Automatic Lease Renewal in Korea: No Notice 2 Months Before, and It Renews for 2 Years

How automatic renewal works

Automatic (implied) renewal, 묵시적 갱신, happens when neither side says it wants to end or change the lease in time. The law then treats it as renewed on the same terms (Housing Lease Protection Act Art. 6(1)), for 2 years (Art. 6(2)).

Who	Deadline to prevent automatic renewal	Basis
Landlord	Notice of refusal or changed terms, between 6 months and 2 months before the end	Art. 6(1)
Tenant	Notice by 2 months before the end	Art. 6(1)

Example: if your lease ends on June 30, 2027, you need to tell the landlord you are leaving by about April 30, 2027. Miss that and the lease can be treated as continuing for 2 more years.

Lease termination notice in Korean, with the deadline calculated

You can still leave at any time

In an automatically renewed lease the tenant can give notice to end it at any time (Art. 6-2(1)). It ends 3 months after the landlord receives the notice (Art. 6-2(2)).

This right belongs to the tenant only, so in our view automatic renewal works in the tenant’s favour: you keep the same terms, and if your plans change you only need to give 3 months’ notice. Because the clock starts on receipt, send the notice in a way that records when it arrived.

Who does not get automatic renewal

It does not apply to a tenant who was in arrears up to an amount equal to two months’ rent, or who seriously breached their duties as a tenant (Art. 6(3)).

Automatic renewal vs the renewal request right

	Automatic renewal	Renewal request right
How it starts	Neither side gives notice in time	Tenant requests it 6–2 months before the end
How many times	No limit in the article	Once (Art. 6-3(2))
Landlord’s refusal	Can prevent it by notice in time	Only on one of 9 legal grounds (Art. 6-3(1))
Length	2 years (Art. 6(2))	2 years (Art. 6-3(2))
Tenant leaving early	Any time, effective 3 months after receipt (Art. 6-2)	Same (Art. 6-3(4))
Terms	Same as before	Same, with rent/deposit changes within 5% (Art. 7)

After an automatic renewal, your renewal request right is still unused, which can help at the next lease end if the landlord wants a large increase.

The renewal request right and its 9 refusal grounds

Common questions

Q. Does the landlord have the same right to end it early?

A. No. Article 6-2 gives the right to end an automatically renewed lease with 3 months’ notice to the tenant.

Q. Is a phone call enough as notice?

A. The Act does not set a form, but you may need to prove when the notice arrived. Text, email, or certified mail with delivery certification leaves a record.