Renting in South Korea: the rules

Any lease of a building used as a home, or part of one, is covered by the Housing Lease Protection Act (HLPA), version in force since 2 January 2026, and any term that is worse for the tenant is void (HLPA art. 2, 10). There are three common forms, all legally the same kind of lease with a deposit (bojeunggeum): jeonse (전세), where the tenant pays a large lump-sum deposit and no monthly rent; wolse (월세), monthly rent plus a deposit; and ban-jeonse (반전세), a large deposit with a small monthly rent, which is market language rather than a legal category. A jeonse that is not registered on the property register is still protected by the Act (art. 12). A lease with no term, or a term under two years, counts as a two-year lease; only the tenant may insist on the shorter term (art. 4). The Act does not apply to a let that is clearly for temporary use, such as a short holiday stay (art. 11).

Renewal works in two ways. If the landlord does not give notice of non-renewal or new terms between six and two months before the end, and the tenant does not give notice by two months before the end, the lease renews automatically on the same terms for two years (implicit renewal, art. 6; the two-month deadline applies to leases signed or renewed since 10 December 2020). Separately, since 31 July 2020 the tenant can demand a renewal once, in the same six-to-two-month window, for a further two years (art. 6-3). The landlord can refuse only on the grounds in the Act: two months' rent in arrears at any time, a lease obtained by deceit, agreed compensation, unauthorised subletting, deliberate or grossly negligent damage, destruction of the home, planned demolition or rebuilding (announced at signing, for safety, or under other laws), the landlord or the landlord's parents or children moving in, or another serious breach. An implicit renewal does not use up the one-time right (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Ministry of Justice Q&A, July 2020). Bills are pending to change this: one proposed in the National Assembly on 2 October 2025 (a date taken from a news report of 15 October 2025) would lengthen the term to three years and allow two renewals. As of 2026-10 none of these bills is law, and the law in force is still 2+2.

No particular form is required, but the law says the Ministry of Justice's standard lease contract should be used unless both sides agree otherwise (art. 30). Leases above ₩60,000,000 deposit or ₩300,000 monthly rent must also be reported to the local authority within 30 days (see Registration). Before signing, the landlord must show the tenant the fixed-date record of other leases on the home (or consent to you seeing it) and certificates that national and local taxes are paid (or consent to you checking them) (art. 3-7).

There is no legal cap on the deposit and it is not lodged with any official body: the landlord holds it, and very often it has gone into a mortgage or another property. The tenant's protection comes from three steps. First, moving in and registering your address (for foreigners, the change-of-residence report) gives 'opposing power' (daehangnyeok) from 00:00 the next day: a buyer or new owner must honour your lease (HLPA art. 3). Second, a fixed date (hwakjeong-ilja, 확정일자) stamped on the contract gives priority repayment if the home is auctioned, ahead of creditors registered later (art. 3-2). You get it at the local community service centre (₩600 a contract), online for electronic contracts, or automatically when the lease is reported with the contract attached. Because opposing power only starts the next day, a mortgage registered on the day you move in ranks ahead of you; ask for a clause that the landlord will not take out a loan before your opposing power starts. Third, check the property register (deunggibu, 등기사항증명서, from the Supreme Court's Internet Registry Office) before signing and again before paying the balance: the owner's name, any mortgage (geunjeodang) and its maximum amount, seizures, provisional registrations or a trust registration. Since 2023 a tenant whose deposit is over ₩10,000,000 can also check the landlord's unpaid national taxes at a tax office without the landlord's consent, between signing and the start of the lease (National Tax Collection Act art. 109).

