The state does not refund a jeonse-fraud deposit — how a ₩50M floor on ₩150M pays ₩20M, and only to those who apply

'If you are a victim of jeonse fraud, the state refunds your deposit.' If that is what you heard, it is half right. It does not refund it. It tops you up to one-third of the deposit, and even that does not come by itself. You have to apply. If you lost ₩150M, the floor is ₩50M, and if you recovered ₩30M at auction you can receive ₩20M more. Do not apply, and that ₩20M stays where it is. And this scheme has not started yet.

The effective date is November 13, 2026. Applications open that day; today is not that day. So what you do today is prepare, not apply. The scheme is called the minimum support payment; the floor is called the minimum guarantee, and it is one-third of the deposit. If what you have already recovered falls short of that line, you can apply to the state for the shortfall. Four steps: whether you qualify, how much is topped up, whether there are cases where you cannot apply, and when and how to apply.

The law calls the eligible group 'minimum-guarantee victims', in two branches: people determined to be jeonse-fraud victims, and tenants who contracted with someone who had no right to lease (someone posing as the owner, or a property held in trust leased without the trustee's consent). People without Korean nationality are not eligible. Order matters: to apply for the minimum support payment you must first be determined a jeonse-fraud victim; that determination is the ticket. People determined before the scheme existed are also eligible, because the addenda say so. But the application period counts from the effective date, not from the date of determination. The clock restarts on November 13.

The floor is one-third of the deposit, and that is the whole scheme. It is one-third of the deposit, not all of it: ₩50M on ₩150M, ₩100M on ₩300M. And it is not paid up to that line unconditionally: what you have already received is subtracted first. That covers amounts distributed to you under opposing power and preferential repayment rights, amounts repaid on your deposit-return claim, and support already received under this Act. Only when the sum falls short of the floor can you apply for the shortfall. Deposit ₩150M, floor ₩50M, ₩30M recovered at auction: the shortfall, ₩20M, is the minimum support payment. Recover ₩55M at auction and you are already above the floor, so there is nothing to apply for. The scheme works hardest for those who recovered least: for someone who lost everything, one-third is the whole thing; for someone who salvaged half, nothing.

Even if you qualify and have a shortfall, there are three cases that block an application. First, you bought the affected property yourself, and the same goes for trust-fraud properties. Second, you neglected your preferential repayment right, meaning you did not file a dividend or distribution demand in the auction or public sale and missed money you could have received. This is the most painful one: you had the right, you did not raise your hand in time, the share is gone, and the state does not fill it in for you. 🔴 But this exclusion applies only to **cases where the auction commencement decision or public-sale notice is first made after the effective date** (Addendum Article 5). If the case began before that, missing the dividend demand does not by itself block the application. Third, you already received an advance payment. The advance is paid up front to tenants who contracted with an unauthorized landlord and similar cases, and if you received it you do not apply separately for the minimum support payment. One more: receive the minimum support payment and you cannot receive this Act's public rental housing support. It is money or housing, one of the two.

Applications go to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, from the effective date of November 13. Once you apply, a decision on payment is made within 90 days; for unavoidable reasons such as supplementing documents it can be extended once by up to 30 days, so it can take up to 120 days, four months. No word after two months does not mean something went wrong. Reapplying or resubmitting documents out of anxiety only slows it down. There is one obligation after receiving: if you later recover the deposit, you must repay the support, because it covers a loss rather than paying twice. Advance payments carry a settlement too: the state takes over the deposit-return claim and inherits the preferential repayment right to that extent, and the recipient must keep their opposing power until settlement is complete. Moving out or transferring your resident registration can shake that status.

You cannot apply before the effective date, but three things can be done now. First, check whether you have been determined a jeonse-fraud victim; without that determination there is no application at all. Second, if an auction or public sale is under way, meet the dividend-demand deadline. Miss it and you lose money you could have received, and if the case began after the effective date the minimum support payment is blocked too. Third, gather in one place every amount you have already received: auction distributions, repayments on the deposit claim, support under this Act. How far that total falls short of the floor is the amount you will apply for, and the distribution table, the auction result notice and the support records are the evidence. Get this in order and in November you only have to submit the papers.

The state does not refund the whole deposit. One-third of the deposit is the floor, and only the shortfall after what you already received is topped up. Those who bought the property themselves, missed the dividend demand in an auction begun after the effective date, or received an advance cannot apply. The effective date is November 13, 2026, and a decision follows within 90 days of application. What to do now is check your victim determination and add up everything received so far against the floor. This covers only the substance written in the Act; details such as application forms and the list of evidence come before the effective date. Individual cases differ, so with a large sum at stake have an expert confirm. The ₩20M goes only to those who apply.