180 million won Porsche for a rental house?Resident Expensive Vehicles Again Controversially

Provision of LH

More than 300 of the residents living in rental apartments for low-income people without homes owned expensive cars.

According to data submitted by Kim Hee-jung, a member of the National Assembly's Land and Transport Committee, from the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) on the 2nd, 311 of the LH rental housing residents currently have vehicles above the criteria for moving in and renewing contracts. BMW had the largest number of cars with 50, with 38 Mercedes-Benz, nine Tesla, nine Audi, and five Porsche.

A resident of a national rental apartment in Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do owned a 2023 Porsche Cayenne Turbo worth 180 million won, and a resident of a rental apartment in Osan-myeon, Iksan-si, Jeollabuk-do owned a 2022 Porsche Cayenne worth more than 100 million won.

In addition, BMW iX xDrive50 (W98 million, 2022), Mercedes Benz S650 (W87 million, 2018), Range Rover (W63 million, 2021), Bentley Continental GT (W46 million, 2014) were listed.

LH stipulates that the combined value of all vehicles owned by households along with income should be less than 37.08 million won (as of this year) based on rental apartment qualifications, but there have been cases in which high-priced vehicle owners move in due to loopholes in the system. As of January 5 of this year, previous tenants were allowed to renew their contracts only once if the vehicle value exceeded, and the system was changed so that tenants could refuse to renew their contracts afterward.

According to the system, 271 of the current residents with expensive vehicles can renew their contracts after the end of the lease even if they own expensive vehicles because the first year of occupancy is before January 5. Of these 271 people, 76 can live up to 2028.

Even after the end of the contract period, 40 residents lived illegally. Four of them were confirmed to have been living for more than a year.

In addition, LH's request to the Social Security Information Service three to four months before the expiration of the contract to renew the tenant's contract is also pointed out as a fundamental reason for the repeated problem of high-priced vehicles in rental apartments. This is because if a person who wants to move in does not have an expensive vehicle only during the qualification inquiry period, he or she can renew his or her contract.

Representative Kim said, "It is not appropriate to have expensive vehicles while living in rental apartments built with taxpayers' money," adding, "The government and LH should actively supplement the shortcomings of the system, such as strengthening tenant qualification inquiries, so that housing welfare benefits can be returned to vulnerable groups who are in desperate need of practical support."

Reporter Lee Yu Na from Digital News Team.