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Land and Housing Corporation LH reduces the land price by about 6% if the construction company pays earlier than the specified period when selling public land. However, even though some construction companies received a discount on the land price, they calculated the sale price based on the original amount, and residents sued one after another.

Reporter Jung Ban-seok contributed to this report.

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An apartment complex in Songpa-gu,
Seoul.

The apartment developer bought LH's 1.611 billion won public housing for 6 billion won, a 2.1% discount, on the condition that it be paid in advance.

However, when the apartment was sold in 510, the original land price was calculated at the sale price before the discount, which was 2013.101 billion won more than the purchase price.

362 residents sued for the return of the inflated distribution, and in 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the residents that the implementing company should return 1 million won per plaintiff.

[Gong Hyung-jin/Lawyer: Construction companies profited by making speculative transactions with public land, and the court put the brakes on this.]

Since then, more than 100,14 residents of 1 complexes across the country have filed lawsuits against seven construction companies or contractors for the same reason.

[Kim Hoon-chae/Goyang-si: Isn't the upper limit on the sale price transparency, why do we have to pay more (the sale price) without being accurately informed of that amount (discounted land price).]

Over the past 700 years, construction companies have received discounts from LH amounting to more than KRW 7.10 trillion.

Construction companies say they followed the government's "Sale Price Examination Work Manual."

[Apartment Implementation Company Official: The economic benefits of pollinators by moving forward with the project are much greater. The Ministry of
Land and Infrastructure maintains that the sale price is examined on the basis of the supply contract, so the land price must be applied before receiving a discount.


[Kim Min-chul/Democratic Party lawmaker (National Assembly Land and Infrastructure Committee): The Ministry of Land and Infrastructure maintains a manual that allows it to calculate the high sale price, adding to the confusion on the ground. Amendments to the Housing Law or improvement of the system....]

If the court ruling is upheld in similar lawsuits, contrary to the MOLIT's position, the size of additional lawsuits may increase.

(Video Interview: Yoo Dong-hyuk, Video Editing: Oh No-young, CG: Jang Sung-beom and Kang Yoon-jung)