도심재개발의 사업시행자로서 “토지등소유자”의 개념

“Urban redevelopment by Owner of a plot of land or structure”(the “Landowner-Based Urban Redevelopment”) is a type of redevelopment project under the Act On The Improvement Of Urban Areas And Residential Environments (the “Urban Improvement Act”), which is better known today as a housing redevelopment project. Redevelopment projects are public projects that are carried out in areas designated by administrative entities to be improved in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations to restore urban functions among areas with substandard fundamental infrastructure and a high concentration of dilapidated and substandard structures. The public nature of the redevelopment projects is manifested not only in that the declining urban functions are restored through the implementation of such projects, but also in that the results of the redevelopments project are not monopolized by a third party that is not substantially related to the improvement zone, but are redistributed to the owners of land in the area in proportion to the value of their assets prior to the implementation of the projects. In relation to the “Landowner-Based Urban Redevelopment”, there has been an increase in the number of development companies who have intentionally purchased land within the improvement zone to become the project implementer of the relevant redevelopment project. In such situations in which a development company with no real connection to the improvement zone purchases all of the land within the zone thus becoming the “Owner of a plot of land or structure” in the dictionary sense and acquiring the status of project implementer of the “Landowner-Based Urban Redevelopment”, is inconsistent with the intrinsic nature, essence of the redevelopment projects. Given the history of the relevant laws and regulations, it cannot be said that the relevant laws and regulations of the “Landowner-Based Urban Redevelopment” allow professional development companies to acquire the land within the improvement zone and implement the redevelopment projects in a way similar to the expropriation method. In order to prevent the redevelopment project from being implemented in a de facto expropriation method, it is necessary to interpret that such development companies cannot be recognized as an “Owner of a plot of land or structure” and the project implementer of the “Landowner-Based Urban Redevelopment” and such an interpretation conforms to the systematic interpretation under the current Urban Improvement Act. Even if a development company should be allowed to implement a redevelopment project in consideration of its expertise in project implementation and project financing etc., from a legislative point of view, it should be considered to use different terms to clearly distinguish the concept of the “Owner of a plot of land or structure”, which is used in various context in the Urban Improvement Act, or to restrict the requirements for a development company to become the project implementer of the redevelopment project more strictly than Article 50(6) of the current Urban Improvement Act should be considered.