Renting in South Korea: jeonse or wolse, two years of tenancy protection and a fixed date on your contract

Q: What are jeonse and wolse?

Jeonse (전세) is a form of renting that exists mainly in Korea. At the start you pay one large sum to the landlord, the 전세금. After that you pay no monthly rent. At the end of the lease you get the whole sum back. The landlord earns from what he does with your money in the meantime. The rent law also applies to jeonse: there the sum is simply called the deposit (article 12). Wolse (월세) is more like renting in the Netherlands. You pay a deposit, the 보증금, and rent every month. The higher the deposit, the lower the monthly rent, and the other way round. If the landlord wants to convert part of the deposit into monthly rent during the lease, the law limits how much monthly rent may be set against it (article 7-2). For someone who has just arrived, wolse is usually the logical choice. With jeonse a large part of your savings sits with one landlord for years. If things go wrong, that money is at risk. That is why the protection and the fixed date below matter so much. The law itself names no usual level for the deposit or the monthly rent. What is normal in your neighbourhood you hear from an estate agent (공인중개사) and see in the listings. Compare a few homes before you sign.

In South Korea you rent with a deposit. With jeonse you pay one large deposit and no monthly rent, with wolse a smaller deposit plus monthly rent. The law gives you at least two years, one renewal of two years, and an increase of at most 5%. You protect your deposit with your address report and a fixed date on the contract.

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Written and checked by Auke on 26 October 2026, against the sources at the bottom. Is something no longer right? Report it below and I'll fix it.

Renting a home in South Korea almost always involves a deposit, and that deposit is often much larger than you are used to in the Netherlands. There are two forms: with jeonse you pay one large deposit and no monthly rent, with wolse a smaller deposit plus monthly rent. The Korean rent law, the Housing Lease Protection Act, gives you at least two years, one renewal for another two years, and an increase of at most 5%. You protect your deposit with two things: your address report and a fixed date on your contract.

What are jeonse and wolse?

Jeonse (전세) is a form of renting that exists mainly in Korea. At the start you pay one large sum to the landlord, the 전세금. After that you pay no monthly rent. At the end of the lease you get the whole sum back. The landlord earns from what he does with your money in the meantime. The rent law also applies to jeonse: there the sum is simply called the deposit (article 12).

Wolse (월세) is more like renting in the Netherlands. You pay a deposit, the 보증금, and rent every month. The higher the deposit, the lower the monthly rent, and the other way round. If the landlord wants to convert part of the deposit into monthly rent during the lease, the law limits how much monthly rent may be set against it (article 7-2).

For someone who has just arrived, wolse is usually the logical choice. With jeonse a large part of your savings sits with one landlord for years. If things go wrong, that money is at risk. That is why the protection and the fixed date below matter so much.

The law itself names no usual level for the deposit or the monthly rent. What is normal in your neighbourhood you hear from an estate agent (공인중개사) and see in the listings. Compare a few homes before you sign.

What does the law say?

Subject	What applies	Housing Lease Protection Act
Term	at least 2 years; a shorter or open term counts as 2 years, unless you yourself want it shorter	article 4(1)
After the end	the lease continues until you have your deposit back	article 4(2)
Renewal	once, for 2 years; refusing is only allowed on grounds in the law	article 6-3
Rent increase on renewal	at most 5%; a city or province may choose a lower maximum	article 7(2)
Protection against a new owner	from the day after your move and your address report	article 3(1)
Priority for your deposit	with that protection and a fixed date on the contract	article 3-2(2)
What the landlord must show	the existing fixed dates, rents and deposits, and proof that he owes no tax	article 3-7, since 18 April 2023

Grounds for refusing a renewal include two months of rent arrears, or the landlord moving in himself.

How do you protect your deposit?

Your deposit is the biggest risk of renting in Korea. If the home is auctioned, for example because the landlord does not pay his mortgage, you want to be at the front of the queue to get your money back. That takes two things.

Tenancy protection against third parties (대항력). You get it when you live in the home and are registered there. It applies from the next day.
A fixed date (확정일자). This is an official date stamp on your lease. Together with the tenancy protection it gives you priority at an auction or public sale.

A Korean arranges registration with the municipality. For a foreigner, the registration as a foreign national and the report of your new address count as registration (Immigration Act, article 88-2). So report your new address straight away, and not only at the end of the deadline.

You get the fixed date at the neighbourhood office (주민센터), the municipal office, the land registry or the court, or from a notary. Bring your lease.

Before you sign, ask for what the landlord must show under article 3-7: the fixed dates and deposits of other tenants of the home, and statements that he owes no tax. If there are already many deposits or debts, your deposit is at the back of the queue.

Which deadlines apply to your address?

What	Deadline	Where
Applying for the residence card (ARC)	within 90 days of arrival, if you stay longer than 90 days	the immigration office
Reporting a new address	within 15 days of your move	the municipality, the neighbourhood office or the immigration office
Reporting a new address with F-4 status	within 14 days	the same

When you register as a foreign national you also give your address. If you rent before you are registered, your protection only starts after the registration. So arrange the card quickly, and get the fixed date right after. How the residence card works, you read in registration and numbers in South Korea.

Where will you live?

The NederlandWereldwijd travel advice is green for almost all of South Korea. It is red for the border area with North Korea, the DMZ, and yellow for the area directly south of it. From July to October there can be typhoons. Ask the landlord about flooding and the roof if you are looking in those months.

Thinking of an apartment for a few months in your first period? That is possible, but under the law a contract of less than two years counts as two years, unless you yourself want it shorter. So agree the end date clearly.

Buying instead of renting is covered in buying a house in South Korea. How you open an account to pay the deposit and the rent is in banking and payments in South Korea.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.2: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to South Korea or go straight to step 5.2 in the open plan.

What this rests on

The facts in this article come from these official pages. Rules change. When in doubt, go by the source, not this article.

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