Landlord cornered by lease fraudsters... As a result of the prosecution investigation, ‘no charges were found’

There is no purpose to steal the rental deposit.
‘Ticket jeonse’ fraud does not apply
“Comprehensive consideration of precedents, non-indictment”

A landlord who was accused of stealing 400 million won in rental deposits from tenants through the so-called ‘tin lease’ was acquitted.

According to the legal community on the 5th, the Eastern Branch of the Busan District Prosecutors' Office recently decided not to indict Mr. A, in his 60s, after investigating him on fraud charges.

Mr. A was handed over to the prosecution on charges of receiving and embezzling 438 million won in rental deposits from tenants of a villa in Jung-gu, Busan from May 2017 to April 2020. Tenants filed a complaint against Mr. A, claiming that they were victims of a so-called tin-lease fraud in which the deposit for rent was higher than the sale price of the property.

However, Mr. A denied all charges. Mr. A's side claimed, "A provisional seizure was imposed on the villa owned by the spouse's filing of a divorce suit, and the villa was later sold through a forced auction in 2023. The deposit could not be returned because the winning bid was set more than half the actual market price of the property. It was not a tin lease at the time the villa was rented."

The prosecution decided not to indict Mr. A. The prosecution explained the reason, saying, “Whether or not a crime of fraud is established must be judged based on the time of the act, and we comprehensively took into account precedents that say the suspect cannot be punished even if he defaults on his debt due to changes in economic circumstances.”

Attorney Kim Sang-gu of Daeryun Law Firm (Lihan), who was in charge of this case, said, “The crime of fraud can only be established when there is an act of deception, mistake, disposition, damage to property, and intent to acquire something intentionally or illegally.”

He continued, “Even in a situation where financial conditions worsened due to a sudden change in circumstances, Mr. A sold the apartment pre-sale rights he owned and returned the deposits to some victims. Therefore, Mr. A cannot be seen as the principal criminal of fraud regarding the rental deposit issue. We were able to receive a not guilty verdict by proving objective data on this.”

Digital Content Team

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Landlord accused of lease fraud... As a result of the prosecution investigation, ‘no charges’ (link)