Jeonse hands over a huge lump-sum deposit, so one bad deal hurts badly. The good news: most jeonse fraud is preventable with a few checks before signing. Here's how to protect your deposit, in order.
One thing worth knowing up front. If you view a property register once through the government's Ansim Jeonse app, it will send you a KakaoTalk alert every time that property's register changes for the next two years and six months. Until this existed, a tenant had no reliable way to learn that a new mortgage had been filed or the owner had changed after signing. Now it arrives automatically.
Why jeonse fraud happens
The core risk is a "gaptong" home — where debt (deposit + loans) exceeds the home's value. If it goes to auction, a lower-priority tenant may not recover the full deposit.
| Type | Detail |
|---|---|
| Gaptong jeonse | Loans + deposit exceed value → loss at auction |
| Senior mortgage | Bank loan ranks ahead of your deposit |
| Fake landlord | Signing with a non-owner or name-lender |
| Trust property | Title held by a trust — no leasing right |
The jeonse ratio — the threshold has tightened
The jeonse ratio is your deposit divided by the home's market price. It is the fastest single filter for gaptong risk.
What matters is that the official warning line itself has moved. Seoul's earlier guidance treated above 80% as the danger zone. Its October 2025 prevention checklist puts the line at 70%. If you read an older article and concluded "80% is still fine," you are already inside today's risk band.
Calculate the ratio against the price at signing. Even if it was 78% on the day, a falling market pushes the real ratio up. Newly built villas and rarely traded multi-family units are riskier still, because there is no clear market price to divide by.
Before signing — the property register
The key check is the property register (deungibu). Pull it right before signing and again right before the balance payment.
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Owner | Is the signer the real owner? Any trust? |
| Mortgages | Senior loans — is loan+deposit too high vs value? |
| Seizure/auction | Any liens or auction filings → stop |
| Jeonse ratio | Deposit vs market price. Above 70%, stop and think |
Seoul's eight pre-contract checks
The city of Seoul distils the pre-signing work into eight items. Walk them in order.
- Confirm a reasonable jeonse price
- Calculate the jeonse ratio
- Read the property register
- Read the building ledger
- Check the landlord for unpaid taxes
- Verify the broker and the owner
- Confirm the listing is properly registered
- Check guarantee eligibility
The 2025 checklist regroups these into before signing / at signing / after signing. At signing it adds landlord identity, mandatory contract terms, special clauses and broker verification; after signing it covers the move-in report, the fixed date, the deposit-return guarantee and any existing tenant's rights.
The three-part legal shield
Korean law protects tenants through resident registration + fixed date + actual occupancy.
| Tool | How | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Opposing power | Move-in report + living there | Deposit claim survives owner change (from next day 0:00) |
| Priority repayment | Above + fixed date | Paid before junior creditors at auction |
| Top-priority | Small-deposit criteria | Portion paid first of all |
File your move-in report and fixed date the day you pay the balance. One day's delay can drop you behind a mortgage filed in between. How the three rights stack is covered in more depth in the tenant rights guide.
The Ansim Jeonse app — set the alert
Built by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, it covers both pre-contract research and post-contract monitoring. The features named in the public announcement:
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Register change alerts | View once, then two years and six months of KakaoTalk alerts whenever the register changes |
| Landlord history | Past guarantee-default history, HUG enrolment bans, problem-landlord listing, and unpaid tax history |
| Price data | Covers multi-family and row houses and apartment buildings under 50 units, rolled out from the capital region |
| New builds | Prices one month after completion, later extended to a provisional price one month before |
Know the limit too. The announcement states the multi-family and small-apartment price data is provided starting with the capital region. Outside it, prices may simply not appear — in which case you compare nearby actual transaction records yourself.
Deposit-return guarantee — the safety net
Still worried? Get a jeonse deposit-return guarantee (HUG/HF/SGI) — if the landlord can't return your deposit, the guarantor pays it.
That said, deposit caps, premium rates and enrolment windows differ by institution and product, and they change often. This article deliberately does not print those figures; check them with the institution right before you enrol. What does hold everywhere is the following.
