The area cap for building multi-unit (dasedae) and multi-household (dagagu) housing is being raised from 660㎡ to 1,000㎡, and multi-household housing can be built up to four stories. The measure lifts building regulations that had remained in place for more than 30 years, allowing larger homes to be built and increasing the supply of quality housing.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 3rd that a partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Building Act was approved at the Cabinet meeting and will take effect on the 12th. The amendment contains the plan to rationalize building standards such as area and number of stories for multi-unit and multi-household housing, which was announced in the Aug. 13 measures.
The revision changes standards that had been fixed since the 1990s. The area cap for multi-unit and multi-household housing rises by 51.5%, and multi-household housing, previously limited to three stories or fewer, is allowed one more story. A basis is also created for relaxing the floor area ratio, through the building committee, when resident community facilities are placed in multi-unit housing.
The government revised the standards because projects had long been unable to enlarge buildings and make proper use of land due to the area and story caps even when other requirements, such as the floor area ratio, were met. It is expected that housing supply will increase through extensions or reconstruction even on medium and large sites that previously could not be built up to the floor area ratio limit.
“Using the relaxed area and number of stories, we expect a variety of general housing types to emerge, moving away from the uniform one-room and two-room layouts and adding amenities such as resident community facilities,” a ministry official said.
Provisions cited in connection with the sunlight height restriction are also being revised. Until now, to secure sunlight rights to the due north, the upper part of a building had to be slanted starting from the portion exceeding 10 meters in height, which made the exterior look unnatural and heavily limited use of interior space. Going forward, a fixed 5-meter setback standard will apply to the section above 10 meters and up to 17 meters, which is expected to give designers more freedom and enlarge the interior space of homes.
“Multi-unit and multi-household housing was introduced in the past urban expansion period to supply housing quickly, but rigid building standards limited its ability to fully reflect changed development conditions and the diversified lifestyles of the public,” said Lee Jin-cheol, the ministry’s director general for building policy. “We hope this revision will serve as an opportunity to raise land use within city centers and promote the supply of general housing, and we will continue to communicate constantly with the field and improve regulations to meet the public’s expectations.”