For 1 to 6 months you have five main choices: a goshiwon (고시원), a room in a share house (셰어하우스), a monthly-rent lease (월세) with an owner, a serviced residence (생활숙박시설) or an urban homestay (외국인관광 도시민박업). Korean law has no category for a stay of 1 to 6 months, so each choice follows its own rules. If you hold an Alien Registration Card (외국인등록증, ARC), report your new address within 15 days of moving in, whichever you choose.
This guide is about the weeks before a regular lease. For what to do in your first month, read the first-month housing timeline.
The five options compared
This table compares the options by legal status. It has no prices, because the sources we use for this guide do not set any. Ask each operator for a written price and contract.
| Option | What it is in law | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Goshiwon (고시원) | A listed multi-use business (다중이용업). The building use is multi-living facility (다중생활시설) | A goshiwon payment receipt is accepted as address proof |
| Share house (셰어하우스) | We found no separate legal category | The contract and the building's use decide your position. Read both |
| Monthly rental (월세) | A housing lease with an owner. The Housing Lease Protection Act covers leases of a residential building | The term, the deposit and what the contract says about leaving |
| Serviced residence (생활숙박시설) | A lodging facility with cooking facilities, run under a lodging business (숙박업) notification | Whether the operator has notified as a lodging business |
| Urban homestay (외국인관광 도시민박업) | A tourism-law registration. The host must live in the home | The rule is written for foreign tourists |
Here is what to know about each row.
Goshiwon. The law defines a goshiwon business as renting partitioned rooms with study facilities, with lodging or room and board. In building law it is a multi-living facility. For a longer comparison with officetels and one-rooms, read goshiwon vs officetel vs one-room.
Share house. Korean building law has no category called share house. It does have a multi-room house category (다중주택) for homes where many people live long term in rooms that are not self-contained units. We do not say that a given share house falls under it. Check the contract and ask the operator what the building is registered as.
Serviced residence. The Public Health Control Act splits lodging into general lodging (no cooking facility) and life lodging (숙박업(생활), cooking facility included). Serviced residences are the life kind. An operator running a lodging business without notification faces up to 2 years in prison or a fine of up to KRW 20 million.
Urban homestay. The law defines it as a resident of an urban area using the home they live in to give foreign tourists a room and meals. It is built for tourists. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism says guests are limited to foreign tourists. The only exception in the Decree is a village enterprise (마을기업) under an urban regeneration plan, which may serve domestic tourists after giving foreign tourists priority. The Ministry also says a registered urban homestay that takes Korean guests is running an illegal lodging business.
We could not confirm whether a foreign resident with an ARC may stay in an urban homestay. The rule is written for foreign tourists, and no source we read defines tourist by visa or ARC. Ask the host to confirm in writing. If you are unsure, ask the district office. A hanok stay (한옥체험업) is a separate registered business for tourists, and its wording does not say foreign tourists. Ask the host before you book.
Since the Decree text effective 2026-08-04, an urban homestay must post a price list at the premises and on any online listing, and honor the posted price. The Ministry announced on 2026-07-28 that a first finding of an unposted price or a breach of the posted price can bring a business suspension. A host who skips this is a warning sign. In general, a guesthouse or homestay must register or notify under tourism or public health law before it takes guests. Ask to see the registration.
What the law says about short leases
This part applies to a monthly-rent lease with an owner. It does not tell you whether the same protections cover a goshiwon room, a room in a share house or a serviced residence stay. We did not find a source that answers that. Ask the operator for the contract in writing.
The 2-year rule. The Housing Lease Protection Act (주택임대차보호법) treats a lease with no term, or a term under 2 years, as a 2-year lease. The tenant may claim that the shorter term is valid. The right to claim belongs to the tenant, not the landlord. So a 3-month or 6-month monthly rental is not void. You can ask the landlord to put the short term in writing.
After the term ends. Even after the term ends, the lease continues to be treated as in force until the tenant gets the deposit back.
The temporary-use exclusion. The Act does not apply to a lease that is clearly only for temporary use. The article does not say where that line sits for a 1 to 6 month monthly rental, and we read no case law on it. Treat it as a risk. Before you pay a deposit, ask a licensed agent how your contract is written.
Who is covered. The Act applies to leases of a residential building, all or part of it.
Registering your address with a short stay
A foreigner who enters Korea and will stay more than 90 days must register as a foreigner within 90 days of entry. If you stay 90 days or fewer, the 90-day rule does not require an ARC, so confirm your own status at HiKorea. For ARC steps, read the ARC registration guide.
