If you’re planning to rent an apartment or looking for a house for lease in South Korea, there are many things to prepare to do so. You can usually contact a real estate company to help you find a home, you can also contact the property owner directly to discuss renting the place.
Then you can visit the apartment or house to check if it meets all of your needs, and before moving in, you’ll have a contract to sign if you are willing to abide by their terms and conditions.
Wolse is easier to understand compared to the other two. So in this article, we’ll be listing the difference between Jeonse and Banjeonse for you to be more aware of what would suit you better.
Jeonse(전세)
A Jeonse is a contract agreement that requires the tenant to pay the landlord or homeowner a large security deposit to use it for a given period of time, depending on the duration of the lease. Contracts usually last for about one to two years and tenants are not required to pay monthly rent in Jeonse.
However, some tenants prefer to get a loan from banks because of the very large security deposit fees. It is usually hard to find apartments with Jeonse contract agreements when the rates are low because they’re not good for the landlord or homeowner’s business. But when the interest rates are high, Jeonse is a popular choice for tenants and homeowners because tenants can use the home and save more money, while landlords or homeowners can earn a profit by putting their renter’s security deposit into their savings account.
Banjeonse(반전세)
A Banjeonse contract agreement is a mix of Wolse(smaller security deposit, bigger monthly rent) and Jeonse(bigger security deposit, no monthly rent). Banjeonse or “half-jeonse”, is a rental agreement that requires tenants to pay a smaller security deposit than Jeonse but more than Wolse, and tenants also have to pay a monthly rental fee to the landlord or homeowner since the security deposit is a smaller amount.
In terms of renewing your contract, if you just want to stay for another year instead of two years, you have to settle terms with the owner. If there is no new agreement reached by the end of the tenant’s contract, the person is entitled to remain in their apartment under the same policy.
Which agreement option is better?
For most people, they would go for Banjeonse agreements, people can move in faster since it has a more affordable security deposit. For others, Jeonse is much better because they don’t need to worry about paying monthly rent for the next one or two years.
For foreigners, it is better to ask a real estate agent to guide you into what agreement would suit you best. Real estate agents can also help you make sure that the contract is legitimate and legal, and so that you would have all the requirements needed.