Korean Job Discussion Forums

[philipjames]

The monthly apt. 'maintenance' fee. Isn't that rent? I mean that 48,000 won bill we pay every month for who knows what. Over a year it adds up to almost 600,000 won. Has anyone every successfully challenged their school over paying this? I'd be interested to know. Because I'm considering it.

Any adfvice?

[Drunken Monkey]

It is for maintenance and upkeep of the building.
So the money you and the other people in your building pay each month will cover cleaning of communal spaces, general upkeep of the building, regular maintenance of fire alarms etc.

In the UK even if you purchase an appartment you would still be required to pay a montly fee to the building owner so its nothing unusual.

[goodgood]

I've always felt like this should be mentioned on contracts. Most people don't expect it (I certainly didn't- we don't have that in the US).

The school should either tell the people coming in about it or pay it as part of the "free housing."

[happeningthang]

It seems a small thing considering we'ere getting rent paid for. Everyone else is paying rent + maintenance fees. We only have to pay the fees. It's still a good deal.

[Hater Depot]

Think about what you're paying for though. Some cleaning lady sweeps the ground floor lobby a couple of times a week. Security guard sleeps all night, isn't there half the time in the day, is too old and frail to do anything about any actual problem and refuses to call the police when there is one. His main job is sorting the trash from the recycling and giving people their packages the postman drops off. Your average one-roomer pays about 50,000 for that. Surely people with families are paying more.

Do the math. Your typical apartment complex here has maybe 10 buildings with 16 floors each, with 20 units on each floor. Total 2,560 units. Even if they were all one-rooms, in just one month a total W128,000,000 gets paid for those crappy services. At the current exchange rate that approaches $150,000. 12 months a year makes that well over a million.

Somebody is getting that money but it ain't the security guards and cleaning ajummas.

[yingwenlaoshi]

It's a rip off. Tell your boss you don't want to pay it. It's not a utility.

[Drunken Monkey]

HaterDepot, your maths is sound but that is just the way it is with these things.

The money collected would be for all service costs for the building not just staff, elevator maintenance, cleaning supplies, new light bulbs, paint etc should they decide to do the place up a bit!

In theory, and i would be interested to find out if this is the case in Korea, should there be severe damage to the building, perhaps from storm damage, the fund collected is there to carry out the repairs.

[Greekfreak]

Don't be a tightwad, it's part and parcel of the reality of living in Korea. Never mind whether or not it's useful, there's no getting around it.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Drunken Monkey]

For all those who think that paying a monthly maintenance fee is wrong i have the solution.

Save up enough money to buy your own house, then you wont have to pay any maintenance.

Oh, hang on though, you will probably want to put some money aside each month to keep the house in good condition and for those unexpected problems.

[Boodleheimer]

[R-Seoul]

I don't pay the maintenance fee, i noticed my contract stated housing & utilities are covered and refused to pay.
They (eventually) agreed.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[Drunken Monkey]

Your maintenance fee is for the upkeep of the building, kind of like it suggests.

Im sure you would be complaining if the hallways were filthy and the lights didnt work and neither did the elevator.

You could of course try to agree that you wont pay maintenance but im sure your monthly rent would magically increase by a similar amount.

[Adventurer]

When I lived in Cheonan, the most my bills would come to was like 40,000 including heat and electricity and even when I was using the stuff a lot. Here it can go up to 150,000 including the bill to the security guard. I am just watching it and I turned off my heat, I am minimizing my bills otherwise it would eat out the increase in pay I got by taking this job. Well, even with that it still wouldn't take so much of the raise, but you've got to watch your bills in these buildings. Should I unplug the cable before I leave. What about the power to the lap top. I leave my lap top on stand-by and have it connected. Does that churn up a lot of juice? We can't get around this bill. Oh well, I wanted to move to the big city. It is a small price to pay, and I am not going to complain over it.
Just cut your phone calls or reduce your spending in certain areas and you will be fine, I say.