A luxury villa in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, for which actress Seo Hyun-jin personally applied for an auction after failing to recover her jeonse deposit of around KRW 2.6 billion, is set to go up for auction again.
According to Ttangjipgo on the 2nd, the fourth-floor unit of HESTIA, a luxury villa in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, will be auctioned on the 6th with a minimum bid of KRW 1.47129 billion.
Seo Hyun-jin signed a lease for the property in April 2020 with a jeonse deposit of KRW 2.5 billion. After extending the contract, she reportedly paid an additional KRW 125 million, bringing the total deposit to KRW 2.625 billion.
The issue emerged after the landlord failed to return the deposit even after the lease ended in April 2024. Seo Hyun-jin completed the registration of her tenant’s rights in September of the same year and applied for a compulsory auction.
At the time, the property’s appraised value was approximately KRW 2.87363 billion. However, the auction failed to attract bidders several times, causing the minimum bid to fall to the KRW 1.4 billion range.
The auction proceedings were suspended for a time in July last year after the landlord pursued rehabilitation proceedings. They resumed after the landlord was declared bankrupt in December of the same year. This auction is reportedly restarting at the minimum bid of KRW 1.47129 billion that had been set when the proceedings were suspended.
The landlord is Lee Hye-jin, the head of BRUNNEN, a luxury housing brand that has supplied high-priced homes in the Gangnam area. She reportedly experienced financial difficulties during the course of her business.
Among the properties owned by Lee, three are reportedly being auctioned this time: the fourth-floor unit of HESTIA, which is tied to Seo Hyun-jin’s jeonse deposit; the third floor of the same building; and the fifth floor of BRUNNEN CHEONGDAM.
Attention is focused on how much of her KRW 2.625 billion jeonse deposit Seo Hyun-jin will be able to recover. The current minimum bid is approximately KRW 1.15 billion lower than her deposit.
However, the minimum bid is different from the actual winning bid, and the property is subject to mortgage liens held by financial institutions in addition to Seo Hyun-jin’s rights. The actual distribution amount is therefore expected to be determined by the final winning bid and the rights attached to the property.
Seo Hyun-jin reportedly left the villa without recovering her deposit and moved to an apartment she owned in Oksu-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul.
Meanwhile, Seo Hyun-jin will return to television through The Perfect Lie, a new Friday-Saturday drama on Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), which premieres on the 30th.
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
