"Protect the Deposit"...First 3,000 Applications for Leasehold Registration Surpass Milestone

Falling Below 1,000 Cases Before, Now Jumped to 3,413
"Means Many Cases of Not Getting Deposits Back"

As jeonse frauds run rampant, the number of people applying for tenant registration rights to recover their deposits has surged significantly, surpassing 3,000 cases for the first time ever.

According to the Supreme Court's Registry Information Plaza on the 14th, as of the previous day, the number of applications for tenant right registration (tenant right registration order) for collective buildings nationwide in March was 3,413 cases. This represents a 22% increase compared to the previous month (2,799 cases) and a 64% sharp rise compared to January (2,081 cases).

Tenant right registration refers to the notation in the registry that a tenant right exists when a tenant has not been able to recover their deposit even after the lease contract has ended. To claim deposit returns from the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), tenant right registration is required.

A villa-dense area in Seoul Photo by Yonhap News

The number of applications for tenant right registration orders had not reached 1,000 per month since April 2019, when it was 1,009 cases. However, after surpassing 1,000 cases again in August last year (1,043 cases), the number has continued to rise, exceeding 2,000 cases in January this year and surpassing 3,000 cases for the first time last month.

This can be analyzed as indicating that many cases of tenants failing to recover their deposits are occurring. Especially by region, Seoul had the highest number with 1,076 cases, followed by Gyeonggi (1,004 cases) and Incheon (719 cases), with the metropolitan area accounting for 2,799 cases, or 82% of the total. This is because the price decline in the metropolitan jeonse market is much greater than in other regions, and jeonse deposit accidents are also concentrated in the metropolitan area.

Industry experts expect this increasing trend in tenant right registration to continue for the time being. Although the government has introduced various measures to eradicate jeonse fraud, cases of damage continue to emerge nationwide, and with the real estate market downturn causing continued declines in jeonse prices, the reverse jeonse crisis remains ongoing.

Yeokyunghee, Senior Researcher at Real Estate R114, said, “Although the recent decline in jeonse prices has slowed, it is still too early to expect a rebound in jeonse prices. Since a significant number of transactions are urgent sales and the burden of loan interest maintains demand for monthly rent (including deposit-based monthly rent), the weakness in jeonse prices is likely to continue.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.