How to Read a Korean Property Register: Sections A, B and Maximum Secured Amounts

Why you should read the register yourself

In Korea, the property register (등기부등본, officially the "certificate of all registered matters") is the public ledger that shows who owns a home, who has lent money against it and who is claiming rights over it. Whether you are paying a jeonse deposit (전세, a large lump-sum deposit returned at the end of the lease) or buying, the amounts are large. Do not rely on a summary handed to you by a broker; learn to read the original.

The register has three parts: the title section (표제부, what the property is), section A (갑구, who owns it and any problems with ownership) and section B (을구, other rights such as mortgages). Reading them in that order, even a first-timer can grasp the essentials in about ten minutes.

How to get a copy in five minutes

1. Go to the Internet Registry Office and open the menu for viewing or issuing real estate registers. An English interface may be limited, so a browser translation tool helps.
2. Search by road-name or lot-number address. Choose collective building (집합건물) for apartments, row houses and multi-unit villas, or building (건물) for detached and multi-family houses, plus land if needed. Select the exact building and unit number.
3. Choose the version including cancelled entries (말소사항 포함). It shows mortgages and seizures that have since been removed, which hints at the owner's financial history.
4. Pay the fee and view or issue. Viewing is enough for checking; choose issuing if you need a document to submit. The fee is around one thousand won per copy, and viewing is cheaper than issuing.

You can also get a copy at a registry office or an unmanned kiosk. Anyone with the address can obtain it, so you do not need the landlord's permission.

Title section: is this really the home you are renting?

The title section is the building's ID card. For collective buildings it covers the whole building, the land, your unit (the exclusive area) and the land-use right attached to the unit.

• Check that the address, building and unit number match the contract and the building register. Some villas have door numbers that differ from their registered unit numbers.
• Make sure the exclusive area is not far off the advertised size.
• See whether a land-use right (대지권) is registered. If it is missing, ask why.
• A multi-family house (다가구) is legally a single detached house, so there are no unit-by-unit registers. The whole building shares one register, which means you must consider other tenants' deposits too.

Section A (gapgu): the owner and ownership problems

Section A lists ownership events in time order. Find the current owner in the latest ownership entry and make sure that is the person you sign with.

If you see trust (신탁), the current legal owner is a trust company. The former owner generally cannot lease the home alone. Get the trust register from a registry office to confirm who can grant leases and on what conditions, and do not sign without original consent documents from the trust company and the priority beneficiary.

Section B (eulgu): mortgages and the maximum secured amount

Section B records rights other than ownership, including mortgages (근저당권), registered jeonse rights and lease registrations. The most important number for tenants is here.

The maximum secured amount is bigger than the actual loan

A mortgage entry shows the maximum secured amount (채권최고액), the debtor and the mortgagee, usually a financial institution. The maximum covers principal plus interest and late charges, and lenders typically set it at around 120% of the principal. So a maximum of ₩120 million usually means a loan of about ₩100 million.

Still, when assessing risk, count the full maximum secured amount as senior debt. Even if the owner says the loan is almost repaid, an uncancelled mortgage may leave room to borrow again.

Worked example

Market value ₩300 million, a mortgage with a ₩36 million maximum in section B, and a desired deposit of ₩240 million:

• Jeonse ratio = 240 ÷ 300 = 80%
• Burden ratio = (36 + 240) ÷ 300 = 92%

Above 90%, a deposit return guarantee may be refused and you risk losing part of your deposit at auction. Enter the same numbers into our jeonse safety check to see a risk score and the expected recovery amount.

Other things to look for in section B

• Lease registration (임차권등기): a previous tenant did not get their deposit back and registered their lease by court order. This is a strong warning sign about the owner's ability to repay.
• Registered jeonse right (전세권): another tenant holding this right ranks ahead of you.
• Joint collateral list: several units or properties are pledged together. Whole villa buildings are often tied up this way, so read the list.

How priority is decided

Within the same section, the rank number decides order. Between sections A and B, the filing date and filing number decide it. Think of your own protection as joining this queue at the moment you complete your move-in report and fixed-date stamp. Any mortgage registered before then ranks ahead of you.

Why you must re-check on signing day and payment day

Registrations take effect in filing order, and a mortgage takes effect on the day it is filed. A tenant's protection against third parties, however, starts at 00:00 the day after the move-in report. If the owner takes out a loan and registers a mortgage on your payment day, that mortgage ranks ahead of you.

1. Pull a fresh copy right before signing.
2. Pull another right before the final payment. If a filing is still being processed, the viewing screen may indicate it, so read carefully.
3. Add a clause banning new mortgages until the day after the final payment.
4. File your move-in report and get the fixed-date stamp on moving day. Timing is explained in our move-in report and fixed date guide.

Common mistakes

• Reading only the broker's printed summary, not the full register
• Using the loan balance the owner mentions instead of the maximum secured amount
• Confusing cancelled entries (struck through in red) with live ones
• Forgetting other tenants' deposits in a multi-family house
• Skipping the building register and missing illegal or commercial-use status

If you have read the register and still feel unsure, run through the rest of our jeonse fraud prevention checklist, and for complex titles consider a legal consultation.