Renting in Korea was not built for someone who just landed.
The lease
In most countries, two months' deposit gets you a flat. A standard Korean lease runs one to two years, with deposits from millions of won into the hundreds of millions. Month-to-month homes exist — but they live on Korean-only platforms, priced and signed in Korean.
The verification loop
Almost everything here needs a Korean phone number — and getting one needs an ID, which needs an address. Delivery apps, banking, even KakaoTalk sit behind that loop. Day one in Korea is a circle you cannot enter alone.
The language
The contract, the landlord, the building notices, the boiler manual — all in Korean. One clause you did not understand can cost you a deposit.
Three ways Koreans rent. Only one of them is built for you.
Most homes in Korea are let through a licensed agent (부동산), on a Korean standard-form contract, with a deposit that would look like a down payment anywhere else. Here is the whole landscape in one table — including the corner of it we work in.
| Type | Deposit up front | Monthly rent | Usual term |
|---|---|---|---|
| 전세 JeonseThe one people warn you about | 50–80% of the property's value | None | 2 years |
| 반전세 Ban-jeonseThe in-between | Large lump sum | Reduced | 2 years |
| 월세 WolseWhat most residents use | 10–20× the monthly rent (often ₩10M–₩50M) | Yes | 1–2 years |
| Furnished monthly — what we doA separate category, mostly on Korean-only platforms | Usually none. 2% of our 18,563 homes ask for one | Yes, all-in | From 1 month |
In most countries two months' rent secures a flat. A Korean wolse deposit is typically ten to twenty times the monthly rent — ₩10,000,000 to ₩50,000,000 sitting with a landlord you met once. Getting it protected means registering your address and stamping the contract at a district office, in Korean, in your first weeks. Skip that and the money has no legal priority if the landlord runs into trouble.
Almost every lease goes through a licensed agent. They are paid a percentage of the transaction, they work in Korean, and they use a standard form written for Korean tenants. Many will ask for a Korean guarantor or a registration number you do not have yet. None of that is hostility — the system simply was not built with you in it.
On a normal Korean lease the room arrives empty and every service arrives in your name. Six phone calls, most of them in Korean, before the first hot shower.
Korean services verify who you are by checking a phone line registered against a resident number — or, for you, the number on your Residence Card. That card comes after you register with immigration, which needs an address, which needs a home. Until the loop closes, this is roughly what is shut:
Five things that go wrong. What we do about each.
How a booking works. Four steps.
The measured report, your contract in English, arrival-day cover, and one line for anything about the home, your whole stay. All of it is in the total you see — nothing added after.
Airport pickup, in-person setup, someone next to you at the bank, immigration or a clinic. Human time is the premium here — priced per session, openly, never hidden in your rent.
Sessions from ₩49,000 · Landing Week bundle ₩279,000What a whole stay looks like from here.
Pick the one closest to you. Every step below is a real part of this site — click any of them to go there.
Everything a stay in Korea needs, in one place.
Homes, arrival, neighbourhoods, care, and the things you take home. Book all of it here, in English. See how a booking works →