Small deposits get priority even over earlier mortgages, up to a fixed amount, if the tenant moved in and registered before the auction was registered (HLPA art. 8). Since 21 February 2023 the thresholds are: Seoul, deposits up to ₩165,000,000, of which up to ₩55,000,000 is protected; the overcrowding-control zone of the capital region plus Sejong, Yongin, Hwaseong and Gimpo, up to ₩145,000,000 (₩48,000,000 protected); other metropolitan cities and Ansan, Gwangju (Gyeonggi), Paju, Icheon and Pyeongtaek, up to ₩85,000,000 (₩28,000,000); elsewhere up to ₩75,000,000 (₩25,000,000). The total paid out cannot exceed half of the home's value, and the older, lower thresholds still apply against a mortgage registered before that date (Enforcement Decree art. 10, 11, as of 2026-10).

If the lease ends and the deposit is not returned, the tenant can stay on: the lease is treated as continuing until the deposit is repaid (art. 4), and handing back the home and repaying the deposit are simultaneous duties. A tenant who must move can apply to the district court for a lease registration order (imchagwon deunggi myeongnyeong); once it is registered, opposing power and priority survive the move, and the costs can be claimed from the landlord (art. 3-3). A deposit-return guarantee (jeonse bojeunggeum banhwan bojeung) is the strongest protection: the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) covers deposits up to ₩700,000,000 in the capital region and ₩500,000,000 elsewhere, if the deposit plus prior debts is within 90% of the home's value (officially assessed values are counted at 140%), you live there with a move-in report and fixed date, and you apply before half the lease term has passed. Individuals, companies and foreigners can apply; officetels must be marked as residential, and buildings registered for neighbourhood commercial use are not covered (HUG, as of 2026-10). The Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF) also offers a deposit guarantee, but only alongside an HF-guaranteed jeonse loan.

The first rent and deposit in a new lease are free to agree: there is no cap on what a landlord can ask from a new tenant. Within a lease, and when the tenant uses the renewal right, either side can ask for a change in rent or deposit if taxes, charges or the economy have changed, but an increase can be at most 5% (one twentieth) of the agreed rent or deposit, and cannot be asked for within a year of the lease starting or the last increase (HLPA art. 7; Enforcement Decree art. 8, rule in force since 31 July 2020). Provinces and the big cities may set a lower cap by ordinance. The 5% is a ceiling, not an entitlement, and it does not apply to a new lease with a new tenant (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Ministry of Justice Q&A, July 2020). A tenant who paid more than the law allows can claim the excess back (art. 10-2). A tenant can also ask for a decrease, and a clause banning decreases is void.

When all or part of a deposit is converted into monthly rent during a lease or at renewal, the monthly rent cannot exceed the converted amount times the lower of 10% a year and the Bank of Korea base rate plus 2 percentage points (HLPA art. 7-2; Enforcement Decree art. 9). The base rate has been 3.00% since 27 August 2026 (2.75% from 16 July 2026, 2.50% before that), so the statutory cap is now 5.0% a year (as of 2026-10): converting ₩100,000,000 of deposit gives at most ₩5,000,000 a year, about ₩416,000 a month. The cap moves every time the Bank of Korea changes its rate. It is not the same as the market 'jeonse-to-wolse conversion rate' published by the Korea Real Estate Board, which describes what landlords actually ask. A renewal on the tenant's right is on the same terms, so a landlord cannot switch a jeonse to wolse without the tenant's agreement (Easy Law, Ministry of Government Legislation).

Registered rental businesses have stricter rules: their increases are capped at 5% for the whole registered period, not just once (Special Act on Private Rental Housing art. 44). Disputes about rent can go to the Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committees, which can ask the city or province for local fixed-date data and conversion rates (HLPA art. 24).

During the agreed term neither side can simply end the lease by notice. The tenant can leave early only by agreement; in practice landlords often ask the tenant to find a replacement and pay the agent's fee, but that is a matter for negotiation. After an implicit renewal, or a renewal on the tenant's right, the tenant can end the lease at any time and it ends three months after the landlord receives the notice; the landlord has no such right (HLPA art. 6-2, 6-3(4)). To stop a lease renewing, the landlord must give notice of non-renewal or changed terms between six and two months before the end, and the tenant by two months before the end (art. 6).

