Homeplus was fined 45 million won by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) for changing the location and area of the rental store and passing on interior design costs without sufficient consultation with the tenant.
According to the FTC on May 12, Homeplus' Gumi branch forced four tenants to move their stores to a place that is 22 to 34 percent less in size than before without sufficient consultation or compensation with the tenants of the four stores during the process of changing the locations of its 27 stores between May and June 2015.
Although they reorganized their stores under the leadership of Homeplus, the company also made all of the additional interior costs of 87.33 million won pay by tenants.
The FTC said that such acts by Homeplus violate the Article 17 of the Mass Distribution Industry Act, which bans renters of stores from changing store locations, areas and facilities without due cause during the contract period.
Accordingly, the FTC decided to order Homeplus not to repeat such unfair practices and impose a fine of 45 million won.
