APARTMENT REBUILDING AGE TO BE LOWERED

[Anchor Lead]

The government has laid out a new special law to speed up residential redevelopment in the first-phase planned development areas. With the new law, the housing deterioration standard will be reduced from the current 30 years to 20 years. Safety inspection floor-area ratio regulations will also be eased.

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An apartment complex in Ilsan, Gyeonggi-do Province. It still has one more year until it becomes eligible for rebuilding, which applies only to apartments that are more than 30 years old. But once a special law is enacted, its reconstruction process can begin right away. This is because a new regulation allows apartments to be rebuilt more than 20 years after land development.

[Soundbite] Ko Young-hee(Ilsan Reconstruction Association) : "Water leaks are a serious problem. I experienced it five times a year. The technician told me it was impossible to fix."

Apartment complexes that manage to attract basic infrastructure projects such as metropolitan transportation facilities will be exempted from safety inspections.

[Soundbite] Moon Seong-yo(Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) : "Safety inspection criteria will be exempted if the publicness aspect such as self-sufficiency or basic infrastructure is recognized."

The new regulation also allows changing the type of land. High-density developments of up to 500 percent will be permitted in some areas including those near metro stations. The limit for increasing the number of households in apartment complexes subject to remodeling will be raised. Red tape will be cut drastically so multiple permits can be examined at once. The government says the new law will apply to all land development areas measuring more than one million square meters. This applies to 49 areas nationwide, including Mok-dong and Sanggye-dong in Seoul, Yeonsu-gu in Incheon, Haeundae-gu in Busan, and Sangmu in Gwangju. Adjacent areas will also be subject to urban development, meaning in most areas rebuilding will be allowed for any apartment complex that is more than 20 years old. There is a precondition that the heads of local governments must designate special redevelopment zones and negotiate the matter with the central government. There are concerns the new law could spark competition over apartment rebuilding.

[Soundbite] Prof. Han Mun-do(Yonsei Univ.) : "This may result in reckless development, especially if local gov’t chiefs use this in their political campaign pledges."

The government is scheduled to propose the special law bill to the National Assembly within this month.