Ministry of Land and Ministry of Justice Publish Dispute Mediation Casebook
Presenting Key Standards for Contract Renewal Claims Amid Frequent Conflicts
Available for Public Access on Website from the 21st
Tenant Mr. A suffered continuously from water leakage issues while living in the rental housing. Eventually, feeling he could no longer endure the situation, Mr. A notified the landlord of contract termination and requested the return of the security deposit on the moving day. However, the landlord insisted on returning only the remaining deposit after deducting repair costs. As the positions sharply conflicted, Mr. A requested mediation from the Dispute Mediation Committee. The committee explained, "The landlord has an obligation to maintain the leased property in a usable condition, so the repair costs should be borne by the landlord," and the landlord agreed to return the full security deposit.
On the 20th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Justice announced that they have published the 'Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Casebook,' which compiles major actual mediation cases handled by the Dispute Mediation Committee to help autonomously resolve housing lease disputes.
Housing lease contracts can only be resolved through litigation when disputes arise, which takes a long time and imposes a significant cost burden on the public. Accordingly, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Justice have expanded the Lease Dispute Mediation Committee to provide legal consultations related to leases and support reasonable mediation between disputing parties.
The number of Dispute Mediation Committees has expanded from 6 in 2019 to 18 this year. From November last year to October this year, the number of mediation applications reached 1,938, and consultations totaled 103,404 cases.
Mediation has the advantage of resolving disputes quickly at a lower cost compared to litigation. Litigation takes about six months per trial level and is expensive due to attorney fees and court fees, but mediation is resolved in an average of 28 days and costs are relatively low, around a maximum of 100,000 KRW (with an average fee of 6,000 KRW).
This dispute mediation casebook consists of 33 representative cases mediated by the Dispute Mediation Committee. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport especially included many recent mediation cases related to the right to request contract renewal, expecting it to serve as a guideline for the smooth resolution of related disputes.
The dispute mediation casebook will be distributed to metropolitan local governments and Lease Dispute Mediation Committee offices, and from the 21st, anyone can easily access it through the websites of related agencies.
Kim Young-han, Director of Housing Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "The dispute mediation casebook is expected to be a key reference material that can lead to amicable agreements between parties." Jeong Jae-min, Legal Affairs Officer at the Ministry of Justice, said, "It is expected to provide standards that can be referenced not only for disputes brought to the Dispute Mediation Committee but also for the reasonable resolution of everyday disputes."
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