Priority Given to Large Apartment Owners Ruled to Be Lawful

The high court overturned a decision of the lower court that ruled it was lawful to give priority to owners of bigger apartments when assigning reconstructed apartments.

At the first trial, however, the judge determined that such a measure was unfair and ruled against the reconstruction union. The new ruling will significantly affect the allotment of reconstructed apartments.

Some reconstruction members of Jugong’s No.2 Apartment Complex in southern Seoul filed a lawsuit against the reconstruction union. The 5th Civil High Court (led by Lee Seong-ho) overturned the decision of the first trial and dismissed a case filed by reconstruction union members including Ahn, yesterday.

The court said, “Owners of larger apartments are less enticed by the idea of reconstruction but they have to invest more money into reconstruction. Given that, the reconstruction union needs to provide incentives for owners of larger apartments. Allowing them to first choose what size of apartments they want can be a good method.”

The reconstruction union said, “The judgment proves that the established measure of allotting reconstructed apartment units is fair and consistent with conventional wisdom. It will significantly relieve owners of apartment complexes which are waiting to be reconstructed.”

The apartment complex in southern Seoul formerly consisted of units with 59 square meters and those with 82 square meters. The union decided to reconstruct the apartment complex and build 2,767 units ranging from 59 to 208 square meters in 2001. But, it reduced the share of large-sized apartments since the former government in September 2003 required constructors to build a specified number of small apartment units.

Some union members, including Ahn, who owned apartments of 59 square meters, were not given a priority to choose the apartment size and faced much greater difficulties buying large-sized ones due to the new measure. They filed a lawsuit to nullify the rules of the reconstruction union and won in the first trial.

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