Jeonse to Wolse Conversion Calculator
Enter your jeonse deposit and the rate your landlord is offering to see the monthly rent it produces — and instantly check whether that rate is within Korea's legal cap on deposit-to-rent conversion.
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Inputs
Choose whether you are converting a jeonse deposit into monthly rent (wolse), or converting an existing wolse contract back into an equivalent full jeonse deposit.
Used only for Jeonse → Wolse. The full deposit before any part of it is converted to monthly rent.
The reduced deposit that remains under the new (or current) wolse contract. Used in both directions.
Used only for Wolse → Jeonse. The monthly rent you are currently paying, or being asked to pay.
The annual rate your landlord is proposing, or already charging. This is not a published rate — enter the figure from your own contract or negotiation.
Confirmed at 2.75% as of 2026-08-12 (decided 2026-07-16). This rate changes periodically — check bok.or.kr for the latest figure, since the legal cap moves with it.
Result
- Estimated monthly rent
- 916,667KRW
- Deposit amount converted
- 200,000,000KRW
- Current legal cap on the conversion rate
- 4.75%
- Result
- The rate you entered exceeds the legal cap. Charging more than this is not permitted under the Housing Lease Protection Act.
- Maximum legal monthly rent at the capped rate
- 791,667KRW
(300,000,000 − 100,000,000) × 5.5% ÷ 12 = 916,666.67
How it works
FormulaMonthly rent = (jeonse deposit − deposit after conversion) × conversion rate ÷ 12. Jeonse-equivalent deposit = monthly rent × 12 ÷ conversion rate + deposit after conversion. Legal cap = the lower of 10% a year, or the Bank of Korea base rate + 2 percentage points (Housing Lease Protection Act §7-2, Enforcement Decree §9).
South Korea has a rental system found almost nowhere else: jeonse, a large lump-sum deposit paid instead of monthly rent, refunded in full when the lease ends. Many contracts blend the two systems, known as wolse, converting part of a jeonse deposit into a smaller deposit plus monthly rent. That conversion is not a free negotiation — Korean law caps how much monthly rent a landlord may charge for every won of deposit a tenant gives up.
The cap comes from Article 7-2 of the Housing Lease Protection Act, the 'Limit on the Rate Used When Converting to Monthly Rent.' It sets the maximum rate at whichever of two figures is lower: (1) a rate tied to bank lending rates, fixed by presidential decree at 10% a year, or (2) the Bank of Korea's base rate plus 2 percentage points, also fixed by presidential decree. In practice the second figure is almost always the binding one, because Korea's base rate has stayed well below 8% for years.
That means the legal ceiling moves whenever the Bank of Korea changes its base rate. As of 2026-08-12, the confirmed base rate is 2.75% (decided 2026-07-16), which puts the current cap at 4.75% — far below the 10% alternative. Because this figure changes over time, this calculator asks for the current base rate as an input rather than hard-coding it. Always check the Bank of Korea's own site for the latest figure before trusting the result.
Use the Jeonse → Wolse direction when you already have a jeonse deposit and want to know what monthly rent a given conversion rate implies. Use Wolse → Jeonse when you already pay a deposit plus monthly rent and want to know the equivalent full jeonse deposit at that same rate — useful for comparing a wolse offer against a jeonse offer on equal terms.
If the rate you enter is above the legal cap, the calculator flags it and also shows what the legally maximum monthly rent (or fair jeonse-equivalent deposit) would be at the capped rate instead. This does not automatically void the contract, but it does mean the excess is not legally enforceable, and tenants can use this exact calculation to renegotiate, or to bring a complaint through a regional Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committee.
A few limits are worth knowing. This cap applies specifically to residential housing leases under this Act; commercial leases are governed by a separate law with its own rate rules. The legal cap is a ceiling, not a typical or fair market rate — actual conversion rates negotiated between landlords and tenants can sit anywhere at or below it. And this tool checks only the conversion rate against the statutory maximum, not every other clause of your lease.
| Conversion rate | Monthly rent (KRW, per 100M deposit) |
|---|---|
| 2% | 166,667 |
| 3% | 250,000 |
| 4% | 333,333 |
| 4.75% (current statutory cap example) | 395,833 |
| 5% | 416,667 |
| 6% | 500,000 |
| 8% | 666,667 |
| 10% (absolute statutory cap) | 833,333 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is jeonse, and how is it different from a security deposit?
- Jeonse is a lump-sum deposit — often 50-80% of a property's value — paid to a landlord instead of monthly rent, and refunded in full at the end of the lease. A normal security deposit is much smaller and covers damages; it does not replace rent.
- What happens if my landlord's proposed conversion rate is above the legal cap?
- The excess is not enforceable under Article 7-2 of the Housing Lease Protection Act. You can raise this with the landlord directly, and if that fails, regional Housing Lease Dispute Mediation Committees (run with public institutions such as the Korea Real Estate Board) offer a free mediation process.
- Does the legal cap change over time?
- Yes. One of its two components is tied directly to the Bank of Korea's base rate, which is reviewed periodically throughout the year. Whenever that rate moves, the cap moves with it, as long as it stays below the fixed 10% alternative.
- Do I need to look up the Bank of Korea rate myself?
- This calculator's base rate field defaults to the figure confirmed on 2026-08-12, but replace it with the latest published rate from bok.or.kr once time has passed, since an outdated rate produces an outdated — and possibly wrong — cap.
- Does this cap apply to every rental contract in Korea?
- It applies to residential housing leases under the Housing Lease Protection Act. Commercial leases fall under a separate law (the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act) with its own conversion rate rules, which this calculator does not cover.
Figures used in this calculation
Every time-sensitive figure this calculator applies, with the source it was read from and the date it was last checked.
Primary = original source document · Derived = calculated from two official figures · Secondary = a source that cites the original
Bank of Korea base rate
2.75% per year (decided by the Monetary Policy Board on 2026-07-16)
Checked 2026-08-12 · next 2026-11-30
Date of the base-rate decision (cited in the article)
2026-07-16
Checked 2026-08-12 · next 2026-11-30
Statutory conversion-rate cap ① — the rate set by Presidential Decree
10% per year
Checked 2026-08-12 · next 2027-08-12
Statutory conversion-rate cap ② — the margin added to the base rate
2 percentage points per year
Checked 2026-08-12 · next 2027-08-12
Current statutory cap (cited in the article)
4.75% (= base rate 2.75% + 2pp)
Checked 2026-08-12 · next 2026-11-30
Sources
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Last updated: 2026-08-22