An apartment complex in Jamsil, eastern Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — There are thousands of ‘underage landlords’ in South Korea who own real estate and collect rent.
Rep. Shim Ki-joon of the ruling Democratic Party reported that there were a total of 2,415 juveniles who profited from renting out real estate in 2017.
The young landlords generated 50.4 billion won (US$41.9 million) in rental income, for an average of 20.8 million won each every year.
Revenues continue to increase each year. Rent collected by underage real estate owners increased from 34.9 billion won in 2015 to 50.4 billion won in 2017.
What is particularly striking is the number of real estate owners between 0 and 9 years of age and how much they earn.
Real estate owners under five years of age increased from 73 people in 2015 to 131 in 2017. Those under 10 years of age went from 402 people to 600 during the same period.
Rent collected by landlords under 10 years of age was 11.7 billion won as of 2017. Those under 5 years of age made 2 billion won in the same year.
“It is most likely that parents are using their children’s names to avoid tax,” said Shim.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
