Background
In March 2022, our client leased a home in Gyeonggi Province for two years with a deposit of KRW 115 million and no monthly rent. The client paid the full deposit, including money used to pay off the landlord's existing loan.
In February and April 2024, while the lease was still running, the client told the landlord that the lease would not be renewed and asked for the deposit back. The landlord failed to return it after the lease ended in late April 2024.
What Was at Stake
A tenant who moves out before getting the deposit back risks losing the right to assert the lease against third parties and the priority right to repayment. Yet the client could not stay indefinitely.
How Changchun Helped
Under a court order to register the tenancy, which preserves a tenant's rights after moving out, the client completed the registration on May 1, 2024, and vacated and returned the home the same day. Changchun then sued for the deposit, and the court granted the plaintiff's claim as filed.
The full deposit was paid. Receipts and bank records showed that five payments added up to KRW 115 million.
The lease had ended. Two notices of non-renewal meant the lease expired at the end of its term in late April 2024.
Delay interest was owed. Having taken the home back, the landlord owed delay interest in addition to the deposit.
Outcome
The landlord did not contest the suit or appear at the hearing. In November 2024, the first-instance court entered judgment by deemed admission, ordering the landlord to pay the KRW 115 million deposit with delay interest and to bear the litigation costs. After the judgment became final, the client also applied to fix approximately KRW 6.07 million in litigation costs payable by the landlord.
A tenant who must move out before the deposit is returned should register the tenancy first. (Outcomes depend on the facts of each case.)