Check redevelopment unit rights before purchasing
Before buying a villa, house or land share in a redevelopment area, check both basic allocation eligibility and whether the property carries an independent right to one replacement unit.
A seller appearing on the association register, or a separate unit number on the property register, does not by itself confirm a separate new apartment.
Household ownership, the original pre-subdivision rights, application history and acquisition timing affect different legal checks.
This tool screens one property in an ordinary Seoul redevelopment project under Korean 2026 rules.
It separates basic criteria, independent allocation, membership transfer and application restrictions, helping buyers and family members prepare questions for the association and district authority.
An entered-criteria result does not replace the final allocation decision or approved management-disposition plan.
Basic Seoul criteria: house, 90 m² or rights value
Seoul Ordinance Article 36(1) assesses the ordinary apartment-allocation routes for eligible prior property owners at the management-disposition reference date.
Under Ordinance Article 2, that reference date is the allocation application closing date, distinct from the rights calculation cutoff used for subdivisions.
Check whether at least one of the three ordinary routes below applies, then review the separate restrictions.
Recognized house ownership
Verify ownership of a qualifying prior residential house.
The number of renting households in a multi-household building is not the number of allocation rights.
Unauthorized structures require the specific historical category, residential use and association bylaw recognition to be checked individually.
At least 90 m² of eligible land
Use land attributable to your ownership share after the relevant exclusions, not the entire parcel area.
Exactly 90 m² meets this threshold; 89.999 m² does not.
Solely owned land and shared land require different independent-allocation checks.
Value of one smallest unit
Eligible rights value must reach the estimated value of one smallest apartment allocation unit.
Eligible values within the same household may be aggregated, while household allocation restrictions remain.
An unverified smallest-unit estimate is not replaced with zero.
A verified eligible-land route can meet the basic check even if house recognition remains unknown.
A non-residential 60 m² land holding with insufficient rights value fails all three ordinary routes.
Other Article 36 routes, including changed implementation methods and certain infrastructure compensation situations, require separate review rather than conversion into these three ordinary criteria.
Ownership shares and excluded land
Area formulas
Owned area = entire prior land area × ownership share ÷ 100.
Eligible area = owned area − verified excluded area attributable to you.
A 50% share of 180 m² gives 90 m² attributable area.
A 1 m² exclusion attributable to that share leaves 89 m² eligible area.
Seoul Ordinance Article 36(3) lists particular post-cutoff partial or shared acquisitions within a multi-parcel building site, land acquired separately from its building, and land acquired through subdivision or sharing.
Relevant land is excluded from both area and rights-value calculations.
This is not a blanket rule excluding every normal purchase of an existing property after the cutoff.
Match the land register, historical ownership records and the building site boundaries, then verify applicability with the district authority.
Enter excluded area attributable to your share, and enter rights value already net of the excluded land value.
The calculator does not estimate excluded value in proportion to area; prior-asset appraisal, proportional-rate rights value, purchase price and cash settlement are distinct amounts.
Rights cutoff and independent allocation risks
Act Article 77 covers parcel subdivision, conversion into separately owned units, separation of one owner’s land and building, construction increasing the number of owners, and subdivision of an exclusive unit increasing owners.
Rights are calculated by reference to the day after the published cutoff; later rights-increasing changes require review against the original rights and joint allocation arrangements.
A change on the cutoff date is not classified as later by this tool, but the legally relevant event date and official notice still need documentary verification.
Representative membership differs from unit allocation
Act Article 39(1) sets representative-member rules for shared ownership, one household, and several buyers acquiring one owner’s rights after association approval.
A representative member on the register does not guarantee a separate unit to every co-owner.
Review Ordinance Article 36(2) and Act Article 76 supply rules separately.
Pre-cutoff shared-land exceptions
A land share held before the cutoff may qualify for individual supply review if your personal eligible area reaches 90 m² or your personal rights value reaches one smallest-unit estimate.
Do not use household aggregate value as the personal-share exception.
The pre-cutoff 90 m² exception for land/building separation after completion also needs individual review.
A normal purchase, conversion of a multi-household house into separately owned units, and replacement construction increasing owners are different facts.
Obtain the original registers, before/after subdivision or conversion records, and association approval history before relying on a contract statement about unit rights.
A shared or household restriction does not mean all original rights have disappeared.
