Leasehold registration possible without delivery of leasehold registration order to lessor... Starting from the 19th of next month

The enforcement date of the amended Housing Lease Protection Act, which allows tenants to register leasehold rights without delivering the leasehold registration order to the landlord, has been moved up by three months.

Accordingly, starting from the 19th of next month, tenants will be able to apply for leasehold registration even if the landlord evades delivery of the leasehold registration order or if the order is not delivered due to the landlord's unknown address.

Ministry of Justice, Government Gwacheon Complex.
Photo by Choi Seok-jin

On the 21st, the Ministry of Justice announced that the partial amendment bill of the Housing Lease Protection Act, which was originally scheduled to take effect on October 19, has passed the National Assembly plenary session, moving the enforcement date up to July 19, three months earlier.

The bill passed on this day includes a change in Article 1 (Enforcement Date) of the supplementary provisions of the amended Housing Lease Protection Act (amended on April 18, 2023), which originally stated that "this Act shall take effect six months after its promulgation," changing "six months" to "three months."

The Ministry of Justice consulted with the Court Administration Office to advance the enforcement date of the amended law to more promptly protect tenants from damages such as jeonse fraud, and with the cooperation of the National Assembly, the bill, which was introduced by Representative Jeong Jeom-sik of the People Power Party on the 15th, passed the National Assembly plenary session just one week after its proposal.

Until now, even if tenants obtained a leasehold registration order from the court, they could not register the leasehold rights if the landlord evaded delivery or if delivery was not possible due to the landlord's unknown address.

Tenants had to refrain from moving to avoid losing their opposability and priority repayment rights and had to wait until the leasehold registration order was delivered and registration became possible.

To resolve this issue and protect tenants' property rights and freedom of residence relocation, Article 3-3, Paragraph 3 of the Housing Lease Protection Act was amended so that tenants can register leasehold rights as soon as they obtain the leasehold registration order from the court.