Along with camping, car camping has become increasingly popular since the coronavirus pandemic, and recent cases of car camping not only in public parking lots but also in apartment parking lots have raised concerns about resident safety. In fact, on February 26^th, a fire was reported in the parking lot of an apartment building in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do, where the butane gas from a portable gas stove used by the owner of the vehicle while car camping exploded and caused a fire.

As unauthorized parking and camping in public parking lots has already become a serious problem, a bill to amend the Parking Lot Act to prohibit camping and cooking in public parking lots was introduced by Democratic Party lawmaker Meng Seong Kyu on February 29^th and passed the plenary session of the National Assembly. According to the amended Parking Lot Act, illegal camping and cooking in public parking lots is prohibited, and violators will be fined.

However, if a resident is sleeping overnight in an apartment parking lot or cooking in the car, the apartment parking lot is private property and cannot be sanctioned under the amended Parking Lot Act.

Seung Kwan Choi, an attorney in the Construction and Real Estate Team at Lin, said, "If you look at the local government's management rules and regulations that are referenced when enacting the management rules of an apartment building, it states that residents are obligated to 'use the common areas for the purpose for which they are intended.' The purpose of an apartment parking lot is to park a car, not to camp, so even if there is no explicit provision in the management rules stating that 'camping and cooking in the parking lot is prohibited,' you can still request to stop cooking in the parking lot or to attach a warning sign based on general regulations."

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- Source : Apartment total Management News
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