The landlord can end the lease early if rent arrears reach two months' rent (Civil Code art. 640) or if the tenant sublets without consent (art. 629). If the landlord refuses a renewal because they or their family will move in, but then lets the home to someone else during the two years the renewal would have run, the landlord must compensate the tenant: unless agreed otherwise, the greater of three months' rent (with the deposit converted into rent at the statutory rate), two years of the difference between the new rent and the old, or the tenant's actual loss (HLPA art. 6-3(5)-(6)). A tenant refused in this way can ask the fixed-date office who is living there now (Enforcement Decree art. 5-6).

At the end the tenant hands back the home and the landlord repays the deposit at the same time. Do not give up the keys or your registered address before the deposit is back unless you have a lease registration order in place, because moving your registration out ends your opposing power and priority. A suit to recover a deposit uses the faster small-claims procedure whatever the amount (art. 13). If the tenant dies, a cohabiting partner and close relatives living in the home can take over the lease (art. 9). A landlord cannot remove a tenant or change the locks; recovering the home takes a court judgment and enforcement.

The landlord must hand over the home and keep it in a fit state for use throughout the lease (Civil Code art. 623). Necessary repairs a tenant pays for can be claimed back, and the value of improvements is repaid at the end if it still adds value (art. 626); clauses making the tenant pay for all repairs are common, and courts read them narrowly, so put the split in writing. Minor upkeep such as light bulbs and small fittings is usually the tenant's. If part of the home becomes unusable through no fault of the tenant, the tenant can ask for a rent reduction (art. 627). At the end the tenant must return the home in its original condition and may remove what they added (art. 615, 654). Disputes over restoration and cleaning costs taken from the deposit are among the most common, so photograph the home at move-in and write existing defects into the contract's special terms.

Tenants pay their own electricity, gas, water and internet, and usually a monthly management fee (gwanlibi, 관리비) for the building. In apartment complexes the fee is itemised; in studios and officetels it is often a fixed sum. Since 21 September 2023, online listings by agents for homes with a fixed management fee of ₩100,000 a month or more must break it down into general management costs, utilities and other charges, with fines of ₩500,000 for leaving it out and ₩5,000,000 for false figures after a grace period that ended on 31 March 2024 (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, September 2023). Since 28 August 2026 the agent's confirmation document must also cover shared management fees, trust registration and joint mortgages.

Agents must be licensed and registered. The commission is paid by each side and capped by the Enforcement Rule of the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act (Table 1, in force since 19 October 2021) within limits each province sets by ordinance. For leases: under ₩50,000,000, 0.5% with a maximum of ₩200,000; ₩50,000,000 to under ₩100,000,000, 0.4% with a maximum of ₩300,000; ₩100,000,000 to under ₩600,000,000, 0.3%; ₩600,000,000 to under ₩1,200,000,000, 0.4%; ₩1,200,000,000 to under ₩1,500,000,000, 0.5%; ₩1,500,000,000 and above, 0.6%. For a wolse, the value is the deposit plus 100 times the monthly rent, or 70 times if that total is under ₩50,000,000: a ₩10,000,000 deposit with ₩800,000 rent counts as ₩90,000,000, so the fee is capped at ₩300,000. For residential officetels up to 85 m² with their own kitchen and bathroom, the lease fee has been negotiated within a cap of 0.4% since 28 August 2026; other non-residential property is capped at 0.9% (Rule art. 20, amended 11 August 2026). The agent must explain the property's condition, rights and legal restrictions, show the supporting documents (register, building ledger, trust records) and hand over a signed confirmation and explanation document; agents must hold liability cover of at least ₩200,000,000 (₩400,000,000 for firms) through a guarantee insurer, the Korea Association of Realtors' mutual-aid scheme or a deposit, and must tell you the amount and provider when the deal is done (Licensed Real Estate Agents Act art. 25, 30; Enforcement Decree art. 24).

