Can my landlord raise the rent or refuse to renew my lease?

You can insist on one renewal of 2 years if you ask at the right time, and the landlord may refuse only for reasons the law lists, such as unpaid rent or the landlord's own family moving in. On that renewal, the rent or deposit can rise by no more than 5%. The request has to reach the landlord between 6 months and 2 months before the current lease ends. Foreign tenants often miss this window because the landlord's messages arrive in Korean, or because they assume a visa shorter than 2 years rules the renewal out. It does not: a renewed lease can still be ended by the tenant later with 3 months' notice.

How do I make the renewal request?

You may use the right to request renewal (계약갱신요구권) only inside a fixed window: it opens six months ahead of the expiry date and shuts two months ahead of it. For a lease ending on 31 March 2027, that is roughly from the start of October 2026 to the end of January 2027. A request sent in February is too late.

Put it in writing so you can prove both the date and the content:

• Send a text message or messenger note to the landlord, in Korean with your own language below. A simple sentence works: 계약갱신을 요구합니다 ("I request renewal of the lease").
• Follow it with a certified letter (내용증명) if the landlord does not reply or the relationship is tense.
• Screenshot the message with the date and the landlord's number, and save it outside your phone too.

If a broker manages the home, tell the broker as well, but the landlord is the person who must receive the request.

On what grounds can the landlord say no?

Ground for refusal	What it means in practice
Rent arrears	You were at some point behind by two months' rent in total
Deception	You rented the home by lying or other dishonest means
Agreed compensation	You and the landlord agreed, and the landlord paid you a fair sum
Subletting without consent	You let all or part of the home to someone else without permission
Serious damage	You damaged the home deliberately or through gross carelessness
Loss of the home	All or part of it was destroyed, so the lease can no longer work
Demolition or rebuilding	Planned and explained at signing, required for safety, or ordered under other laws
Owner moving in	The landlord, or the landlord's parents or children, will actually live there
Other serious breach	A grave breach by the tenant, or a serious reason that makes the lease impossible to continue

Wanting a higher rent from someone new, or preferring a Korean tenant, is not on this list and does not justify a refusal.

The landlord says a relative will move in. Can I check that?

Not easily before you leave, but the law gives you a remedy afterwards. If the landlord refused your renewal on this ground and then, without a good reason, rents the home to someone else during the 2 years your renewal would have lasted, you can claim compensation. Unless an amount was agreed at the time of refusal, it is the largest of:

• three months of the rent at the time of refusal, with any deposit converted into monthly rent
• the difference between the new tenant's rent and yours, multiplied over 2 years
• the actual loss you suffered

For a tenant who has already left Korea, collecting proof is the hard part. Before moving out, ask the landlord to state the reason and the name of the family member in a message. Keep in touch with a neighbour or the building manager, and watch rental listings for the same unit.

How much can the rent or deposit go up?

The increase on a renewal is capped at one twentieth, which is 5%, of the current rent or deposit. A city or province can set a lower cap for its area by ordinance, so ask the district office whether one applies where you live. Also, no further increase can be demanded within 1 year of the last one.

Current terms	Highest amount after renewal
Deposit 10,000,000 won, rent 500,000 won a month	Deposit 10,500,000 won or rent 525,000 won
Jeonse deposit 150,000,000 won	157,500,000 won

If the landlord wants to turn part of the deposit into monthly rent, a separate conversion limit applies, set by decree. If you have already paid more than the law allows, you can ask for the excess back.

Be aware that this cap is tied to a renewal and to increases during a lease. When a lease simply ends and you sign a brand new contract on freely agreed terms, the cap is generally understood not to apply. That is one reason to make your request clearly as a renewal.

My visa ends before the renewed 2 years. Should I still renew?

Often yes. A renewal counts as a 2-year lease on the same terms, apart from the capped change in rent or deposit. Yet the right to quit early runs one way, in your favour: you may give notice whenever you wish, and the lease stops once three months have passed from its delivery. So renewal does not lock you in until a date your visa cannot reach. It keeps the rent stable while you wait for an extension, a change of status or a new job offer.

You can use this right only once for the same home. If you renewed automatically in the past because neither side said anything, ask a lawyer whether your one renewal request is still available.

The landlord sent a new Korean contract. Should I sign it?

Read it before you sign. A renewal keeps the old conditions, so new special terms that were not in the first lease, such as a cleaning charge or a ban on registering your address, are not automatic. Check the amounts against the 5% limit. If the deposit goes up, get a fresh fixed date (확정일자) on the document that records the increase, because the extra money is protected only from that new date. Look at an up-to-date registry printout before any extra money leaves your account.

Next step

Find the end date on your lease today and count back 6 months and 2 months. If you are inside the window, send your request in writing this week. If the landlord has refused or demands more than 5%, we can review the reason and the numbers. Consultations are paid; when you contact us, a staff member will call you back and explain the fee.

법무법인 대한중앙
1533-7377

Rules applied

Housing Lease Protection Act (주택임대차보호법) Article 6-3(1) (renewal request from 6 months to 2 months before the end; grounds for refusal in items 1 to 9), Article 6-3(2) (one renewal only; renewed term of 2 years), Article 6-3(3) (same terms; rent and deposit may change within Article 7), Article 6-3(4) and Article 6-2 (tenant may end a renewed lease at any time; effective 3 months after the landlord receives notice), Article 6-3(5) and (6) (compensation where the owner-occupation ground was used and the home was let to a third party), Article 7(1) and (2) (no increase within 1 year; increase capped at one twentieth; lower cap by local ordinance), Article 7-2 (limit on converting deposit to monthly rent), Article 10-2 (refund of amounts paid above the limits), Article 3-6(1) (fixed date). The conversion rates are set by the Enforcement Decree of the Housing Lease Protection Act.

This is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different.