If your lease in Korea has ended but the landlord has not returned your deposit, do not move out yet — get a leasehold registration order (imchagwon deunggi myeongnyeong) first. Once the court-ordered entry appears on the property register, you keep your opposing power and priority repayment right even after moving your belongings and resident registration elsewhere (Housing Lease Protection Act, Article 3-3). Move first without it and you lose both. And since July 19, 2023, the entry can be made even before the court's decision is served on the landlord — so a landlord who goes dark can no longer stall the process.
When and how to file — requirements and procedure
According to the government's Easy-to-Find Practical Law service, there are two requirements: the lease has ended, and the deposit — in whole or in part — has not been returned. Partial non-return also qualifies. You file with the district court, branch court or municipal court over the leased home's location; the landlord's consent is not needed. Attach the lease contract, the property's registration certificate (or the building ledger for unregistered buildings), and documents proving your opposing power and priority right, such as resident registration records and the fixed-date stamped contract.
The court can decide without a hearing, and once the order is issued the court commissions the registry office to make the entry. Costs — stamp fees, registration license tax, service fees and the commission fee — can be charged back to the landlord.
Can you move out before the entry is made? Order is everything
No. Opposing power rests on maintaining occupancy and resident registration, so moving out or transferring your registration before the leasehold entry appears on the register cuts off your protection. The same sequencing logic covered in the guide to fixed-date stamps and resident registration applies here. The rule: pull a fresh registration certificate, see the leasehold entry with your own eyes, then move.
This used to be a trap. The entry could only follow service of the decision on the landlord, so a landlord who evaded service or had no known address could delay it indefinitely while the tenant stayed stuck. As the Law Times reported, the amended Housing Lease Protection Act effective July 19, 2023 changed the structure: once the court issues the order, the registration can be commissioned even before service on the landlord.
What protects your deposit is the order of paperwork — confirm the leasehold entry on the register, then move your boxes.
How many people file? Three years of numbers
Based on court registry data (aggregate buildings), Chosun Ilbo reported 47,343 filings nationwide in 2024, a record high and up 4.2% from 45,445 in 2023. Gyeonggi led with 12,668, followed by Seoul (11,371) and Incheon (8,989) — together 33,028 filings, or 69.8% of the national total, concentrated in the capital region. In 2025, by contrast, Jeju Domin Ilbo reported 19,309 filings for the year, less than half the prior year.
| Year | Nationwide filings | YoY change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 45,445 | Record high |
| 2024 | 47,343 | +4.2 |
| 2025 | 19,309 | -59.2 |
The surge of 2023-2024 coincided with the jeonse (lump-sum deposit lease) fraud wave and falling deposit prices. The 2025 plunge suggests that phase is passing, but not everywhere — Jeju went the other way over the same period, from 171 to 216 filings, up 26.3%. A falling national number does not make your own contract safe.
What to watch after the registration
The registration preserves rights; it does not force repayment. If the landlord keeps stalling, the next steps are a court payment order or a deposit-return lawsuit. If you hold deposit guarantee insurance, there is a separate claim route through the guarantor — check the conditions and cost structure of jeonse deposit insurance alongside. Guarantors often require the leasehold registration before honoring a claim, so the two procedures effectively move as a set.
For house hunters the entry is also a red flag: Easy-to-Find Practical Law notes that a tenant who leases a home after a leasehold registration has been completed cannot receive the small-deposit top-priority repayment. That is why it belongs on the list of warning signs to check on the property register before signing. One more thing — if the lease was implicitly renewed, the termination requirement is not yet met: after renewal, termination takes effect three months after the tenant gives notice.
Checklist
- Has the lease actually ended? Under implicit renewal, you must give notice and wait three months first
- Is the leasehold entry actually on the registration certificate? Do not move out or transfer your registration before confirming
- Any portion of the deposit unreturned? Partial non-return also qualifies
- Deposit insurance status and claim requirements — the leasehold registration is often a prerequisite
- Keep receipts for filing and registration costs — they can be charged to the landlord
- When renting your next home, check the register for another tenant's leasehold entry — if present, you lose small-deposit top-priority protection