrounding homes, could directly infringe upon the view rights of the residence he plans to build in the future.

Chairman B's side is also taking issue with the fact that Chairman A's land plot includes a road purchased from Yongsan-gu for about 2.7 billion won in November 2022.

At the time, Yongsan-gu changed the designation of a portion of the road plot to "building site" and sold it to Chairman A's side, who is an adjacent landowner.

Yongsan-gu explained that it took this measure after determining that the administrative property lacked value, considering that the structure built by Chairman A's side was occupying it and that it was a dead-end alley with low traffic volume.

A Yongsan-gu official stated, "Since it was not being utilized for administrative purposes such as a road, we sold it according to the sale procedure following the cancellation of its designation."

However, Chairman B's side maintains that a judicial judgment is necessary to determine whether there were any flaws in Yongsan-gu's transfer of the road plot to Chairman A's side.

Because it takes a long time for the primary lawsuit to yield a result, Chairman B's side has appealed to the court, asking for a re-evaluation starting with the injunction application.

Chairman A's side stated, "This is a matter where the legal legitimacy and safety of the construction have been objectively proven by the dismissal of the injunction."

They added, "It is proceeding through legitimate procedures after receiving confirmation of compliance from the Yongsan-gu Office."

Back in 2009, Chairman B previously filed an injunction to halt construction against a house being built directly in front of his own by Chairman C, leading to a legal dispute.

At that time, the Seoul Western District Court accepted the injunction, judging that the construction of Chairman C's house would block Chairman B's view toward the Han River.

The conflict later concluded when Chairman C's side decided to lower the height of the new building.

Even earlier, in 2005, two conglomerate chairmen drew public attention when they clashed over view rights for a house in Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu.

(Photo: Yonhap News)