Membership transfer in overheated districts
Under Act Article 39(2), acquisition after management-disposition plan approval in a speculation-overheated redevelopment district requires checking the membership transfer restriction.
Acquisitions include sale, gift and other rights changes; transfers through inheritance or divorce are excluded from acquisition for this paragraph.
Do not confuse redevelopment’s plan-approval trigger with reconstruction’s association-approval trigger.
10-year ownership AND 5-year residence
Verify that the seller is a one-home household and meets both at least 10 ownership years and at least 5 residence years under Decree Article 37(1).
These are the seller’s periods, not the buyer’s, and 10 ownership years alone does not meet this exception.
Statutory inheritance aggregation and residence by the owner’s spouse or lineal relatives need ownership, relationship and resident-record evidence.
Other exceptions address household relocation, overseas migration/stays, prolonged projects, specified creditor auctions, pre-designation contracts with reporting within 60 days, and pre-designation land-transaction-permit applications.
Each has specific statutory conditions, so an early contract or auction purchase is not automatically cleared.
Select verified only after checking the applicable provision in Act Article 39 and Decree Article 37 and its documents with the association and authority.
Enter the purchase contract date separately from actual or planned acquisition.
Acquisition on the approval date requires review of legal effect, timing and transitional provisions rather than a date-only decision.
Planned acquisition results freeze the entered district status and conditions; recheck them before closing.
Applications and the separate five-year restriction
Meeting basic criteria does not excuse missing the application procedure.
Act Article 73 addresses compensation procedures for non-applicants, applicants withdrawing before the window closes, Article 72(6) restricted applicants, and owners excluded by the approved plan.
Choose before-window, submitted within the window, missed, withdrawn before closing, or plan-excluded to represent the actual status.
Prior allocation selection in an overheated district
Act Article 72(6) requires review of the five-year application restriction for an overheated-district allocation recipient and household members applying in an overheated district.
Member-allocation selection uses the first management-disposition plan approval date; inheritance, marriage, divorce exceptions and transitional provisions also need checking.
This tool does not retrieve past project selections: mark the review cleared only when no restriction or a lawful exception has been verified.
Before-window status still requires a future timely application.
Check actual notices and extensions and retain the submission receipt.
Reapplication after withdrawal depends on separate Article 72 procedures, bylaws and resolutions and is not automatically granted by the calculator.
How to use the calculator and prepare documents
- Select the region and project and verify ordinary-rule applicability, notices, bylaws and transitional or special provisions.
Other regions, reconstruction and small-scale projects need their own rules.
- Use historical land/building registers to enter cutoff and change dates, shared ownership, household and post-association multiple-buyer history.
Leave unverified facts unknown.
- Enter attributable and excluded land area and association-provided eligible rights value and smallest-unit estimate.
Avoid double deductions or treating entire parcel area as your share.
- Cross-check district status, approval and acquisition dates, seller exception documents and application status.
Review the statutory household definition beyond registered addresses.
- Enter purchase and settlement assumptions and save or print the review.
Ask the association/authority for written answers and review eligibility-related contract terms.
Record each document’s verification date and the responding institution.
This helps identify differences between a seller’s explanation and official records; submission status, household selections and exception applicability often need association or authority confirmation.
Worked 60 m² and 90 m² examples
All ordinary criteria fail
Assume non-residential solely owned land of 60 m² in Seoul, eligible rights value of KRW 300,000,000, and a smallest-unit estimate of KRW 400,000,000.
The land is below 90 m² and value is insufficient, so all ordinary basic routes fail.
A KRW 500,000,000 purchase minus assumed settlement of KRW 350,000,000 gives conditional loss of KRW 150,000,000.
The included 90 m² boundary
Change only the eligible land area to 90 m² and the land route meets the basic criterion.
Assuming no shared/household, rights-increase, transfer or application restrictions and a completed transitional review, the tool displays entered criteria met.
The KRW 150,000,000 settlement-loss assumption remains, but does not represent a settlement probability or an actually occurring loss.
All example dates, amounts and checked states are fictional, not a real project or market appraisal.
Even 90 m² may show another restriction when post-cutoff subdivision or acquisition after approval in an overheated district without an exception is involved.
Korean and English screens use the same pure function, so identical inputs produce identical figures and check statuses.
Interpretation and practical situations
Entered criteria, risk and further review
Entered criteria met means at least one ordinary route is supported by the entered facts with no other restriction found.
Risk means a basic-criteria, independent-allocation, transfer or application restriction has been found.
