Finding Rents in Korea(NEW 2020)_Part 2

From checking potential rents to signing the contract.

On this part of renting guide, we will take more closer look in during renting process from what to check when visiting potential rooms to what to consider when signing the contract.

Contents are followed by:

1. What to check when visiting the potential rents

• On the way
• Room conditions

2. What to consider when signing the contract

• Required Documents
• Factors to be checked out
• Ways of protecting deposit
• Leasing procedures

Let’s dive in!

What to check when visiting the potential rents

When you are visiting your potential rents, it’s important to check the condition of the house, not just taking a glimpse, this should be done in details. The room may seem okay superficially but when you start living in it, you will soon face some problems that you’d wish to have known it before. After signing the contract, there’s no way getting out. Here are some checklist that you could refer.

On the way

• Distance from nearest metro or bus station
• Safeness of the neighborhood: Check with real estate agent or you can refer to our previous section see which neighborhood matches your standard in general. If you are a cautious person, we suggest you check the neighborhood twice, once during daytime and once during nighttime. If they have streetlights, most cases you are good to go, if not, try considering it over.
• Distance from nearest supermarket/ convenience store: No one would want to go walk in distance to buy water or other groceries, would you?
• Distance from hospital & pharmacy: Good to know, just in case.
• If you are planning on working out, check where the fitness centers are .

If you have other standards that you prefer, add it up to your list and check with the agent or on your own.

Room Conditions

• Hydraulic pressure & Flushing: check all four; the sink, basin, shower and the toilet. If it’s weak in anyway, you can ask for repairs beforehand, but after the contract is signed, you’ll have to figure out on your own and pay for it. If worse, sometimes there may be no solution.
• Windows: Checking how many windows there are and which side of the room it’s on are especially important for those who are looking for rooms less than 33 square-meter. This directly links to lighting & ventilation condition of the room which is mention just below. It’s good to have at least two, one for the room and the other for the bathroom.
• Lighting & Ventilation : If it’s ill-lighted room with bad ventilation, you will have troubles with molds, drying clothes and meet higher utility bills. In general, the room will be shady, affecting moods, and hot in the summer, cold in the winter, linking to extra cost for electricity bills and gas bills.
• Molds: Check whether the room have molds, once they are found, it will only continue to spread. The landlord or the real estate agent may say they will paper the wall for the new tenant, but this is meaningless, because that’s just the way the room is. You will only find it a chronic problem and soon the mold will cover the new wall papers too.
• Soundproof: The rooms needs to be in good soundproof condition. If not, you’ll be broadcasted on live to your next door and the vice versa, who would like that?
• Pest problems: Check whether the room had prior pest problems, especially with cockroaches. Once they are found, it’s hard to eradicate them and do cost a lot. If the room had similar problem, make sure that it is to be solve before moving in.
• Door-locks: Most Korean houses use digital locks. Some locks changes the number position of the pad every time you insert password, but some don’t. The latter ones leave fingerprints on pad and could be readable, so just in case remember to be careful.
• Furnitures provided: We normally call it ‘options’ here, meaning if you rent this particular room you will be provided with certain furnitures like washing machines, inductions, air conditioners, microwaves, TV, closets and so on. This is manly just for villas with less than 33 square-meters, so check out what’s provided during your visit!
• Utility bills: As mentioned on previous post , there are couple of types of utility bills. Check what are included in general utility bill, one that you pay to the landlord apart from the rent. If you are looking for villas and neither of the gas nor the electricity bill is included in the general utility bill, the typical estimate for the charge are 50,000 won. Normally, in this price, the landlord offers maintenance of the building, TV cable, internet access and water bills. In most cases you would have to pay for your own electricity bill and gas bills. One another thing, check with the agent or the landlord, how the electricity, gas and water bills are charged. If the bills are sent manually by the landlord to you, think twice. This means they split the bills with whole tenants of the building regardless of how much you use. And in many of these cases, the bills relate manipulations.
• Parking lots: If you have cars , check whether they have parking place. There will be extra charges for using parking lot.
• Pets: If you have a pet or planning to have one, check with the landlord whether they allow the pets for the rent.
• Moving-in cleaning: Sometimes the landlord offer you the cleaning free of charge or you will need pay extra charges for the cleaning if you want the room to be cleaned before you move in.
• The landlord: The last but not the least, you should probably want to check how the landlord is like. However the room seems flawless, if the landlord isn’t so cooperative person or very picky, you will surely face some problems, especially when the landlord lives in the same building.