- Heavy senior loans or a high jeonse ratio get you rejected. A home that cannot be covered is, by that fact alone, a warning.
- There is a deadline for enrolling. Wait too long into the lease and the door closes, so ask early.
- Put a "landlord cooperates with guarantee enrolment" clause in the contract. It prevents a landlord from stalling on the paperwork you need.
The order to follow
① Check the register for owner, mortgages and jeonse ratio → ② avoid gaptong homes → ③ sign with the real owner → ④ re-check the register before the balance → ⑤ file move-in report + fixed date on balance day → ⑥ enrol in a deposit-return guarantee.
Weighing jeonse against monthly rent? Compare the real cost first with the jeonse-to-rent converter. A semi-jeonse arrangement — smaller deposit plus rent — is sometimes the lower-risk choice.
If you can't judge it alone
In Seoul, the Jeonse and Monthly Rent Support Centre takes consultations. As of the October 2025 notice it opens 09:00–17:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and 09:00–20:00 on Tuesday and Thursday, with a 12:00–13:00 lunch break and no weekend or holiday service. The Tuesday and Thursday evening hours make it usable after work.
Separately, lease reporting is mandatory for contracts above ₩60M in deposit or ₩300,000 in monthly rent, and the report is due within 30 days of signing. Failing to report, or reporting falsely, carries a fine of up to ₩1M.
Red-flag checklist
- ☐ Jeonse ratio above 70%
- ☐ Large senior mortgage on the register
- ☐ Owner ≠ the person signing / trust title
- ☐ Suspiciously cheap and "sign fast"
- ☐ Guarantee enrolment is rejected
- ☐ Asked to delay move-in/fixed date
- ☐ The landlord has a history of unpaid taxes
Questions you may have
When do I file move-in and fixed date?
The day you pay the balance. Opposing power starts the next day at 0:00; a fixed date adds priority. A day's delay can cost you.
Can any home get a guarantee?
No — homes with heavy senior loans or high jeonse ratios are rejected. Rejection is a warning sign.
What if the landlord changes?
With opposing power, you can claim the deposit from the new owner — so never delay your move-in report.
I already signed and I'm worried.
Pull the register now, and if the move-in report and fixed date aren't done, do them today. Viewing the register once in the Ansim Jeonse app puts you on the alert list for later changes. Ask the guarantor whether your enrolment window is still open.
Does switching to monthly rent reduce the risk?
The lump sum at stake shrinks, so the worst case shrinks with it — but your monthly outgoings rise. Look at how the conversion rate is set before deciding, and if you do move to rent, claim the monthly rent tax credit as well.
Sources and where to check
- Seoul Metropolitan Government — jeonse fraud prevention checklist (October 2025). Source of the 70% jeonse ratio line, the twelve items across three stages, the support centre's opening hours, the lease-reporting thresholds (₩60M deposit or ₩300,000 rent), the 30-day deadline and the ₩1M maximum fine.
- Seoul Metropolitan Government — eight checks before signing a jeonse contract. The original of the eight-item list; this earlier page put the danger line at above 80%. Read side by side, the two show the threshold tightening.
- Ministry of Health and Welfare, Bokjiro — launch of the Ansim Jeonse app. States the two-years-six-months of KakaoTalk alerts after one register view, the landlord default and unpaid-tax lookups, and the capital-region-first rollout of price data for multi-family homes and apartment buildings under 50 units.
Written as of July 2026. The jeonse ratio thresholds, the eight pre-contract checks, the app's features, the lease-reporting rules and the support centre hours all come from the Seoul and Bokjiro pages above. By contrast, the deposit caps, premium rates and enrolment windows for deposit-return guarantees, the rule that opposing power begins at 0:00 the day after registration, and the small-deposit top-priority thresholds and amounts could not be checked against a public-agency original. The top-priority figures in particular are revised often, so do not trust the numbers in older articles. Confirm guarantee terms with HUG, HF or SGI directly, and the top-priority thresholds through legal advice before signing. This is general information, not legal advice.
