The Supreme Court ruled that if a landlord refuses a tenant’s request to renew the lease contract due to actual residence, the landlord has the burden of proving the tenant’s intention to reside there to a satisfactory degree.
The second division of the Supreme Court overturned the lower court ruling in favor of the landlord in a lawsuit filed by the landlord against a tenant couple requesting the return of their apartment in Seocho-gu, Seoul at the end of the lease contract period, and sent the case back to the Seoul Central District Court.
The landlord in question signed a two-year contract with the tenant couple for a deposit of 630 million won in 2019, and expressed his intention to refuse renewal due to actual residence before the expiration of the contract.
However, the tenant couple claimed that the landlord had abused the actual residence clause and did not return the house because they had the right to renew the contract, and the landlord filed a lawsuit.
The 1st and 2nd trials said, “There are no questions about the actual residence plan, such as the landlord changing his word that his elderly parents will live there and there are no circumstances of reorganizing the previous residence,” but said, “Unless there is an obvious contradiction, refusal to renew is legal.” On the other hand, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling, saying, “The burden of proof of actual residence lies with the landlord,” and “We must consider whether it is generally acceptable that the intention to reside is real.”
At the same time, ″We will re-determine whether the refusal to renew the contract is legal by taking into account the landlord’s residential situation, the social environment such as work and school of the landlord and family, the circumstances in which the intention to actually reside, and whether there were any words or actions that contradict the intention to actually reside, etc. He presented the standard saying, “It must be done.”
A Supreme Court official explained, “This ruling is the first judgment on how to determine whether a landlord has an intention to actually reside there.”
2023-12-26 03:02:22
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