Further review means important facts, scope or exceptions remain unresolved; it is not a low-risk rating.
Reviewing a parent’s land share
Inheritance does not waive shared and household supply rules.
Where siblings hold shares, distinguish representative membership from individual-supply exceptions and inspect how the parent’s original rights are recorded.
Inheritance alone does not imply several replacement units.
Comparing villa and land candidates
A unit’s conversion history and cutoff notice may matter more than its present unit number.
For land, review personal 90 m² and value routes together with other household property.
Save a separate review for each candidate and compare unresolved issues without using this tool as an automatic purchase ranking.
Conditional difference = purchase price − assumed settlement, preserving its sign.
Conditional loss = max(0, purchase price − assumed settlement).
If assumed settlement exceeds purchase price, the difference is negative and loss is zero; this is not a profit guarantee, and appraisal, tax, additional compensation and transaction costs require separate review.
Input tips and scope limits
Project facts and historic rules require verification
- Do not automatically substitute district designation for the rights cutoff.
Verify any separately published cutoff and its scope.
- The statutory household may include separately registered spouses and minor descendants.
Check post-approval household-separation exceptions under Act Article 39.
- Use documented statutory periods for 10-year ownership and 5-year residence.
A recollection or short contract statement is insufficient evidence.
- Unauthorized buildings, changed implementation methods, cooperative-housing transitional provisions, commercial allocation, two-unit supply and special cases are not finally determined here.
Review project bylaws and the historic law applicable to the case.
- Missing settlement means not calculated; entered zero means a zero-settlement assumption.
Appraisal or rights value is never automatically converted to cash settlement.
Contract terms should specify the property, required evidence, verification deadline, cancellation/refund scope and responsibilities if allocation eligibility fails.
The checklist is not a completed legal clause: have a legal professional review actual wording.
Saved checkmarks are user notes, not certification of official verification, an application or a completed contract.
Frequently asked questions
Does every purchase after the cutoff lead to cash settlement?
No: a normal purchase of existing rights is distinct from a rights-increasing subdivision or conversion.
Check excluded-land acquisitions, independent allocation and membership transfer separately.
Does 90 m² guarantee a unit?
It is one ordinary Seoul basic route.
Sharing, household rules, post-cutoff changes, transfer, applications and transitional rules can still restrict independent supply.
Does each household in a multi-household house receive a unit?
Occupant households are not necessarily separate property owners.
Verify ownership, any conversion date, the cutoff and statutory household rules.
Can household rights values be combined?
Aggregation may support the Ordinance value route.
The one-recipient household rule and personal-share exception are separate checks.
Is 10-year ownership enough for purchase after plan approval?
The selected exception needs the seller’s one-home household and both 10-year ownership and 5-year residence.
Any different statutory exception requires its own provision and documents.
Does signing before approval clear transfer restrictions?
The contract date alone does not clear them.
Check acquisition and designation dates, reporting/permit conditions and transitional provisions.
Can a missed application be restored?
Re-notification and reapplication depend on Article 72 project-change procedures, bylaws or resolutions.
The calculator does not automatically restore a missed application and shows the current compensation risk.
How should I use the English screen and estimated loss?
The English screen applies Seoul’s Korean 2026 rules and KRW amounts.
Loss is conditional on your settlement assumption, not a legal determination, settlement probability or predicted appraisal.
Official sources and your next checks
Sources were verified on 2026-10-05 through the National Law Information OPEN API.
The current Act MST 284065 and Decree MST 287285 take effect on 2026-07-01; the current Seoul Ordinance MST 2130189 takes effect on 2026-05-18.
That Ordinance version date is not the original introduction date of Article 36’s thresholds; historic project transitional rules require separate review.
- Urban and Residential Environment Improvement Act, Articles 39, 72, 73, 76 and 77 — ID 009410, MST 284065, effective 2026-07-01
- Enforcement Decree, Articles 37 and 63 — ID 009521, MST 287285, effective 2026-07-01
- Seoul Ordinance, Articles 2 and 36 — ID 2001619, MST 2130189, effective 2026-05-18
Recheck the Act, Decree, Seoul Ordinance, district status, notices and applications when rules change or before closing.
Take the review with historical registers, notices, resident records and exception documents to the association and district authority, then review allocation-related contract terms using their written answers.
Enter your actual documents above and save the review to resolve unverified rights before making a purchase decision.