If you already hold an ARC and move to a new place, even for a few weeks, you must report the new address within 15 days of moving in. You report to the district, town or neighborhood office for the new area, or to the immigration office that covers it. You submit your ARC. The penalty for not reporting is a criminal fine (벌금) of up to KRW 1 million. HiKorea gives the same 15-day rule.
Holders of the F-4 overseas Korean status have a different deadline. HiKorea gives 14 days and an administrative fine of up to KRW 2 million under a different Act.
Which documents work. The Justice Ministry rule accepts a lease contract, a sale contract or another document that shows you moved. The official form lists these:
- a lease agreement
- a sale contract
- a dormitory residency proof
- an accommodation confirmation (숙소제공확인서)
- a residence confirmation (주거확인서) for refugee applicants and others
- other documents showing you live at that address, such as a receipt for staying at accommodation facilities including a goshiwon
So a goshiwon receipt and a host's accommodation confirmation can both be your address proof. The form also has a box for the type of residence: own house, full-deposit or monthly rental, or other. When a whole household reports, everyone except the owner or the person who signed the lease marks "other".
Why it matters for your lease. For a registered foreigner, the Immigration Act registration and address report stand in for resident registration and the move-in report. That is what links your address report to lease protection.
Brokerage fee on small deposits
If you rent through a licensed agent (개업공인중개사), you pay a brokerage fee (중개보수). Each side pays its own share. You and the agent agree the amount inside the ceiling.
For a monthly rent, the base is the deposit plus the monthly rent multiplied by 100. If that total is under KRW 50 million, the base is the deposit plus the monthly rent multiplied by 70.
Seoul sets these ceilings:
| Base | Ceiling rate | Fee limit |
|---|---|---|
| Under KRW 50 million | 0.5% | KRW 200,000 |
| KRW 50 million to under KRW 100 million | 0.4% | KRW 300,000 |
The fee is the rate times the base, or the limit if that is lower. The ordinance text does not cover VAT, so ask the agent. If you contract directly with a goshiwon operator or a host, ask what you owe before you pay. For the full fee table and the filing steps, read renting an apartment in Korea.
Deposit safety on short leases
A short stay does not make a deposit safer. Use these steps for any monthly-rent lease.
- Check before you sign. You can ask the confirmed-date office for the lease information on the home, with the landlord's consent. Run Seoulstart's deposit safety check before you transfer money, and read how to avoid deposit scams.
- Move in and report your address. Third-party protection (대항력) starts the day after you take possession and complete your address registration. For a registered foreigner, the 15-day address report does this job.
- Get a confirmed date (확정일자). To be repaid ahead of later creditors if the home is auctioned or sold publicly, you need that protection plus a confirmed date on the lease document. It is given at offices that include the neighborhood community center (동 주민센터), a district office branch (출장소), a court registry office (등기소) and a notary. A fee applies.
- Keep the contract. Keep your lease, your receipts and your address-report papers. The lease documents checklist lists what to ask for.
The Act does not carve out short terms from steps 2 and 3. The exception is a stay that is clearly temporary use only (see above).
Moving to a regular lease
A short stay gives you time to see a few districts before you commit to a lease. The figures below are medians of reported lease contracts from Seoulstart's monthly data, not asking prices. The latest update covers August 2026.
Here are median officetel rents for Seoul and five districts, sorted from the lowest rent to the highest:
| Area | Monthly rent | Deposit | Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gwanak-gu | ₩600,000 | ₩20m | 266 |
| Seoul | ₩700,000 | ₩10m | 4,373 |
| Mapo-gu | ₩750,000 | ₩10m | 294 |
| Seodaemun-gu | ₩865,000 | ₩10m | 134 |
| Gangnam-gu | ₩900,000 | ₩10m | 210 |
| Yongsan-gu | ₩1,000,000 | ₩35m | 96 |
Medians of contracts reported in August 2026. Rent figures are for new leases, the price someone moving in signs; where fewer than 10 new leases were reported, all leases are used. Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport real transaction records (국토교통부 실거래가), processed by Seoulstart. Updated monthly.
A district with few reported contracts shows "Too few" instead of a number. For Seoul as a whole, the median officetel rent is ₩700,000 a month. The median officetel deposit is ₩10m. A median says nothing about one building or one room. Use it to set a budget, then check real contracts.
Open each district page for more detail: Seoul, Mapo-gu, Yongsan-gu, Gangnam-gu, Gwanak-gu and Seodaemun-gu. To see reported contracts month by month, use the price explorer. To plan the cash you need at move-in, use the move-in cost tool.
To choose a neighborhood, read where to live in Seoul and rent in Seoul. If you are a student, read student housing in Seoul.