Article 23 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea guarantees property rights of Koreans. A property right means a basis of life and material condition for making a constant life possible to each individual. In particular, real estate serves as the base for residence of an individual, the foundation for production, and a means for increasing properties. As we are living in the early 21st century with a focus on materials, property rights including those on real estate have an important significance. Guarantee of property rights means the guarantee of the continuity of existence of property rights, the objective values, and the free rights to use. The Republic of Korea has the appraisal and assessment system, which materializes the property rights guaranteed by the Constitution, as an important means for guarantee of property rights.
The officially assessed land price of the standard lot determined through an appraisal and assessment provides the land price information in the land market, and becomes an indicator of general land transactions. It also serves as the standard for institutions such as the government and the local governments to calculate the land price in relation to their work and for someone conducting an appraisal and assessment to individually performs an appraisal and assessment of land (Article 10 of the Act on the Public Announcement of Values and Appraisal of Real Estate). The officially assessed individual land price serves as the standard for imposition of development dues by the Restitution of Development Gains Act, calculation of price of registered property by the Public Service Ethics Act, calculation of the standard market price for calculating the tax base of the transfer income tax on land transfer by the Income Tax Act, assessment of the price of the subject land by the Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act, and imposition of the acquisition tax by the Local Tax Act. The standard house price serves as the standard for institutions such as the government and the local governments to calculate the individual house price in relation to their work (Article 18 Clause 1 of the Act on the Public Announcement of Values and Appraisal of Real Estate). As well, the prices of individual houses and apartment houses provide price information of the housing market, and can be used as the standard for institutions such as the government and the local governments to calculate the prices of houses in relation to their work including taxation.
The officially assessed land price and the officially assessed house price are not only the standard for transactions for a public purpose and taxation but also the indicator for general land transactions. They have an immense impact on the property rights of Koreans. In particular, the guarantee of property rights of Article 23 of the Constitution and the principle of no taxation without law of Article 59 of the Constitution are closely related to the officially assessed land price system. As the officially assessed land price is used as the standard for the property rights of Koreans in case of expropriation of land, imposition of development dues or the like, and imposition of a variety of taxes, it can be said to actually determine the details of property rights. Thus, maintenance of objectivity, propriety, and expertise of the officially assessed land price can be said to form the basis of the Constitutional guarantee of property rights. Therefore, the Act on the Public Announcement of Values and Appraisal of Real Estate has the status as a law for materializing the Constitution, and it must be carefully enacted and interpreted to fit the status.
Thus far, there have been some issues on the implementation of the Act on the Public Announcement of Values and Appraisal of Real Estate, and new laws have been enacted to replace the existing law in order to settle the issues. The new laws are three Acts including the Act on the Public Announcement of Values of Real Estate, the Act on Appraisal and Assessment and Certified Public Appraiser, and the Act on the Korea Appraisal Board. Thanks to the enactment of the three new laws, the controversy over the structure of the legal systems of appraisal and assessment has been settled for the time being. However, you cannot view that this has settled an objective and fair appraisal and assessment system. It is determined that the appraisal and assessment system should develop further from here on for the Korean people to agree through operation of the system.