Many foreign tenants in Korea assume a lease simply ends when the term is up and the landlord decides whether to continue it. Since 2020, that's no longer entirely true. The Housing Lease Protection Act (주택임대차보호법) gives residential tenants a lease renewal right (계약갱신청구권) — a one-time right to demand a second two-year term on largely the same conditions, which the landlord can only refuse on specific, listed grounds. Foreign tenants who don't know this exists are the ones most likely to be talked into moving out when they didn't have to.
→How and When to Exercise the Right
The renewal right has to be exercised within a notice window: between six months and two months before the lease term ends. Notify the landlord — in writing is safer, even a text or KakaoTalk message with a timestamp can help, but a certified letter (내용증명) removes any dispute over timing — that you're exercising your renewal right (계약갱신청구권) under the Housing Lease Protection Act. Miss the window and the right generally isn't available for that lease term.
→The Landlord's Refusal Grounds Are a Closed List
This is the part landlords sometimes gloss over: refusal isn't discretionary. The law lists specific grounds, and the most commonly invoked ones are rent arrears reaching two months' worth of rent (연체 차임이 2기분에 달하는 경우), the landlord or the landlord's direct family intending to move in and actually occupy the unit themselves (실거주), a redevelopment or demolition plan that was already notified to the tenant before the lease began, or the tenant subletting the unit without the landlord's consent. A landlord who simply wants a new tenant, or wants to raise the rent beyond what the law allows on renewal, is not on that list.
Real Occupancy Is the Ground Most Often Contested
When a landlord refuses renewal by claiming they or a direct family member will move in, that claim has consequences if it turns out to be false. If the unit is instead leased to a new third-party tenant within a certain period after the refusal, the outgoing tenant may be able to claim damages (손해배상) from the landlord for the false real-occupancy claim. Keep the move-out date, the refusal notice, and any evidence of who actually occupies — or re-lets — the unit afterward.
1The Rent Increase Cap on Renewal
Even where a renewal goes through, the landlord can't simply reset the rent to market rate. On a renewal exercised under the lease renewal right, any rent or deposit increase is capped at 5% (전월세상한제) — a limit set at the national level, though some local governments may set a lower ceiling within that cap for their region. Landlords occasionally propose an increase above the cap and frame it as "the market rate now," but on a statutory renewal, the 5% ceiling applies regardless of what comparable units are renting for.
A landlord who doesn't want to renew has to fit into one of a handful of listed reasons. "I'd rather not" is not one of them.
2What Renewal Actually Changes — and What It Doesn't
Exercising the renewal right extends the lease for another two years on the same terms as before, subject only to the rent cap. It doesn't reset the clock indefinitely — the right can generally be used once per tenancy, so a tenant who has already renewed once under this right cannot demand a second statutory renewal at the following term's end. After that, whether the lease continues is back to ordinary negotiation between landlord and tenant.
→What to Actually Do Before the Lease Ends
- Calendar the notice window — six months to two months before your lease term ends — and send your renewal notice inside it, in a form you can prove later.
- Ask which specific ground the landlord is relying on if they refuse, and get it in writing. A vague "we're not renewing" is not a valid refusal under the law.
- Watch the unit after you move out if the stated reason was real occupancy — a quick re-lease to someone else can support a damages claim.
- Don't agree to an increase above 5% on a statutory renewal without understanding that the cap applies regardless of what the landlord says the market is doing.