Seo Taiji wins lawsuit over unpaid rent

A Seoul court has ruled in favor of singer Seo Taiji in a lawsuit against a tenant in one of his buildings, court officials said Wednesday.

The tenant, a hospital owner surnamed Byun, has leased the second to fifth floors of the building in Seoul since July 2011. Byun was to pay monthly rent of 34 million won ($32,600) and a maintenance fee of 9.4 million won, but fell behind in the rent starting in September 2012.

Seo filed a suit against the tenant as Byun refused to leave the building, even after receiving a notice for the cancellation of the lease contract in February 2013.

The Seoul Central Court last Thursday ordered Byun to vacate the building and pay the outstanding arrears of 328 million won.

“Byun was ill-intended in his use of the building while being aware of the fact that he had no legal right after the contract was cancelled,” Judge Kang In-cheol said in his ruling.

The court deducted 9 percent of the rent, however, acknowledging that Byun was unable to use some areas on the fifth floor since there were no facilities for handicapped people.

“Byun’s business incurred losses because Seo opposed building facilities for disabled people,” the judge explained.

The structure in question is a six-story building in Gangnam, Seoul, which is valued at around 10.2 billion won.

The singer is known to own several buildings in Seoul altogether worth more than 16 billion won.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)