Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kalkamagi]

to those who have rented apartments, i need your input....

my year lease is up this month and i told the owner we were leaving at the end of august, and we would like to stay an extra 5 months.

basically, he wants to raise our rent from 700,000/month to 800,000/month now. (the deposit was 10 million.)

is this normal? he said something about a "penalty fee" for breaking the one year agreement (which i would assume being the "2nd year lease"). and that rent has gone up in the past year, etc.

i'm going to counter offer with more deposit, failing that, an extra 50,000/mo. but i would like to know if this is legit or just greed.

thanks~

[europe2seoul]

[chriswylson]

I think he wants to know if this is common practice for an owner to try to increase rent by that much after just 1 year. I think you're getting ripped off.

[europe2seoul]

[bobbyhanlon]

its just business. he's probably trying to see if he can get more out of you- of course you're well within your rights to say no, or else negotiate a compromise. maybe if you start hinting that you'll move out now, he'll change his tune. its good for landlords to have continuity because of the hassle of finding reliable new tenants, so perhaps if you tell him you're moving out now, he'll back down.

[chriswylson]

Right, but lease or no lease this isn't the first time I hear about that in Seoul. If your lease was up for renewal and the owner suddenly tried to increase the rent by 100,000 / month, what would you do?

[europe2seoul]

[peppero]

I agree with the others. If it was a 1 year lease, then the landlord is well within his rights to raise the rent, and yours to refuse to pay.

I negotiated a different agreement with my landlord. My original lease is on a month-to-month basis, but I can keep staying here at the same rent for as long as I keep paying up. I just need to give 2 weeks notice. Been here about 16 months now, with no problems.

[Unposter]

I don't think it is uncommon for a landlord to raise the rent at the end of a lease. Unless, it is totally a buyer's market, he has nothing to loose by raising the rent. He probably can find someone else to pay at the same rate you are paying or higher. You on the other hand, if you do not accept his 100,000 won increase will have to pay for moving and a real estate agent to find a new place.

Real estate is going through the roof these days. To a certain extent, prices have gone down some, but Koreans have come to expect at least a 10% annual return on their property. As long as this is expected, I would expect rent to continue to increase as well.

You are already paying 700,000 won per month for your place which is quite a lot. I would suck it up for the extra 100,000 a month for 5 months and then go.

Sorry. I have never met a landlord I've liked.

[Mashimaro]

[jhaelin]

[Mashimaro]

[cornholio1]

well the way I see it, if your lease isn't up yet your rent can't be raised. If it's up and you want to stay more then you have to agree to his price. May I ask where you are living that the rent is 700,000 a month? that's really expensive. Where I live it's only 250,000 with 5 mil down.

[Mashimaro]

[Unposter]

I am not sure since I have never lent an apartment in Korea (or anywhere) before but I assume real estate agents advertise your place for free. And, then collect a commission from the rentee when they agree to rent or buy a place. I don't believe they (double) collect from the land lord as well but I could be wrong.

As far as I know, the only costs to the landlord is phoning realestate agents and telling them the details of your place.