South Korea Cracks Down on 315 Misleading Ads for Residential Use of Staying Facilities

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has uncovered 315 online advertisements that deceptively promoted "staying facilities" (often referred to as 'saengsuk') as suitable for residential purposes. These advertisements led consumers to believe they could legally reside in these facilities, even though they had not obtained the necessary approvals for a change of use to a residential building.

An investigation was conducted on 1,180 advertisements related to 912 staying facilities that had not been converted to residential use (like officetels) out of a total of 3,595 such facilities nationwide as of December last year. The findings revealed that 315 advertisements, representing 26.7% of those reviewed, were suspected of violating advertising regulations.

Among the flagged advertisements, 162 cases involved misrepresenting the purpose of the facilities. They were described as officetels, multi-family dwellings, or explicitly stated as "residential" or "available for resident registration," creating a strong likelihood of consumer confusion. An additional 153 cases failed to disclose mandatory information, such as ambiguously referring to building heights as low-rise, mid-rise, or high-rise instead of providing specific details.

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Staying facilities can only be used for residential purposes after undergoing the legal change-of-use procedures, so you must check the building's intended use and advertisement details before signing a contract.

The ministry has since requested the internet platforms hosting these advertisements to take corrective actions, including modifying or deleting the misleading content. It has also notified relevant local governments to proceed with administrative measures against the advertisers. The regions with the highest number of violations were Gyeonggi Province (155 cases), Busan (47 cases), and Incheon (25 cases).

Kim Ki-dae, head of the Real Estate Consumer Protection Division at the ministry, urged consumers to "carefully check the building's intended use and the advertisement details before signing any contract," emphasizing that staying facilities can only be used for residential purposes after completing the legal change-of-use process. He pledged the ministry's continued commitment to "thoroughly inspect false and exaggerated advertisements" to ensure a sound and transparent real estate market.

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We will continue to thoroughly inspect false and exaggerated advertisements and do our best to establish sound and transparent real estate transaction order so that the public can trade with confidence based on accurate information.