Cabinet approves amendment to Building Act enforcement decree
Area limit for multi-unit housing to ease from Nov. 12
Non-apartment housing supply to grow through expansion, reconstruction
The floor-area limit for multi-family and multi-unit housing will rise from 660 square meters to 1,000 square meters, and the story limit for multi-unit housing will increase from three to four floors. The changes are intended to allow the construction of larger multi-family and multi-unit homes, boosting the supply of quality housing.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Tuesday that the cabinet approved a partial amendment to the enforcement decree of the Building Act, with the changes set to take effect Nov. 12. The amendment incorporates measures to rationalize building standards — including floor-area and story limits for multi-family and multi-unit housing — announced as part of the Aug. 13 housing policy package.
With the amendment's passage, floor-area and story restrictions in place for more than 30 years since the 1990s will be eased. The current 660-square-meter floor-area limit for multi-family and multi-unit housing will rise to 1,000 square meters, a 51.5 percent increase, while the story limit for multi-unit housing, previously capped at three floors, will be raised by one floor to four.
The amendment also allows the floor-area ratio for communal resident facilities in multi-family housing to be eased through the building committee, as part of efforts to improve residential environments.
The revision addresses longstanding constraints under which multi-family and multi-unit housing developments could not make full use of their plots — even when other building standards such as floor-area ratios were met — because floor-area and story limits capped the overall building size.
With larger multi-family and multi-unit housing now permitted, the ministry expects housing supply to expand through building extensions and reconstruction on mid- to large-sized plots that have not yet reached their floor-area ratio ceilings.
"We expect a variety of general housing types to emerge — moving away from the uniform one-room and two-room layouts of the past and incorporating amenities such as communal resident facilities — by making use of the relaxed area and story limits," a ministry official said.
The amendment also revises provisions related to sunlight-height restrictions. Under the current rules, buildings exceeding 10 meters in height must taper their upper floors at an angle to protect northward sunlight access, resulting in awkward exteriors and limited use of interior space.
Under the revised decree, a fixed 5-meter setback will apply to buildings between 10 and 17 meters in height, giving architects greater design flexibility and expanding usable interior space, which the ministry said will improve living conditions.
"Multi-family and multi-unit housing was introduced during the rapid urban expansion of the past to quickly supply homes, but rigid building standards have since limited its ability to reflect changing development conditions and the increasingly diverse lifestyles of residents," said Lee Jin-cheol, the ministry's director general for building policy. "We hope this amendment will serve as a catalyst for promoting the supply of general housing by improving land utilization in urban areas, and we will continue to engage closely with the field to deliver regulatory improvements that meet the public's expectations."
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