Definition
In Korea, daehangryeok is a tenant's legal power, granted under the Housing Lease Protection Act, to enforce the existing lease against a new landlord when the owner changes. With it, you can keep living in the home even if the building is sold, and when you move out, you can get your deposit back from the new landlord.
A Shield That Keeps You in Your Home When the Landlord Changes
Say a friend promises to lend you their bike, and then sells it to someone else. Under the basic rules of law, that was just a promise between you and your friend. It's hard to tell the new owner, "I was supposed to borrow that, hand it over." A contract only binds the two people who made it.
Homes used to work the same way. If a landlord quietly sold the house, the new owner could tell the tenant to leave, and many tenants were simply thrown out on the street. There was no way to force the new owner to honor the lease signed with the old landlord.
Daehangryeok is the strong safeguard that Korean law created to stop this kind of unfairness. A tenant who has it can hold the new owner to the same lease terms, no matter how many times the landlord changes. The right to get the deposit back passes to the new owner too.
The Moment You Get the Keys and Register Your Move
Getting daehangryeok is simpler than you might think. You don't have to go to court. You only need two things. First, you actually move in and live there (handing over of the home). Second, you register your new address at the community service center or online (a move-in report).
Be careful about when it starts. It doesn't take effect on the very day you move in and file the report. It starts at 12:00 a.m. the day after you file.
A move-in report can't be checked on the spot the way property records can. So the law adds a one-day delay to keep third parties, like a bank that takes the house as collateral that same day, from being caught off guard. That's why there's a risk: if the old landlord quietly borrows a large sum from a bank on your move-in day and puts up the house as collateral, the bank's claim can come before yours. To stay safe, add a special clause to your contract saying no loan will be taken out on the move-in day.
A Bit More Precisely: How It Differs From Priority Repayment
Many people mix up daehangryeok with the right you get from a fixed date stamp on your lease. To be more precise, daehangryeok is the right to stay in the home and not move out, and the right to claim your money back from the new owner.
But things change when a house goes to a court auction because of debt. To get your deposit paid out of the auction proceeds ahead of other creditors, you need another ticket besides daehangryeok. It's called the priority repayment right, and you get it by having the lease stamped with a fixed date.
In other words, daehangryeok is "the shield that lets you hold your ground against the new owner and demand your deposit," while the priority repayment right is "the numbered ticket for taking your money first from the auction payout." You need both to protect your deposit well. One catch: if a house with a mortgage registered before your tenancy is sold at auction, you may not be able to enforce daehangryeok against the winning bidder.
Common misconceptions
Daehangryeok kicks in from the afternoon of the day you file your move-in report.
It starts at 12:00 a.m. the day after you file, not on the filing day itself. Legally, you still don't have it that afternoon, so be careful.
Where you meet it
When the landlord changes in the middle of a jeonse lease (Korea's lump-sum deposit lease), you can tell the new landlord you're staying for the remaining year.
When the lease ends, you can ask the new owner who bought the house, not the old landlord you signed with, to return your deposit.
In one sentence
Daehangryeok begins at 12:00 a.m. the day after you move in and file your move-in report, and it protects your lease and deposit even if the landlord changes.