“I’ll leave the room, so I’ll pay 100 million dollars” The landlord and the tenant were “something” with each other.

◆ Lease law 6 months ◆

A, who bought a house where tenants live for the purpose of living in August last year, is sleeping at night because of the government’s interpretation of the “Housing Lease Protection Act”. When Mr. A asked the tenant at the time of signing the house, the drugs around the world expired at the end of February of this year, and the tenant also revealed that he would go out on the expiration date (end of February) at the time of the house contract, and knew that there would be no problem. However, the tenant has recently changed his attitude. Mr. A said, “As soon as the commentary comes out at the end of August, the tenant changes suddenly and is holding on to use the right to apply for contract renewal if he does not pay 100 million won.” The government’s interpretation of the authority is that there is no right to refuse because he is not the owner of the property at the time of expression.” He then burst into anguish, saying, “It seems that the loss of taxes and other damages will be severe as one household becomes two houses.”

On July 31, last year, when the Lease Protection Act came into force in a surprise, the Korean real estate market fell into a crucible. The landlord with property rights and the tenant with the right to renew the contract clashed everywhere. When the government issued a voter interpretation of Buryaburya, another controversy over the interpretation of the vote continued. Not only was the legislative legislative but also the guidelines that followed.

The most common case of conflict is when the landlord tries to live, but the tenant refuses to evict. The Ministry of Justice and others have limited the right to refuse contract renewal through the interpretation of rights to only those who have ownership rights. Excluding exceptions, if the registration of the transfer of ownership has not been completed because the balance has not yet been paid after the sale contract, it means that there is no right to refuse contract renewal. In addition, the landlord (current owner) prior to the sale of the house is not the person to live in, so there is no veto power. One real estate agent said, “The period between signing a sales contract and paying the balance is the most dissatisfied part of the landlords, as neither new and old landlords have the right to refuse.”

Even if a tenant expresses his intention to abandon his right to apply for renewal of the contract, the interpretation of the vote that it is not effective unless he or she has announced his intention to give up within one to six months before the expiration of the lease (currently two months) is also causing much confusion. In early July of last year, Mr. B, who bought a house with a charter, asked the tenant at the time to “go out at the end of January 2021, which is the expiration date,” and the tenant readily agreed. However, when Mr. B called the tenant for confirmation in mid-January, the tenant said, “Since the lease law has been newly implemented since the last call, I will use the contract renewal right.” According to the government’s authoritative interpretation, the tenant must be notified of his intention to live within one to six months before the contract expiration date, but Mr. B did not know this.

Last month, the Seoul Southern District Court decided to allow housing rental business owners who registered before October 23, 2019 to increase the existing jeonse deposit by 60%. Until now, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs has revealed that registered rental business owners should not raise their deposit by more than 5% through a vote interpretation. This mediation decision is different from the court ruling through judicial interpretation, as it is through an agreement between the parties, but it must have shown that accepting the interpretation of authority as it is is not the correct answer.

Attorney Eom Jeong-suk said, “The government’s interpretation of the authority of the tenant regarding the tenant’s right to refuse the real residence of the landlord is opaque. Because there is a lot of room for different interpretations depending on the circumstances of each individual, the It is desirable to be judged,” he advised. It is not uncommon for tenants who could not find other rented houses to cry and eat mustard after the lease law was enforced. Mr. C, who bought a house in Bundang, Gyeonggi-do, said, “The tenant who wanted to vacate the house suddenly applied for a contract renewal and found out why it was difficult to obtain a rental house in Bundang because the rental price was too high.” “I can’t withdraw because I have already signed the lawsuit.”

There are often situations in which tenants fail to fulfill their contracts in vain. It is analyzed that this is due to vague expectations that the government will take the side of tenants.

Mr. D, who had been paying a villa in Bangbae-dong, Seoul, for a deposit of 500 million won, discussed an increase in the deposit with tenants in early July of last year, and promised to expire the world medicine because the price they thought did not match. A few days later, the Housing Lease Protection Act came into effect, and the tenant notified that he would use the right to apply for contract renewal. Mr. D asked, “Then renew the contract, but raise the legal limit of 5% for the deposit,” and the tenant also accepted it and signed a new contract. However, recently a tenant notified that “they cannot raise 5% of the deposit without consent of the tenant. I will withdraw the consent to the increase.” D eventually filed a lawsuit against the tenant to leave the house.

There are many cases where tenants use the urgent situation of the landlord to ask for money. The term symbolizing this is’comfort gold’ that appeared after the enforcement of the lease law. This is the case when the tenant tells the landlord who needs to meet the actual residency requirements, “I will leave the house, so I will give you a consolation money.” The amount of condolence money from hundreds of thousands to millions of won at the beginning of the law’s enforcement has recently soared to tens of millions of won.

In this situation, it is also common for the home seller to make a special contract to repay the buyer for more than the down payment if the tenant cannot be released within the deadline.

Mr. E, who wants to sell a recently rented house, said, “I need to sell the house, but if the realtor does not send the tenant out by the end of February, the maturity date, the seller asked me to specify a special agreement that repays twice the down payment.” “I finally gave up selling because I couldn’t find a house to move to. I think it would be possible to sell the house only after the tenants were released and sold as vacant,” he said. From the buyer’s point of view, it is to buy a house for real residence, but if the current tenant uses the right to apply for contract renewal, there is no answer, so this is a request for a special agreement.

[김동은 기자 / 김태준 기자]
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