Registering where you live is not just paperwork in Korea: it is what gives a tenant legal protection. Korean citizens make a move-in report (jeonip singo, 전입신고) under the Resident Registration Act. A foreigner staying more than 90 days must register for a residence card (alien registration card) at the immigration office within 90 days of arriving, and after moving must report the new address within 15 days, to the local district or community service centre or the immigration office (Immigration Act art. 31, 36). Not reporting a change of address can bring a fine of up to ₩1,000,000 (art. 98). The Immigration Act says foreign registration and the change-of-residence report take the place of resident registration and the move-in report (art. 88-2), so a registered foreigner who has moved in and reported the address gets the same opposing power and, with a fixed date, the same priority as a Korean tenant. The fixed-date register records foreigners by their registration number (HLPA Enforcement Decree art. 4).

Since 1 June 2021 a lease in a city, district or metropolitan county with a deposit over ₩60,000,000 or monthly rent over ₩300,000 must be reported jointly by landlord and tenant to the local authority within 30 days of signing, and again within 30 days of any change in the rent or deposit or a cancellation; a renewal that only extends the term with no change in money is exempt (Real Estate Transaction Reporting Act art. 6-2, 6-3; Enforcement Decree art. 4-3). After a four-year grace period, fines apply to leases signed from 1 June 2025: ₩20,000 to ₩300,000 depending on the delay and the amount, and up to ₩1,000,000 for a false report (Enforcement Decree, fines table, as of 2026-10). Reports are made at the community service centre or online at rtms.molit.go.kr; filing the signed contract with the report gives the fixed date automatically (art. 6-5). The law also treats a Korean tenant's move-in report as the lease report, but does not say the same of a foreigner's address report under the Immigration Act. As practical advice, not a legal rule: a foreign tenant can check that the lease has actually been reported, or report it with the landlord.

Landlords and agents usually ask to see the residence card or passport. Many foreign tenants rent on wolse, since jeonse loans are harder to get without a Korean credit history. A residential officetel or a 'neighbourhood commercial' building used as housing can be a problem if the landlord forbids the move-in report (often for tax reasons): without it you have no opposing power.

A tenant may not assign the lease or sublet the home without the landlord's consent, and the landlord can end the lease if they do (Civil Code art. 629). Subletting without consent is also one of the grounds on which a landlord can refuse the tenant's renewal demand (HLPA art. 6-3(1)4). With consent, the subtenant owes duties directly to the landlord, and paying rent to the head tenant is no defence against the landlord (Civil Code art. 630). These limits do not apply when a tenant lets someone use a small part of the home, such as a room (art. 632), but the subtenant's position is then weak.

A subtenant or a lodger in a room has no opposing power against the owner and no priority for a deposit unless they meet the Act's conditions themselves, which normally requires the owner's consent to the sublet. Paying a large deposit to a head tenant is risky. Many newcomers start in a goshiwon (a building of tiny single rooms with shared facilities), a share house or a serviced residence; these usually charge one month's rent upfront and a small or no deposit, which limits what you can lose.

Listing your rented home or a room on a short-stay platform is subletting and needs the landlord's consent, and short-stay lets also need a business licence (see For landlords).

A private landlord needs no licence to let a home on a normal lease. The landlord must hand over the property register and tax information the tenant is entitled to see (HLPA art. 3-7), report the lease with the tenant within 30 days where the reporting duty applies, follow the 2+2 renewal and 5% rules, and convert deposit to rent only at the statutory rate (currently 5.0% a year, as of 2026-10). Using the standard contract is recommended by law. Landlords can register as a private rental business under the Special Act on Private Rental Housing for tax benefits, in return for a duty to let for 10 years (long-term) or, since 4 June 2025, 6 years (short-term, not available for apartments), increases capped at 5% throughout, no refusal of renewal without statutory grounds, and a compulsory deposit guarantee covering the tenant's whole deposit (Special Act art. 2, 43-45, 49).

