[HanCinema's News] Celebrity Landlords Cut Rent During COVID-19 Crisis

While many celebrities have made headlines for donating their personal wealth to help purchase medical supplies, some celebrities have taken a different approach to COVID-19 relief. Rain, Won Bin, and Lee Na-young, among others, have been cutting down the rent in buildings they own.

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This is not a celebrity specific initiative, but rather tied to a broader movement among landlords to recognize the difficulties many tenants have in paying their rent given the current health restrictions. The terms landlords in the movement have accepted is to cut in half the rent required for the first six months of the year and to also put a hold on any legal action against tenants until 2021.

But these actions aren't necessarily being performed out of noble societal interest. Landlords have long faced criticism in South Korea and elsewhere for exploiting tenants and creating a poor housing situation. For some landowners to voluntarily agree to terms like this is an obvious hedge against the prospect that the government may take more radical action against them for attempting to exploit a national health crisis for personal gain.

The risk is especially acute given that parliamentary elections will take place on April 15th. Various tax benefits are also likely influencing landlord behavior here. All of these factors serve to explain why celebrities such as Rain, Won Bin, and Lee Na-young have tried to avoid calling attention to their actions as landlords during the crisis.

Written by William Schwartz