‘Violation of Real Estate Act’, fine of 300 million won… What's the ending?

Mr. A completes land ownership transfer registration process after 16 years... Fines in the hundreds of millions of won imposed
The 1st and 2nd trial courts canceled the fine saying, “The reason for the delay in registration is acknowledged...there is no legal reason for the disposition.”
 

The court ruled that fines cannot be imposed if there is a justifiable reason even if land ownership transfer registration procedures were not followed for a long period of time.

On the 13th of last month, the Seoul High Court's Administrative Division 6-1 (Chief Judges Hwang Ui-dong, Wi Kwang-ha, and Baek Seung-yeop) upheld the original ruling that ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the appeal trial of the suit to cancel the imposition of fines paid by Mr. A, in his 40s, against the mayor of Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Mr. A purchased a piece of land in Jongno-gu, Seoul for 1.2 billion won from his younger brother in February 2006 and started operating a junk shop in March of the same year.

Afterwards, Mr. A completed the ownership transfer registration process in 2022, about 16 years later.

Jongno-gu Office, the local government in charge, imposed a fine of 380 million won on Mr. A. This is because Mr. A is a long-term unregistered reporter.

According to the Real Name Real Estate Act, if an application for ownership transfer registration is not made until the grace period for real name conversion has elapsed, a fine in the range of 30/100 of the real estate value is imposed.

Mr. A filed an administrative lawsuit against the imposition of a fine. Mr. A claimed, “As the payment of the sale price for the land in question was delayed, a related lawsuit was filed and the registration process had to be delayed.”

He emphasized, “Even though there were legitimate reasons for not applying for registration, the local government imposed a fine, which clearly shows that there was a flaw in the disposition.”

The first trial court sentenced the imposition of fines to be cancelled. The court ruled, “Even if the unpaid amount is only about 7% of the total sale price, it is difficult to view this as completion of payment of the sale price,” and “Accordingly, this case cannot be considered to have a legitimate reason for disposition.”

Jongno-gu Office immediately appealed, but the second trial court also ruled in Mr. A’s favor. The Seoul High Court stated the reason for dismissing the appeal, saying, “In an appeal lawsuit, the burden of proving the legality of a disposition lies, in principle, with the disposition office that asserts the legality of the disposition. The defendant’s reasons for appeal are not significantly different from the arguments in the first trial, and the cancellation of the fine is recognized as justified.”

Attorney Lee Jun-hee of Daeryun Law Firm (Limited), the legal representative of Mr. A, said, "Even at the time of the disposition in this case, the settlement of the sale price surrounding the land in question had not been completed. The defendant was aware of these facts, but denied them and sought to maintain the disposition. Therefore, the disposition in this case should have been canceled due to the seriousness of the defect." He added, “It cannot be considered reasonable to claim grounds for disposition based on separate facts that are not legally recognized as having the same basic facts.”

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'Violation of Real Estate Act', fine of 300 million won... What's the ending? (Shortcut)