WeBring Korea Study Hub

    Dorm Capacity Is 22.9%: Plan to Rent

    Plan on not getting a dorm room

    Housing planning starts with the dormitory capacity rate of the school you are applying to. Of the 411 Korean universities Webring had on file as of 22 September 2026, 329 carry a capacity figure, and their median is 22.9%, ranging from 0.1% to 268.8%. More than half — 182 schools (55.3%) — are under 25%. At those schools, more than three out of every four enrolled students find housing off campus. At the other end, 13 schools exceed 100%. So there is no such thing as "what Korean dormitories are like": check the rate school by school, on each university page here on Webring. Apply for the dorm and prepare a fallback at the same time, so you are not hunting for a room days before the semester starts.

    Jeonse, wolse and ban-jeonse differ only in how much deposit you park

    Private leases are named after the ratio between deposit and monthly rent. Jeonse means a large deposit and no monthly rent, returned in full when the lease ends. Wolse means a small deposit plus rent every month. Ban-jeonse sits in between. The rate used to convert all or part of a deposit into monthly rent has a statutory ceiling: under Article 7-2 of the Housing Lease Protection Act and Article 9 of its Enforcement Decree, it cannot exceed the lower of 10% per year and the Bank of Korea base rate plus 2%. The base rate has been 3.00% since 27 August 2026, so the current ceiling is 5.00% per year: converting a deposit of 10 million won into rent caps out at 41,666 won a month.

    The term is set by law too. A lease with no stated term, or a term shorter than two years, is treated as two years — although the tenant may instead insist that the shorter term is valid (Article 4(1)). For a one-year language programme, that clause works in the tenant's favour. The right to request renewal can be exercised once, for two years (Article 6-3(2)), and on renewal the rent or deposit cannot rise by more than one twentieth (5%) (Enforcement Decree Article 8(1)).

    Three steps protect your deposit: move in, register, get the date stamp

    Once you have taken possession of the home and completed resident registration (the moving-in report), from the next day you can assert the lease even if the property is sold or auctioned (Housing Lease Protection Act Article 3(1)). Add a fixed date stamp on the contract and you are repaid from the auction or public-sale proceeds ahead of junior creditors (Article 3-2(2)). The stamp costs 600 won per document at a community service centre, registry office or court.

    This applies to international students in exactly the same way. Article 88-2(2) of the Immigration Act provides that alien registration and the report of a change of residence stand in place of resident registration and the moving-in report. File the change-of-residence report within 15 days of moving (Article 36(1) of the same Act) and the protection attaches. You cannot file it at all without alien registration, so registering promptly after arrival is directly tied to protecting your deposit.

    A small deposit carries one more layer. The amount repaid ahead of other secured creditors at auction is set by region (Enforcement Decree Articles 10 and 11).

    • Seoul: deposit of 165 million won or less → 55 million won
    • Overconcentration control region, Sejong, Yongin, Hwaseong, Gimpo: 145 million won or less → 48 million won
    • Metropolitan cities, Ansan, Gwangju, Paju, Icheon, Pyeongtaek: 85 million won or less → 28 million won
    • Elsewhere: 75 million won or less → 25 million won

    Four things to check before you sign

    • The property register: 700 won to view, 1,000 won for a certified copy on the Internet Registry Office (Registry Fee Rule Articles 2 and 3). Check that the owner is the same person as the landlord on your contract, and how large the maximum secured claim on any mortgage is.
    • The landlord's unpaid taxes: if the deposit exceeds 10 million won you may check them without the landlord's consent, at the tax office, up to the day the lease starts (National Tax Collection Act Article 109(2); Enforcement Decree Article 97(2)). Taxes are paid out before your deposit.
    • The landlord's duty to disclose: at signing, the landlord must show you the record of earlier fixed-date stamps on that home and certificates of national and local tax payment (Housing Lease Protection Act Article 3-7).
    • The Safe Jeonse app: provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport since 2 February 2023, it shows market prices, landlord information and how risky a property is. Actual contract amounts in the same neighbourhood are published on the Ministry's real transaction price system. Deposit and rent levels vary so much by area and period that this guide gives no figures.

    Brokerage fees have a legal ceiling

    A residential lease brokerage fee cannot exceed the ceiling rate for its transaction bracket (Enforcement Rule of the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act Article 20 and Annex 1). Under 50 million won: 0.5%, capped at 200,000 won. 50 million to 100 million won: 0.4%, capped at 300,000 won. 100 million to 600 million won: 0.3%. For a monthly-rent contract the transaction amount is deposit + monthly rent × 100; if that comes to under 50 million won it is recalculated as deposit + monthly rent × 70 (Article 20(5)1). A 5 million won deposit with 500,000 won monthly rent gives 40 million won, so the fee is capped at 200,000 won. An officetel of 85 m² or less with its own built-in kitchen, flush toilet and bathing facilities is 0.4% for a lease; any other officetel is 0.9% (Article 20(4) and Annex 2).

    Goshiwon, share houses and maintenance fees

    Under the Building Act a goshiwon is not housing but a multi-unit living facility (Enforcement Decree Annex 1, items 4(geo) and 15(da)), and an officetel is not housing either but a business facility (item 14(na) of the same annex). The Housing Lease Protection Act, however, applies according to whether the place is actually used as a residence, not to the building classification (Article 2) — so if you genuinely live there and have filed the moving-in report, the protections above can apply. Share houses have no legal definition and are often sublets from an existing tenant; subletting without the landlord's consent is grounds for the landlord to terminate the lease (Civil Act Article 629). Always establish whether the person you are signing with is the owner or a subtenant.

    Maintenance fees are visible at the advertising stage. When a property is listed, the maintenance fee must be stated alongside the number of rooms and bathrooms, the move-in date and the parking allocation (Enforcement Decree of the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act Article 17-2(2)6(da)). Write into the contract which of water, electricity, heating and internet the fee covers, and whether it is a flat amount or settled against actual use. Finally, a contract with a deposit over 60 million won or monthly rent over 300,000 won must be reported within 30 days of signing (Act on Report of Real Estate Transactions Article 6-2(1); Enforcement Decree Article 4-3(1)), and if you submit the contract with it, acceptance of that report counts as obtaining the fixed date stamp (Article 6-5(3) of the same Act).

    Sources

    Information on this page is current as of September 2026.