Review key money paid directly to a Korean landlord
This calculator uses South Korean law and precedents checked on 2026-11-07.
It is for a commercial tenant who paid key money directly to the landlord in exchange for a guaranteed period of use, then faces early loss of that use for a reason attributable to the landlord.
It checks the recipient, the duration agreement and the actual interruption before estimating conditional refund principal.
The result helps organize settlement discussions and legal advice; it does not establish an enforceable claim or predict a successful lawsuit.
Key money is not automatically refundable when a lease ends.
Supreme Court case 2000Da59050 distinguishes effective transfer or use of the relevant economic value from exceptional circumstances, including the landlord taking that value back or ending promised use early for the landlord’s own reasons.
Identify the value purchased and the period promised before treating unused days as a refundable balance.
Start with the actual recipient
Use this refund route when receipt by the contractual landlord, including an authorized agent, is confirmed.
A company described as a developer is not automatically the landlord.
If a former tenant received the payment, check that contract and recipient separately.
Where the landlord obstructed a later recovery opportunity, review the separate commercial key-money recovery obstruction damages calculator.
Payment to a former tenant alone does not establish the landlord’s liability for damages.
Documents and input meanings
Agreed total and amount actually paid
Enter the agreed key-money total separately from the amount actually paid.
Exclude the rental deposit, rent and interest paid for postponing an unpaid key-money balance.
Supreme Court case 2002Da25013 distinguishes that interest from key money itself, so a partly paid contract requires both figures.
Payment date and receipt evidence
Prepare transfer records, receipts, the parties’ identities and evidence of any agent’s authority to receive payment.
The payment date organizes evidence; it does not automatically start late-payment interest on a refund.
A payment labelled a facility charge or location fee still requires review of its actual nature and the recipient’s role.
Guaranteed period and first unavailable day
Enter the first and last guaranteed days and the first day the promised use actually became unavailable.
A request to leave, a building sale and delivery of keys can have different meanings.
A lease term alone does not automatically establish a separate key-money guarantee or refund promise.
Refund agreement and recovered principal
If a refund clause exists, confirm that its conditions and amount apply to this termination.
Deduct only amounts confirmed as credited to principal of the same refund claim.
Money received from a new tenant is not automatically a legal offset, and amounts credited to interest or costs are not automatically principal repayments.
Enter whole Korean won, with actual payment no greater than the agreed total.
Separate other contracts and asset-purchase payments before using the formula.
An optional settlement offer is a user-entered comparison with conditional principal; it is not a court-approved minimum settlement or a threshold for giving up rights.
Read the result together with its legal conditions
A confirmed refund agreement applicable to this event
When an express refund amount and its applicability to this termination are confirmed, that amount is the settlement basis.
Existence of a clause and satisfaction of its conditions are separate facts.
A confirmed zero-amount agreement is also distinguished from an unknown amount; the calculator does not certify the agreement’s validity.
Early loss of promised use for the landlord’s reasons
Time allocation is considered when the landlord received the key money, a duration guarantee and actual loss of use are confirmed, and guaranteed days remain.
Tenant-attributable termination, mutual termination and ordinary expiry are separate situations.
Other exceptional circumstances or settlement terms require their own evidence and review.
Unknown facts or reacquisition need review
An unknown recipient or unconfirmed guarantee is not treated as a confirmed zero refund.
The landlord’s reacquisition of facilities or business value may require exceptional-circumstances review, but it does not automatically establish a full refund or a time-based amount.
The scope, value and any separate agreement must be checked, so automatic quantification is withheld.
A building sale alone does not establish loss of use
In 2012Da58593, the Supreme Court examined continued business, succession to the existing lease and related circumstances rather than treating sale alone as landlord-attributable early loss of use.
If use continued under the new landlord, reassess the actual interruption before selecting that condition.
A result saying that the ordinary refund basis is unconfirmed does not determine that every possible claim is unavailable.