These factors may seem too much, but if you think about the time you will be staying in Korea, being picky for the rent is never too much. If you have other things to consider, add it up!

What to be considered when signing the contract

By the time you decided to sign the lease, you will start to wonder about what documents are needed, what to be checked out, what are procedures for lease and how to protect your deposit. We are going to look into those topics more closely here.

Required Documents

In general, you will need your passport, visa and Alien Registration Card (ARC). Depending on what type of rent, some extra documents could be required. In many cases, ARC may not be needed, but when they require you, it’s quite a bit of problem if you have just arrived and not have ARC because you need ‘proof of residency’ such as leasing contract to get an ARC but you need ARC for leasing contract. So if you haven’t possessed one yet, check whether they require you ARC.

• Key money rent (Jeonse) : If you got the loans to fund the key money, it’s very likely that the landlord will ask for your work contract or at least some proof for your employment. If the key deposit is all your money, then all you need is the general documents.
• Monthly rent (Wolse) : Even if the deposit is without the loans, the landlord may ask you for the work contract or proof of employment. This is because they want to make sure that you have the ability to pay for monthly rent.

What are needed to be checked out

• leasing period: The required leasing period referring to the law is 2years. However, if your remaining time is shorter than that you can negotiate the term with the landlord or via real estate agent, because the matter is totally under the landlord’s discretion.
• Breaking the contract early term: Like mentioned above, basic required period is 2 year, so what happens when something comes up and you have to leave before the lease terminates? Usually, you will have to pay for real estate agency brokerage fee for finding a new tenant. And it will take sometime to get your deposit back since the landlord will need time to finance the deposit, in jeonse type this would most likely to happen. So make sure to check this term with your landlord when leasing.
• The rent on collateral security (mortagage): Checking whether the building or the place of your rent put up for collateral security is important for the sake of your deposit. To be brief on the term, the landlord may have gotten the loan to buy or build the building and the collateral is the building itself, so when the landlord gets bankrupted and no longer be able to pay the debts, the building will be on auction. If the building isn’t sold in proper price, which is the most cases, the first tier of the money goes to the bank and you have the last tier, meaning it’s highly likely that you won’t get your deposit back. Therefore, if more than 40% of the building value is on debt, think twice about having the lease there.
• Down payment date: If what’s listed above are all fully checked, get down to when the down payment date is. Remember to send it after you both sign the contract. Once it is sent, you can’t withdraw your decision, if you do, it will cost your down payment for breaking the lease. Also, even if you have signed the contract, if you send your down payment late, the landlord may give the rent to someone else who can pay the down payment right away.
• Moving in date: This is the last thing you will be negotiating, the moving in date. Some landlord may want you to move in as soon as possible if there’s no tenant at present in the room. If you want to postpone it, they might refuse to make the deal because the faster the tenant moves in, the more they can earn from the rent, especially when looking for monthly rent. In other case, when there’s tenant still have time left for the lease, you will have to talk it out with landlord for the right timing.

How to protect your deposit

There are two ways to protect your deposit, one is bringing your lease agreement to the local registry office to get something called ‘hwak-jeong-il-ja’(확정일자) and the other is getting assist form judicial scrivener for charter set-up(전세권 설정). Both helps you to secure your deposit, but major difference lies in the rights given. Chart below will help you understand the terms and their differences!

Hwak-jeong-il-ja (확정일자) VS. Charter set-up(전세권 설정)

Leasing procedure

Leasing procedure can be done quick, if you have found the room. If you have decided that you are going for this room, confirm your decision to the real estate agent quickly, otherwise they would show it to other potential tenants and they may get the priority. The point is that you need to be quick. Here are the typical procedures for leasing, basically it’s a broad summery of what’s listed above. Take a quick look!

1. Find the rent that suits your standard and settle the lease date with the agent, the faster, the better.
2. Bring all necessary documents (passport, visa, ARC, working contract etc.) to the agency on the lease date.
3. Check and negotiate terms with landlord or via real estate agent.
4. Settle the down payment date, move-in date and sign the contract.
5. Before the move-in date make full transaction for the deposit, the date will be confirmed by the real estate agent.
6. Get ‘hwak-jeong-il-ja’ or charter set-up to protect your deposit

If you have followed up to this part, you would have clear idea of what rent you are to get and what to consider for the terms. There’s one last part coming up, this time it’s how to move in and after moving-in!

To Complete the series>>

Finding Rents in Korea(NEW 2020)_Part 3

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Finding Rents in Korea(NEW 2020)_Part 1

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