[Deposit Return Lawsuit] Daeryun Law Firm Leads a Deposit Return Lawsuit to a Favorable Judgment

The client, who said he needed a deposit return lawsuit, had entered into a two-year lease with the defendant. After two years passed, the contract was extended by implied consent, and because the client was moving, he requested termination of the contract effective three months later.

The defendant received the notice of termination, and when the time for termination arrived, the client requested the return of the deposit from the defendant.

The defendant said his circumstances were difficult and asked the client to wait a little longer, and although the return of the deposit was urgent for the client as well, he gave the defendant one month.

A month passed, however, and the deposit was still not returned to the client.

The client requested the return of the deposit several times, but all he received in return was disregard.

In this situation, the client asked Daeryun Law Firm to help with a deposit return lawsuit in order to recover the deposit.

As with the client, a deposit return lawsuit is needed when the lease term has expired, or termination of the lease has been requested, but for various reasons the lessor does not return the deposit to the lessee.

Under the Housing Lease Protection Act, if the lessor and the lessee do not give notice of refusal to renew the contract within the prescribed period, the contract is renewed automatically, and at that point the lessee may terminate the contract at any time.

In addition, if notice of refusal to renew is not given from six months before to at least two months before the time the lease ends, an implied renewal takes place.

When the lessee gives notice of termination, the deposit must be returned within three months from the date of the notice.

Methods of terminating the contract include conversation, a phone call, a text message, and a certified content mail, and the client, who needed the return of the deposit, proceeded with the request for termination and return of the deposit by phone call and text message.

Where the lessor does not return the deposit even though the lease term has expired, the lessee may, whether before or after vacating the leased house, apply for an auction of the leased house based on a final judgment in a lawsuit claiming the return of the deposit, and thereby recover the deposit (Housing Lease Protection Act Article 3-2(1)).

Where the deposit cannot be recovered through a simplified out-of-court procedure such as a payment order, the only remaining option, as a last resort, is to recover the deposit through litigation.

The lessee may file a lawsuit claiming the return of the deposit for the leased house with the court having jurisdiction over the address of the lessor or of the lessee. In this case, the lessor and the lessee may determine the court of jurisdiction by agreement, so the complaint may also be filed with the court determined by agreement (Civil Procedure Act Article 29).