Heavy rains cause outer wall of apartment building to collapse, making Jeonse scam victims live in fear

An employee of a management company cleans up finishing materials fallen during the collapse of an outer wall, which collapsed on July 18, at an apartment building in Michuhol-gu, Incheon. Reporter Lee Ye-seul

On July 18, when heavy rains fell in Incheon, the outer wall of an apartment building where the victims of the jeonse (lease) fraud lived collapsed, causing the gas pipe to be damaged. The apartment's outer wall has collapsed three times since the end of last year, and tenants' complaints have deepened as the cracks in the building have widened due to heavy rain. The tenants said they were “afraid of a safety accident” and requested action from the local district office, but there was no follow-up.

At around 3:30 a.m., one of the outer walls of a 13-story apartment building in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, collapsed. Tenant Ms. Eun (43) woke up to a thunderous noise and thought, “It's collapsed again,” and checked the wall. One side of the outer wall between the second and seventh floors of the building had collapsed due to heavy rain. The gas pipe attached to the wall had also fallen off and was sagging downward. “I was afraid that if the gas pipe burst, it would cause a big accident, so I reported it immediately,” said Eun. The gas supply to the building has since been cut off.

From midnight on the 16th to 3:30 p.m. on the following day, as little as 250 millimeters and as much as 400 millimeters of rain fell in Incheon by region. Kang Min-seok, head of the Jeonse Fraud Damage Countermeasures Committee in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, said, "Tenants wash with cold water and cannot cook food because the gas pipe was cut off and left unrepaired as it has been raining a lot.

It was not the first time. In December last year, the outer wall between the 10th and 13th floors collapsed, and in January this year, the outer wall between the 7th and 10th floors fell. Tenants demanded action from the district office for fear of safety accidents, but were neglected without any measures. In the parking lot on the ground floor of the apartment building, there were piles of finishing materials that fell from the collapse on this day and the materials that fell from last winter. There were no casualties, but residents are worried that there will be a bigger accident. “When the outer wall collapsed last winter, all the security windows in the house were broken,” said Eun, adding, ”I don't sleep well because I'm anxious.” Another tenant Mr. A said, “If there was a gas leak, it could lead to a big explosion, which made me feel dizzy.”

This is a neighborhood where many tenants who have been victimized by jeonse scams live. They said they are “just stamping their feet.” The landlord, who is supposed to be responsible for repairing the building, is in the middle of a trial for jeonse fraud and cannot be reached. The district office has not taken any action, saying that it is “difficult to take action because it is private property.” Kang said, “The only way for the tenants to repair it is to pay for it themselves, but since the apartment is being auctioned off due to the jeonse fraud, the tenants don't know if they will be able to live here or not,” adding, “It's also difficult to repair it because it costs a lot.”.

The tenants are frustrated with the central and local governments. Tenant Ms. Lee said, “The district office always says there is no way to fix it, and they seem to think it's not their job. Even when the outer wall collapsed last winter and crushed the flue, we ended up fixing it at our own expense.” A district office official said, “We will see if relevant departments can take action,” adding, ”Since it's private property, we're wondering how to support them.”

“In most cases, tenants have to bear the full burden of defects such as leaks in rental fraudulent housing,” said Jisoo, head of the Minsnail Union, adding, ”Leaving the tenants in the houses that cannot be repaired is a public neglect of victims of social disasters.”

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.