Neighbors spat over ‘pet charge’

A move to impose a monthly “pet charge”  on pet-owning households in a housing complex has stirred up a controversy among neighbors as well as netizens.

Since August, a multi-buliding residential complex in Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province has been charging 10 households that have pets an extra 7,200 won ($6.2) on top of the monthly house maintenance fee that covers electricity, heating, parking lot maintenance and etc.  

It is part of a new anti-pet policy decided by the council of residents.

Under existing rules, all residents that wish to have pets at home must obtain written consent from at least half of the neighbors from their respective building. But households that have pets without going through the process have grown, giving rise to the necessity of a financial penalty -- a 5 percent hike in the monthly maintenance fee, the council explained.

Pet-owning households submitted a petition to Seongnam city government, arguing it is unfair to charge higher fees just because one has pets.

“Issues at multi-household houses are too private for the city government to step in and difficult to mediate,” said an official from city government.

Currently, there is no legal basis to ban pet ownership in the residential area.

Ministry data in 2015 showed that 4.57 million families in South Korea, or 10 million individuals, live with pets.

“There has been continuous complaints over noise problems between neighbors. We thought that controversies will only get worse if noise problems caused from pets are not handled well,” one of the representatives of residents said.

Half of South Koreans live in apartment complexes, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Since Korean apartments are mostly separated by cement walls, sound easily transfers between them. 

By Kim Da-sol(ddd@heraldcorp.com)