Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adam Carolla]

And, once again, the wave of apologists miss the boat completely.

Regardless of whether you think the lease renewed or not, the tenant wants to move out. The landlord didn't say "You need to give me X months amount of notice." He said, "I'm keeping your money until I get somebody to replace you."

And once again, that's code for "I spent your deposit and literally don't have the funds to repay you til I find some other sucker to live here."

And by the way, PatrickGHBusan, I also signed leases in Korea, and at the end of each one, when I renewed, I had to go to the Budongsan and sign a bunch of new lease papers.

But yes, blame the victim some more, instead of admitting that the very common practice of landlords spending deposit money is actually what is going on.

[jrwhite82]

I love how everyone who Adam Corrolla is accusing of blaming "the victim" and being an "apologist" has said that it is possible that the Korean landlord is wrong and shady. We are blind but are looking at a bigger picture...

Man, we are so glad you are here to decipher these codes that people speak and write in. You should work for the CIA or something. What are you doing wasting your time here?

[PatrickGHBusan]

Adam, I did not blame the "victim", thats you twisting what I said.

I related some experience I had with appartments. For the record we (wife and I) used key money 3 times (3 appartments as we moved). Each tiem the contract had an automatic renewal clause and direct procedures concerning changing appartments.

We also bought an appartment in Korea and sold it when we left, that had a whole bunch of other procedures.

Also for the record, I said it is ENTIRELY possible the OP is dealing with ONE shady landlord, however, and not this is NOT some silly wa wa wa blame the victim idiocy, it is possible the OP missread the housing contract (can you guarantee thats impossible?)

If (read it that again Adam so we are sure you get what "if" means) the housing contract has an automatic renewal clause and IF the OP did not follow the clause then whe the OP wishes to move out and change places, restrictions/penalties can be applied in accordance with the housing contract. These penalties or restrictions can take the form of a lump sum payment, a penalty on the money you get back and so on. Similar logic applies to service provides (ex: Iphones) who offer you free phones in exchange for a 3 year contract. Such contract typically include penalties if the user wants to end the before term.

By the way Adam, we took our second landlord to court because he jerked us around with the key money. He repaid in full but it took time.

So, OP, your best bet would be to pull out that housing agreement/contract of yours, find the clauses (if any) on renewal and moving out. Then compare that to whats happening to you. If it ends up that you are indeed getting cheated, you need to take action (legally) to recoup your money.

[pkang0202]

OP, find someone to lease your apartment.

Use Craigslist, the Naver Cafe 피터팬, and other resources. If you find someone to take your apartment then problem solved.

Sometimes you just gotta take matters into your own hands. It sucks. Its an inconvenience. But, its the real world. Someone jerks you around, then you do something to solve the situation. Then you know in the future how to prevent it again.

[jondepoer]

Thanks everyone. I managed to strain some good information out of all that. I will be having the contract looked at today.

[jrwhite82]

[Adam Carolla]

[PatrickGHBusan]

I am sorry Adam but clearly your issues with me are blinding you and hampering your reading comprehension!

Your interpretation of what I am saying are way off base and you infused my post with meaning thats neither present nor implied. In fact when you venture out onto the "its implied" field you basically are speculating and going from YOUR slant on what I wrote.

To be clear: I am relating my experiences as one who paid key money for an appartment, owned an appartment and as such has had to read and work with a few housing contracts.

I did NOT blame the OP, thats you saying that I did. I provided INPUT which is something different and something you seem to be unable or unwilling to understand.

I provided advice/input to the OP that was based on my experience with housing contracts in Korea. Nothing more. The fact you cannot handle that there is more than one possible reason to what is happening is your issue.

Take care now Adam.

PS You went off the rails with the all caps sentence and use of insults Adam. I suggest you take a breather from the forum, calm down a bit and get over whatever it is thats got you so cranked up.

[jondepoer]

So, I had the contract looked at by a 3rd party, and there is nothing about (a) automatic renewal or (b) necessity of written notice.

It does clearly state the contract completion date, and indicates that the deposit is to be returned on that day. There's also an "insurance" certificate, which guarantees that the landlord has X number of dollars on deposit, thus making it impossible for them to argue that the don't have the money. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is what I understood about the certificate based on the explanation I was given).

On all counts, it seems totally illegal to deduct rent money from the deposit, even after the contract term is complete. Some sources even suggest that the landlord is legally required to pay interest on the deposit to the tenant if the deposit isn't returned.

Anyway, I thought I would post an update in case anyone's interested. I will continue to update as I work through this extremely stressful situation.

[jrwhite82]

[12ax7]

[jondepoer]

No luck finding a new tenant yet. There are three Real Estate Agents who have brought people through the apartment in the past week - but nothing confirmed yet.

Fingers crossed...but needless to say, there'll be more on this thread if I have no 10m by March 3rd.

PS: dgove: I've learned not to feed the trolls ;) There's good information to be had here, if you can get past the attitude.

[12ax7]

[jrwhite82]

[PatrickGHBusan]