Administrative disposition only 8.2%, investigation request 11.7%... ‘Suspicion of illegality’ and misjudgment with real estate agent
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lim Ki-chang = About 7 out of 10 cases judged by specialized organizations to be acts of disrupting the real estate transaction order, such as fixing house prices, were handed over to the competent local government and ended with 'not guilty', showing a discrepancy.
According to data submitted by People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom, a member of the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee of the National Assembly on the 5th, from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Real Estate Agency, a total of 5,042 reports were received by the Korea Real Estate Agency's 'Report Center for Disrupting Real Estate Transaction Order' from 2021 to July of this year.
The number of reports increased significantly from 87 in 2022 to 491 the following year, and then rapidly increased every year to 1,208 in 2024 and 1,488 in 2025. This year, 1,094 cases have already been reported as of the end of July.
After conducting a basic investigation into the reported cases received, the Real Estate Agency sent 4,161 cases deemed to have strong illegality to local governments across the country, requesting investigation and disposition.
Of these, 66.0% (2,748 cases) were concluded at the local government level with 'disposition of acquittal, etc.'; 8.2% (341 cases) were administrative measures such as cancellation of registration or suspension of business as a licensed real estate agent; and 11.7% (485 cases) were requests for investigation, which were low.
In response to this, it is pointed out that the local government is applying an overly passive interpretation of the law, giving impunity to those who disrupt the real estate transaction order.
The Real Estate Institute received a report that a real estate agent in Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do purchased real estate in the name of his spouse based on information obtained during the brokerage process, and after investigating the facts, decided that the charge was acceptable.
The Licensed Real Estate Agent Act prohibits direct transactions between licensed real estate agents and brokerage clients.
However, the local government that took over the case accepted the respondent's explanation that "it was a direct transaction between the seller and the buyer (spouse) and the price was also the buyer's personal property" and closed the case without charges.
In Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, a licensed real estate agent was reported for violating the obligation to confirm and explain the subject of the brokerage after recommending that the lessee be the one responsible for paying the long-term repair reserves without any explanation at the time of signing the lease contract. Under the Apartment Housing Management Act, long-term repair reserves are borne by homeowners.
Nevertheless, the competent local government cleared the charges, saying, "It is not a violation of the Real Estate Act because matters different from the provisions of the Apartment Housing Management Act are specified in the special contract."
Representative Yoo Sang-beom said, "Even if the real estate agency deploys professional personnel to conduct the first screening and transfer of charges, a structural disconnect is occurring in which two-thirds of the cases are cleared of charges by the competent local government after only a formal written review." He added, "We must institutionalize a regular joint inspection system between the real estate agency and local governments and quickly prepare clear, unified investigation and disposition guidelines that can prevent arbitrary judgments by local government officials."
