Background
In August 2018, our client leased a residential unit in Gyeonggi Province on a two-year term with a jeonse deposit (a large lump-sum lease deposit) of KRW 180,000,000, moving in that October. During the lease, the landlord registered two collateral mortgages on the unit, each with a maximum secured amount of KRW 100 million. Around July 2019, the landlord died.
Our client had no way of knowing who had succeeded to the landlord's position. The only lead was that the landlord's spouse had signed the lease as the landlord's agent.
What Was at Stake
When a landlord dies, the heirs inherit the landlord's rights and obligations. The questions were who the heir was, whether the deposit could be claimed from that person, and whether the claim could be brought before the lease term expired.
How Changchun Helped
Law Firm Changchun structured the claim as follows, and the court accepted the plaintiff's claim.
Identifying the proper defendant. After confirming that another heir had renounced the inheritance through a court decision, we amended the claim against the spouse as sole heir.
Terminating the lease through service of the complaint. The complaint itself served as notice of termination.
Showing the need for an early claim. We pointed to the mortgages registered during the lease term as a reason the deposit could not be expected to be repaid at expiry.
Outcome
The defendant could not be reached, so the case proceeded by service by public notice. In February 2021, the first-instance court ordered the heir to pay the full deposit of KRW 180,000,000 and bear the litigation costs. The claim for late-payment damages was denied because our client had not yet vacated the unit.
A landlord's death does not extinguish a tenant's right to the deposit. Tracing the line of succession first and framing the claim accordingly can secure a judgment for its return. (Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.)