[Exclusive] Seoul Social Housing Fails to Return Deposits, Seized Over Unpaid National Taxes

[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that a land-lease social housing project operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to ensure housing stability has been seized by tax authorities due to unpaid national taxes. Just before the seizure, a provisional attachment of 730 million KRW was also placed on the property. As tenants currently residing in this social housing are already unable to recover their lease deposits, a sense of crisis is spreading among tenants of other Seoul social housing projects.

A Seoul social housing property was recently seized due to unpaid national taxes. Last year, it was also involved in a legal dispute with a tenant over the failure to return a lease deposit. Photo by Reporter Jeon Da-hyun

According to the real estate register, two consecutive legal actions were taken against the Seoul social housing building located in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, this year. Following a 730 million KRW provisional attachment set by the Eunpyeong Credit Union as a creditor on March 28, the head of the Eunpyeong District Tax Office placed a seizure on the property on April 21. This appears to be a measure taken due to the social housing operator failing to pay national taxes.

The social housing in question is a Seoul-style land-lease social housing project where the Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation (SH) owns the land, and a social enterprise leases it for a long term to construct and operate the building. The structure involves the public sector leasing the land while the private sector handles operations. Currently, this social housing facility operates 20 units leased to tenants.

The housing complex is currently embroiled in a legal dispute for failing to return a lease deposit of approximately 50 million KRW to a tenant who moved out last year (Related article: [Crisis in Social Housing] Trusted the Seoul City Name and Moved In, Only to Become a Victim of 'Jeonse Fraud'). It appears that the operator, which owns the social housing building, has faced operational setbacks due to financial difficulties. As the lease terms of other tenants are set to expire sequentially, the number of victims unable to recover their deposits is expected to increase further.

Although the project bears the name of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the city does not actually participate in the lease agreements. Seoul City has since removed information regarding the problematic social housing project from its social housing website. A Seoul city official stated, "We are currently in discussions to prepare measures to protect the residents."