Succession to Right of Lease
Where a lessee dies without a successor
- If a lessee dies without a successor, any person who has a de facto marital relationship and has lived together with the lessee in the leased house shall solely succeed to the rights and obligations of the lessee (Article 9 (1) of the Housing Lease Protection Act).
※ "Living together" means living together with the lessee as a member of the family.
- If a lessee dies and there is no person who has a de facto marital relationship and has lived together with the lessee as a member of the family in the leased house, the inherited properties including the right of lease shall be escheated to the State (Article 1058 (1) of the Civil Act).
Where a lessee dies and there is a successor
- Where a successor has been living together with the lessee as a member of the family in the leased house at the time of the lessee's death, the right of lease shall not be succeeded by the person who has a de facto marital relationship but by the successor (Articles 1000, 1001 and 1003 of the Civil Act).
- When a lessee has deceased, if the successor has not been living together with the lessee as a member of the family in the leased house at the time of his/her death, any person having the de facto marital relationship with the lessee, and the relatives within the second degree of relationship therewith, who have lived together with him/her in the leased house, shall jointly succeed to the rights and obligations of the lessee (Article 9 (2) of the Housing Lease Protection Act).
Renunciation of Succession to Right of Lease
Renunciation of succession to right of lease
- Where the person with the right to succeed to the right of lease does not want to succeed to such right by any reason such as the case that it is unfavorable for him/her to succeed to the right of lease as the obligations of the deceased lessee exceed the claim for repayment of deposit, etc., he/she may renounce the succession to the right of lease by giving a dissenting opinion to the lessor, that is to say, by expressing his/her will not to succeed to the right of lease, within 1 month after the lessee died (Article 9 (3) of the Housing Lease Protection Act).
Effect of Succession to Right of Lease
Effect of succession to right of lease
- Any person who has succeeded to the rights and obligations of the lessee shall succeed to the claims and obligations created by the relation of the lease (Article 9 (4) of the Housing Lease Protection Act).