Background
Our client leased a unit in a residential building in Gyeonggi Province in January 2021 with a deposit of KRW 429,000,000. In February 2023 the term was extended to March 1, 2024, with the deposit unchanged. In December 2023 the client sent two certified letters stating that she would not renew and asking for the deposit at expiry. The landlord did not repay after the lease ended, and the client, still unpaid, could not move out.
What Was at Stake
A timely non-renewal notice ends the lease at expiry and triggers the landlord's duty to return the deposit. The practical challenge was obtaining a judgment from a landlord who could not be found.
How Changchun Helped
Law Firm Changchun filed suit on the client's behalf, presenting the lease, the extension agreement, and the certified letters to show that the lease ended on March 1, 2024 and that the deposit remained unpaid. The claim was framed as payment in exchange for vacating the unit, so the judgment could be enforced promptly. When the court papers could not be delivered, the court proceeded by service by publication and accepted the claim as pleaded.
Outcome
In October 2024, the first-instance court ordered the landlord to pay KRW 429,000,000 in exchange for the return of the unit, imposed the litigation costs on the landlord, and declared the judgment provisionally enforceable.
Tenants should give notice of non-renewal before expiry in a form that leaves a record, such as a certified letter. That record is the strongest proof that the lease ended and the deposit is due. (Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.)