Civil rights watchdog recommends daughter be allowed to inherit low-income rental apartment

Social Affairs

Published: 02 Jan. 2024, 16:16

Civil rights watchdog recommends daughter be allowed to inherit low-income rental apartment

Kim Tae-kyu, the vice chairperson of the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), speaks during a press briefing held at Government Complex Sejong on Dec. 27. [ANTI-CORRUPTION & CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION]

The Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) announced on Tuesday that it asked Daejeon City Corporation to permit a daughter who cared for her ailing mother for 15 years after a 40-year separation to inherit her mother’s rental property.

The ACRC’s request came as the daughter submitted a complaint to the agency after the city corporation asked her to leave her mother’s residence — a public rental housing offered cheaper rents to low-income earners — since she failed to register that she lived with her mother at the house. The Daejeon City Corporation is a public agency under the authority of the city government that manages the development of residential buildings in the city.

According to the agency, the woman was separated from her mother in 1968 when she was 10 years old. After some 40 years, in 2008, the woman began living with and nursing her mother, who suffered from a stroke.

Her mother died after the daughter looked after her for about 15 years. Following her mother’s death, the daughter applied to transfer and put the residence in her name, which the city-owned agency declined to do, saying the daughter had not registered herself as a resident of the house. The ACRC investigated the case after receiving a report in November last year.

The mother was unable to sustain her life without the help of another person; she suffered physical disabilities due to a brain lesion. The daughter also did not have a regular income, working as a day laborer.

The agency confirmed that the daughter sacrificed much and cared for her mother for years. It also confirmed through neighbors, the residence’s security guard and the history of her credit card use that the daughter lived with her mother.

She reportedly did not register her name as a house resident as she was concerned that her mother would become disqualified as a beneficiary of national basic livelihood and be kicked out of the rental house if her income was reported.

The government prioritizes low-income earners, including those receiving basic livelihood security benefits, at a low rental price.

Following the investigation, the ACRC asked the city corporation to inherit the house from her last month. The Daejeon City Corporation agreed to do so.

“The case shows that a daughter who has looked after her ailing mother for 15 years can inherit a rental house,” Kim Tae-kyu, the vice-chairperson of the ACRC, said. “The agency will carefully examine to ensure that citizens do not suffer in the blind spots of the formal logic of the law in the future."

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]