Article 18-2(1) of the former Housing Act (amended by Act No. 11243, Jan. 26, 2012; hereinafter “the Housing Act”) provides that “A project operator who has obtained approval of a project plan pursuant to Article 16(2)1 may request the owner of a site (including buildings; hereafter the same shall apply in this Article and Article 18-3) who fails to secure the title to use the site among the relevant housing construction sites according to the following subparagraphs to sell the site at the market price. In such cases, a consultation shall be held with the owner of the site subject to a request for sale for sale for at least three months before filing a request for sale.” Since consultation does not impose any restriction on the method or time of consultation, such consultation shall not be conducted after filing a lawsuit claiming a right by exercising the right to request sale (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2010Da97068, Nov. 10, 2011).

(See Supreme Court Decision 2013Da99256 Decided August 26, 2014). “Consultations” as a requirement for exercising the right to demand sale refers to a specific and substantial consultation between a project proprietor and a housing site owner for at least three months, and determination of whether a project proprietor who has obtained approval for the housing construction project plan has presented a sale price or a reasonable ground for the calculation thereof, whether the project proprietor has made efforts to hold the consultation, and what attitude the housing site owner has shown in consultation ought to be comprehensively taken into account.

(see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2011Da101315, 101322, May 9, 2013). According to the reasoning of the lower judgment, the lower court, on the grounds stated in its reasoning, prior to the exercise of the right to demand sale by serving a written application for alteration of the purport and cause of the Plaintiff’s claim on July 20, 2012.