If the deposit exceeds 60 million won or the monthly rent exceeds 300,000 won, the landlord and tenant must jointly report the lease within 30 days of signing. The word that matters is "exceeds." A deposit of exactly 60 million won, or rent of exactly 300,000 won, falls outside the rule. The grace period ended on 31 May 2025, and contracts signed after that date now draw real fines.
The two thresholds are joined by OR, not AND. Crossing either one creates the obligation; staying under both removes it. Borderline contracts are common because in banjeonse arrangements — a hybrid of lump-sum deposit and monthly rent — the two figures are routinely traded against each other.
Eight cases where the line falls
The Korea Easy Law portal states the test in two lines. On amount: a deposit above 60 million won or monthly rent above 300,000 won. On location: the entire Seoul metropolitan area, the metropolitan cities, Sejong, Jeju City, and city-level districts within provinces. County-level (gun) areas are excluded. Applied to actual contract figures, the calls come out like this.
| Case | Deposit (KRW) | Monthly rent (KRW) | Reportable | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small jeonse | 55m | 0 | No | Deposit under the threshold |
| Jeonse at the line | 60m | 0 | No | Equal to, not above |
| Jeonse | 61m | 0 | Yes | 1m won above |
| Monthly rent at the line | 5m | 300k | No | Neither threshold exceeded |
| Monthly rent | 5m | 310k | Yes | 10,000 won above |
| Banjeonse | 200m | 200k | Yes | One threshold is enough |
| Renewal, same terms | 100m | 0 | No | No change in amount |
| Renewal, 5% increase | 105m | 0 | Yes | Deposit changed |
Rows four and five differ by 10,000 won. A studio let at 300,000 won a month is outside the rule; at 310,000 won it is inside. Row six is the one most often missed — rent of 200,000 won sits below the line, but a 200 million won deposit clears the other threshold on its own. There is no summing or conversion between deposit and rent. Each is tested separately, and one is enough.
How far renewals are covered
The last two rows mark the fork for renewals. As KB Think sets out, the 30-day duty covers not only new contracts but renewals where the deposit or rent changes. A renewal on identical terms carries no reporting duty.
The common case is exercising the right of contract renewal with a 5% increase. Raise a 100 million won deposit to the 5% ceiling and it becomes 105 million won — a changed amount, therefore reportable. If the renewal terms themselves need sorting out first, start with the difference between implied renewal and the statutory renewal right. Where a lease simply rolls over by implication with nothing altered, there is no changed figure to report.
What creates the duty is not the type of contract but the numbers. Only two questions matter: did the amount change, and does it cross the line.
What it costs to skip
Penalties split in two: late or missing reports, and reports containing false information. Announcing the end of the grace period, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the ceiling for late reporting had been cut from 1 million won to 300,000 won. The 1 million won ceiling for false reporting stands.
| Category | Fine | What varies it |
|---|---|---|
| Late or missing report | 20,000 – 300,000 won | Contract value band and length of delay |
| False report | Up to 1,000,000 won | Inaccurate entries |
| Refusing joint filing | Top of the late-filing band | Heaviest tier of simple delay |
The ends of the range reveal the design. Small contract values with short delays start near 20,000 won; large values left unreported beyond two years, or a refusal to file jointly, sit at the 300,000 won end. The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that the ministry justified the cut on the grounds that a 1 million won ceiling burdened tenants and that penalising delay as heavily as falsification was excessive — while noting critics who argue that treating a two-year lapse as "simple delay" hollows out the rule.
In practice, who files matters more than the amount. Joint filing by landlord and tenant is the default, so if one side does not cooperate, the other can file alone by submitting the contract. Holding a copy of the contract keeps that route open — a meaningful safeguard for tenants.
Filing brings the fixed date with it
The benefit is not only avoiding a fine. Per KB Think, completing the lease report confers the confirmed fixed date (hwakjeong-ilja) automatically, with no separate application. One trip to the counter with the contract disappears from the process.
A fixed date alone does not protect the deposit, though. Priority in repayment flows from the fixed date; opposing power flows from taking possession and registering the move-in. If the two fall out of sequence, the ranking in an auction distribution slips. Working through the order in which the fixed date and the move-in report each create rights also settles when the lease report should be filed.
There are two routes: the community service centre for the district where the property sits, or the ministry's real estate transaction management system at rtms.molit.go.kr. Online submission takes an uploaded contract file; the counter takes the original. Either way the deadline is the same 30 days from signing.
What to check
- Compare the deposit and the monthly rent separately against 60 million and 300,000 won — do not add them
- Confirm whether the property sits in a city-level or county-level district (gun areas are excluded)
- Add 30 days to the signing date and mark the deadline
- For a renewal, check whether the amounts changed from the previous contract
- Confirm the fixed date was granted after filing; apply separately if not
- If the other party will not file jointly, ask the counter about filing alone with a copy of the contract
- Check that the timing of the move-in report and fixed date lines up with the balance payment and move-in dates