Rental income from homes is taxed as business income. Renting out your only home is tax-free, unless it has an official standard price over ₩1,200,000,000 or is abroad (Income Tax Act art. 12). If total home rental income is ₩20,000,000 a year or less, you can choose separate taxation at 14%, after a flat 50% expense deduction (60% for registered rental homes) and a further ₩2,000,000 deduction (₩4,000,000 registered) if your other income is ₩20,000,000 or less; above ₩20,000,000 rental income is added to other income and taxed at 6% to 45% (art. 14, 55, 64-2). Local income tax adds 10% of the tax. Deposits are taxed through a deemed rent: for owners of three or more homes whose deposits total over ₩300,000,000, and since the 2026 tax year also for owners of two homes whose deposits total over ₩1,200,000,000 (homes with a standard price of ₩1,200,000,000 or less are not counted for the two-home rule). Small homes of 40 m² or less with a standard price of ₩200,000,000 or less are left out of the count until 31 December 2026 (art. 25; Enforcement Decree art. 53, as of 2026-10).

Short lets in an ordinary home are not legal without a licence. The licence types are the foreign-tourist urban home-stay (oegugin gwangwang dosi minbak), in which a resident lets rooms in the home they live in to foreign tourists only, the hanok experience business, rural home-stays outside urban areas under separate law, and full lodging businesses (Tourism Promotion Act Enforcement Decree art. 2). Since 4 August 2026 home-stays and hanok stays must post and keep to a price list, and a recent amendment to the Tourism Promotion Act bans hidden cameras in them. Airbnb has required a licence number and certificate for new Korean listings since 2 October 2024 and for existing ones since 16 October 2025, with unlicensed listings unable to take stays from 1 January 2026; Airbnb says this is its own policy, not a legal duty on platforms (Airbnb, August 2025).

Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committees handle disputes over rent and deposit increases, the lease term, return of the deposit or the home, repairs, renewal and ending, damages, agents' fees and liability, and the standard contract (HLPA art. 14; Enforcement Decree art. 22). They are run by the Korea Legal Aid Corporation (offices in Seoul, Suwon, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan and Gwangju), the Korea Real Estate Board and LH, and cities and provinces may set up their own committees. Seoul does: besides the Legal Aid Corporation's Seoul Central office and the Real Estate Board's Seoul East office, the city runs its own Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committee, with applications through the Seoul Jeonse and Wolse Support Centre (Seoul Housing Portal, as of 2026-10). You can apply in writing, online or in person. The fee is ₩10,000 for claims under ₩100,000,000, rising to ₩100,000 for ₩1,000,000,000 or more; tenants with a small deposit protected under article 8, and some low-income and other groups, pay nothing. The committee must finish within 60 days (extendable by 30). Mediation is voluntary: if the other side declines, the case is dismissed. Each side has 14 days to accept a proposal in writing, and an agreed settlement that includes consent to enforcement can be enforced like a judgment (HLPA art. 21-27; Enforcement Decree art. 33 and Table 2, as of 2026-10).

In court, a tenant's suit for the deposit uses small-claims procedure whatever the amount, and a lease registration order protects a tenant who has to move out first. The Korea Legal Aid Corporation gives free legal advice on 132 and legal aid to people on lower incomes. Tenants hit by jeonse fraud can apply for victim status under the Special Act on Support for Victims of Jeonse Fraud (in force since 1 June 2023 and extended in May 2025 to 31 May 2027, but only for tenants whose first lease was signed on or before 31 May 2025): it requires moving in, registration and a fixed date, a deposit up to ₩500,000,000, and signs of fraud. Support includes help at auction, a right to buy the home first, public rental housing and loans. From 12 November 2026 victims who recover less than a third of their deposit can claim the shortfall, but this minimum guarantee excludes non-Korean nationals (Special Act art. 3, 25-9). The Jeonse Damage and Prevention Support Centres (Seoul: 02-6917-8119) give legal and housing help to victims and, since May 2026, check registers and contracts for people about to sign; HUG also books free safe-contract consultations.

Foreigners can get multilingual information from the Immigration Contact Center on 1345. Problems with agents and services can go to the Korea Consumer Agency through the national consumer helpline 1372. Easy Law, the government's plain-language law site, explains the lease rules in Korean.