[Exclusive] Mortgage lien of 1.77 billion won on President Lee’s Bundang home fully released

[Financial News] A mortgage lien securing 1.77 billion won on an apartment in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, sold by President Lee Jae Myung and his wife has been released. With the post-sale procedure to cancel the mortgage lien now complete, the security interest on the apartment has also been cleared.
According to Financial News’ reporting on the 3rd, the application to cancel the mortgage lien on the property was filed on October 30 with the Bundang Registry Office of the Seongnam Branch of Suwon District Court. The filing number is No. 5704877.
After the registration application was filed, its review status of ‘awaiting examination’ changed to ‘registration complete’ following the release of the mortgage lien this morning. With the cancellation, the security interest of 1.77 billion won on the Bundang apartment sold by President Lee and his wife was cleared from the property register.
There was also one ‘hiccup’ during the review. In the afternoon of the 2nd, the review status changed to ‘correction in progress.’ This status means that, while examining a registration application, the registry office has found an error or discrepancy in the documents or information entered, requested that the applicant provide corrections, and is processing them. In other words, the registry office found something that needed to be corrected while reviewing the application documents.
The specific reason for the correction request was: ‘The purpose of registration stated in the submitted handwritten-signature information does not match; please correct this.’ The point was that the purpose of registration stated in the application did not match the information in the handwritten-signature information submitted during the application process. Handwritten-signature information is used in registration applications to verify the applicant’s intent and the details of the application.
The registry office’s decision was based on Article 29 of the current Real Estate Registration Act, which sets out grounds for rejecting a registration application. The correction request in this case fell under No. 9, ‘failure to provide attached information.’
The mortgage lien was subsequently released after the requested corrections were made. Under current law, an application is not rejected if the applicant corrects the error by the day after the registrar requests a correction. The Bundang Registry Office explained, “A correction was requested, but the issue was addressed and the registration was completed.”
Meanwhile, President Lee and Mrs. Kim Hye-kyung sold for 2.9 billion won the apartment in Yangji Village, Sunae-dong, Bundang, that they had jointly owned, and transferred ownership to the buyer last July. At the time, a mortgage lien with a maximum secured amount of 1.77 billion won was registered, with President Lee and his wife as the mortgagees.
The sale method President Lee chose is also known as ‘seller financing’ (a homeowner loan). Seller financing is a method in which the seller lends the buyer part of the purchase price or defers payment of the balance. The Blue House explained that ownership was transferred first in consideration of the buyer’s circumstances, saying, “The mortgage lien was for the unpaid balance due to be settled at the end of October.”
[email protected] Kwon Jun-ho, Choi Jong-geun and Seong Seok-woo Reporter