Remaining days and the partly paid key-money formula
Calendar and principal calculation
Total days T = guaranteed last day − guaranteed first day + 1
Elapsed days E = first unavailable day − guaranteed first day
Remaining days R = T − E
Allocation basis B = max(0, amount actually paid − agreed total × E / T)
Net principal = max(0, B − confirmed principal already recovered), then discard fractions of a won
Both endpoints of the guaranteed period are included.
Remaining time begins on the first unavailable day.
If all guaranteed days were used, enter the following day as the first unavailable day so that remaining days are zero.
Leap years use actual calendar days rather than fixed 30-day months.
When the full agreed total was paid, the formula equals agreed total × R / T.
When only part was paid, do not simply multiply that payment by the remaining fraction.
Following the partial-payment issue examined in 2002Da25013, this model subtracts the elapsed-period share of the agreed total from the amount actually paid.
If that elapsed share equals or exceeds the payment, this allocation route produces zero refund principal.
That result does not settle any unpaid balance or other contractual debt.
Worked settlement examples
Assume receipt by the landlord, a duration guarantee and actual loss of use for the landlord’s reasons are all confirmed.
The guarantee runs from 2026-01-01 through 2026-12-31, with 2026-07-01 the first unavailable day: T is 365, E is 181 and R is 184.
The agreed total is KRW 36,500,000, with no applicable express refund agreement.
Full payment and partial recovery
Actual payment of KRW 36,500,000 less the elapsed share of KRW 18,100,000 produces an allocation basis of KRW 18,400,000.
If KRW 3,400,000 has been confirmed as recovered principal of the same refund claim, net principal is KRW 15,000,000.
Check the nature and application of the recovered amount before deducting it.
Only part of the total was paid
With actual payment of KRW 20,000,000, the result is 20,000,000 − 18,100,000 = KRW 1,900,000.
With actual payment of KRW 3,000,000, the elapsed share exceeds payment and this formula produces zero refund principal.
Neither example uses actual payment × 184/365.
No use from the first guaranteed day
If the first unavailable day equals the first guaranteed day, elapsed days are zero.
Subject to the same confirmed conditions, the allocation basis is the amount actually paid.
If use continued through the final guaranteed day, no unused-period refund arises from this time-allocation route.
A confirmed separate refund amount
If a refund agreement applicable to this termination sets KRW 10,000,000 and confirmed principal already recovered is KRW 2,000,000, net principal is KRW 8,000,000.
The confirmed agreement replaces the time-allocation basis.
Keep facility-purchase consideration, deposit refunds and separate damages claims from being counted twice.
Confirm default and the applicable rate before adding interest
Payment of the original key money or vacating the shop does not automatically start interest on a refund.
Review maturity, receipt of a demand and any concurrent-performance conditions under Civil Act Article 387, then enter the interest start date explicitly.
If default and the applicable rate are unconfirmed, interest remains withheld separately from the principal review.
Both the entered interest start date and calculation date are included.
If the verified basis starts interest on the day after a demand, enter that following day as the start date.
Civil 5% or commercial 6%
Civil Act Article 379 provides the general annual statutory rate of 5%, while Commercial Act Article 54 provides 6% for obligations arising from commercial acts.
A transaction concerning a shop does not by its label alone establish the 6% rate.
If an agreed rate or the obligation’s character is disputed, first confirm which rate applies to the case.
A separate 12% period after service
The 12% scenario under Article 3 of the Act on Special Cases Concerning Expedition, etc. of Legal Proceedings and its statutory-rate regulation requires separate confirmation.
After that confirmation, entering service of the complaint or equivalent document divides the calculation: the selected ordinary rate applies through the service date, and 12% begins the following day.
No day is counted twice.
Article 3(2), including a justified dispute over liability or scope, can exclude the special rate within the justified scope; service alone does not guarantee a 12% award.
