Students left in the dark as maintenance fees rise

A 25-year-old renter surnamed Jeong who lives alone in a 16.5-square-meter (178-square-foot) studio apartment near a university in Dongjak District, southern Seoul, pays 90,000 won ($65) a month in maintenance fees. The fee includes water and gas, but Jeong does not know how much is charged for each utility or how much is spent on maintaining common areas.

“I pay about 20 percent of my monthly rent in maintenance fees, but I have never been given a detailed explanation of where the money goes, from when I signed the lease until now,” Jeong said.

With the new semester approaching, university students are facing growing frustration and financial pressure over unclear maintenance fees that can exceed 100,000 won a month. Under current law, apartment complexes above a certain size are required to disclose detailed maintenance fee information, but small residential buildings and officetels (dual-purpose buildings used for commercial and residential purposes) near universities often fall outside such disclosure requirements.

As of Aug. 19, the monthly maintenance fee for studio apartments that are 33 square meters or less near 10 major universities in Seoul was 81,000 won, according to real estate platform Dabang on Monday. The analysis was based on listings with a 10 million won deposit.

For officetels, the average reached about 114,000 won across the six university areas where listings were available.

Maintenance fees around universities have been rising faster than rents. Average monthly rent near the 10 major universities in Seoul rose 7.7 percent in July from a year earlier, while maintenance fees climbed 10.9 percent over the same period, according to Dabang.

The problem is that students often have little way of knowing how their maintenance fees are calculated or where the money goes despite paying substantial amounts each month.

Kim Da-bin, 24, who lives in a 20-square-meter officetel in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, pays 140,000 won in monthly maintenance fees on top of 1 million won in rent. Water and gas are billed separately, which brings Kim's total monthly maintenance and utility costs to around 200,000 won.

“When I signed the lease, the real estate agent told me the building would be secure because it had a management office, but I later found out that the building manager leaves at 6 p.m. on weekdays and does not work on weekends,” Kim said. “The cost seems excessively high compared to the services I receive, which made me wonder whether the maintenance fees are actually being spent properly.”

The government has introduced measures aimed at improving transparency over maintenance fees, but gaps remain.

Since 2023, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has required real estate listings for properties with monthly maintenance fees of 100,000 won or more to separately disclose items such as general maintenance charges and usage-based fees. The requirement, however, applies only when properties are advertised for lease or sale by real estate agents.

Another rule that took effect in October 2024 requires maintenance fee information to be disclosed through the Korea apartment management information system, operated by the Korea Real Estate Board under the Land Ministry, but it applies only to housing complexes with at least 100 households.

Critics say an amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act, approved by the Cabinet on Aug. 11, also needs further improvements.

Starting Friday, licensed real estate agents will be required to check information on shared maintenance fees with landlords before lease agreements are signed and explain the charges to tenants. The measure, however, is limited in its ability to ensure transparency over how fees are actually charged and spent after tenants move in.

Concerns over unclear maintenance fees remain particularly common at studio apartments and officetels near universities, many of which are in buildings with fewer than 100 households.

A 27-year-old renter surnamed Na who lives alone in a roughly 20-square-meter officetel in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, said tenants would have little way of knowing if a landlord simply set a fixed maintenance fee and then assigned portions of that amount to different categories when explaining the charges.

“Real estate agents are not actually showing tenants supporting documents, such as records of how the maintenance fees are spent, so I question whether strengthening the explanation requirement will actually be effective,” Na said.

Experts say the system should be improved so tenants can check detailed charges and how their maintenance fees are spent throughout their tenancy.

“Even landlords of small studio apartments or officetels sometimes do not properly know how the building manager calculates maintenance fees or where the money is spent,” said Yoo Seon-jong, a professor of real estate studies at Konkuk University. “It should not end with a real estate agent explaining the maintenance fee when the lease is signed.”

“Tenants should also be given itemized information on charges and expenditures while they live there, and there should be a channel through which building managers and residents can review maintenance fee details and communicate with each other.”

BY NOH YU-RIM [[email protected]]