Simple interest and whole-won rounding
Segment interest = confirmed net principal × annual rate / 100 × actual days / 365
Total interest = sum of segment interest, then discard fractions of a won
For principal of KRW 36,500,000 over 10 days, 5% produces KRW 50,000 and 6% produces KRW 60,000.
For that same principal, 5 days at 5% followed by 5 days at 12% produces KRW 85,000.
The interest model uses a fixed denominator of 365 even in a leap year.
The 12% scenario uses the regulation effective 2019-06-01.
It does not automatically apply transitional provisions for earlier proceedings or historical judgment rates.
Principal deductions are assumed to have been reflected before the modeled interest period.
Payments made on several dates can require a different allocation among costs, interest and principal; use a case-specific schedule rather than treating this single-balance scenario as a final demand.
Steps and next actions
- Select the actual recipient and verify the landlord or authorized-receipt relationship against the contract and receipt.
- Enter the agreed total, actual payment, payment date, guaranteed period and first unavailable day.
- Check the guarantee, termination reason, actual loss of use, reacquisition and applicability of any refund agreement separately.
- Deduct confirmed recovery of the same refund principal, then read the status, days and conditional principal together.
- Add interest only after confirming default and the rate, then copy the settlement report for review alongside the documents.
Build a timeline containing receipts, duration clauses, termination notices and evidence of actual business interruption.
Before sending a certified demand, confirm the proper recipient, the due date and the claim’s legal basis.
If payment is not made, a payment order or civil proceedings may be considered with appropriate advice.
Review costs with the civil court filing-fee calculator and compare separate interest scenarios with the late-interest calculator.
A displayed difference from a settlement offer is a comparison, not advice to accept it or waive a claim.
Frequently asked questions
Does the lease term automatically establish the key-money guarantee?
Review what the key money purchased and what period of use was promised in the contract and surrounding circumstances.
A written lease term alone does not automatically satisfy every refund condition.
Leave the guarantee unconfirmed when evidence is unclear and gather the missing records.
Does a sale or redevelopment announcement immediately create a refund?
A sale or announcement alone does not establish actual loss of use.
Check succession to the lease, continued business and the actual reason for termination.
Consider the principle in 2012Da58593 while reviewing the particular facts of the case.
Can I enter a full refund when the landlord keeps the facilities?
Reacquisition can support review of exceptional circumstances, but it is not equivalent to an automatic full refund.
The assets taken, their value and any separate agreement require confirmation.
Automatic quantification is withheld for that branch.
Should all money recovered from a new tenant be deducted?
Deduct only the amount confirmed as credited to principal of the same refund claim.
Consideration under a new contract or payment of another claim is not automatically repayment of that principal.
Review both duplicate recovery and application of payments before entering a deduction.
Is this also the formula for obstruction of key-money recovery?
Commercial Building Lease Protection Act Article 10-4 provides a separate damages route with its own conditions and ceiling.
Do not merge that claim into the time allocation of key money previously paid to the landlord.
Use the related calculator to examine that route and review any overlapping claims separately.
Does a zero result mean legal advice or a claim is unnecessary?
Zero is the outcome of the entered facts and this allocation model, not a decision on every possible claim.
Interpretation of a refund clause, reacquired value and separate damages can require further review.
Distinguish an unconfirmed result from a calculated zero.
Official sources and the 2026 Korean rule context
Statutory articles and precedent texts were checked through the National Law Information Center OPEN API on 2026-11-07.
The dates below identify the checked current editions, not a conclusion that every edition governs an earlier transaction.
Recheck the law applicable to the event, contract evidence, later precedent and rate transitional provisions before making a demand.
Check the receipt and duration clause first
Prepare the receipt, agreed total, actual payment, guaranteed period and evidence of interrupted use, then enter them above.
Save the conditional principal together with the unresolved facts to make settlement or legal-advice questions specific.
For valuation of the key money itself, see the commercial key-money calculator.