Check the legal ground before offering Korean farmland for lease
When a parent retires or an heir cannot manage inherited farmland, letting a neighbouring farmer use it may seem straightforward.
Korean farmland ownership alone does not create an unrestricted right to lease the land.
Article 23(1) of the Farmland Act restricts leases and gratuitous loans for use unless a listed ground applies.
Letting a friend use the parcel without rent also requires a permitted ground.
This calculator screens up to 5 parcels belonging to the same individual using acquisition grounds, ownership duration, age, farming use of each parcel and temporary circumstances.
Results distinguish a direct-lease ground, a route requiring entrustment to the Farmland Bank or another eligible body, and no ground established within the entered scope.
Missing evidence or an exceptional case produces a review result.
All results use Korean 2026 rules and help prepare a factual discussion with the local farmland office before signing.
Inheritance, temporary absence, older owners and entrustment use different routes
Inheritance and leaving farming: items 1 and 7
Inherited farmland is considered under Article 23(1) item 1 together with Article 6(2) item 4.
Inheritance includes a testamentary gift to an heir; a gift by will to any recipient is not automatically treated the same way.
The route for a person leaving farming requires at least 8 years of farming under Decree Article 4 and ownership of the parcel at departure.
For a non-farming heir or a qualifying former farmer, land exceeding the relevant 10,000 m² holding limit is considered through item 7 entrustment.
Temporary interruption: item 3
Consider illness, conscription, study, elected public office and the other unavoidable circumstances in the Decree.
These include injury requiring at least 3 months of treatment, detention, foreign travel lasting at least 3 months, pregnancy and less than 6 months after childbirth.
Confirm the evidence and the fact that farming has temporarily stopped, as well as the selected reason.
Corporate liquidation is outside this tool for individual owners.
Owners aged 60 or older: item 4
Age alone is insufficient.
The particular parcel must have been used in the owner’s own agricultural operation for more than 5 years, and it must be in the owner’s city or county of residence or an adjoining city or county.
The owner must also meet the Decree’s condition of being a farmer or having ceased agricultural operations.
Exactly 5 years fails the duration threshold; farming experience on other land is not the same as use of this parcel.
Three-year ownership routes: items 5 and 6
These routes concern land held by an individual for their own agricultural operation under Article 6(1), with at least 3 years of ownership.
Item 5 concerns letting to weekend or experience farmers or eligible operators, while item 6 concerns entrustment to the Korea Rural Community Corporation or another eligible body.
Three years of ownership does not itself allow a direct lease to any commercial farmer.
Land originally acquired for weekend or experience farming is not automatically treated as Article 6(1) land.
Separate parcel records from the owner’s total relevant holdings
- Reference date, age and owner status: confirm age in completed years, farmer status and whether farming has stopped.
This rule snapshot covers reference dates from 2026-09-18 through 2026-12-16; later effective rules need another review.
- Acquisition ground and date: check registration and inheritance or farming-departure documents.
The purchase contract date can differ from the legally relevant acquisition date used for the ownership test.
- Use of the particular parcel and its location: enter the period of the owner’s own agricultural use and the residence or adjoining-city/county relationship.
One agricultural registration document should not be assumed to prove every relevant fact.
- Total inherited or former-farmer area: include other relevant land held by this owner outside the entered batch.
Keep the two acquisition groups separate and avoid adding the same excess once for every parcel.
- Contract and cultivation: distinguish signing, commencement and requested end dates, and confirm perennial cultivation or a fixed greenhouse or plastic house installed by the tenant.
The farmland-register change reference uses signing, which may be earlier than commencement.
If the relevant inherited or former-farmer holdings exceed 10,000 m², state the confirmed portion of the direct-holding allowance allocated to this parcel.
The calculator does not arbitrarily give the allowance to parcels in entry order; account for allocations to other land outside the batch.
An heir conducting agricultural operations is distinguished from a non-farming heir under Article 7(1).
Leave unverified facts unresolved instead of entering an invented number or a negative answer.
Read the statutory ground together with direct and entrusted areas
Direct-lease ground established
The result identifies the applicable item of Article 23(1) using the entered and confirmed facts.
Failure of a separate route does not override another established direct-lease ground.
Check the evidence, contract terms and parcel scope with the local office before proceeding.
Entrustment route needed
Distinguish item 6 for qualifying ordinary holdings owned for 3 years from item 7 for the excess inherited or former-farmer area.
The three-year item 6 condition is not added to the item 7 excess-area route.
A statutory route does not guarantee that the Korea Rural Community Corporation will accept the parcel; actual property and programme conditions require a consultation.
No ground within the entered scope
The current inputs have not established a screened ground.
This is not a final prohibition covering every special statute and transitional provision.
Review the ownership anniversary, evidence for other routes and continued farming or sale options with the responsible office.
Further review needed
Missing evidence, uncertain owner status, corporate or special acquisitions and transitional cases prevent a definitive screen.
Land continuously owned by the same person at 1996-01-01 requires review of transitional protection and is not decided solely from an acquisition date.
Resolve the listed questions before interpreting the result as permission or a violation.
One parcel may contain a portion with a direct-lease ground and another portion needing entrustment.
Read both area figures as well as the overall status.
The excess-area summary relates to the owner’s total relevant holdings and must not be added again to every parcel result.
Distinguish three- and five-year terms from double cropping and short-term exceptions
Ordinary paid lease: at least 3 years / perennial land or a tenant-installed fixed greenhouse or plastic house: at least 5 years
These terms follow Farmland Act Article 24-2(1) and Decree Article 24-2(1).
An unspecified term or a shorter agreed term is generally deemed to be the statutory period, while the tenant may assert the validity of the shorter agreed term.
The term calculation here concerns paid leases and is not automatically extended to gratuitous loans for use.
Illness, conscription, study, elected public office, an injury requiring at least 3 months of treatment and detention require a separate check under the short-term exceptions in Decree Article 24-2(2).
The list of grounds permitting a temporary lease differs from the list permitting a shorter contract.
Foreign travel lasting at least 3 months and pregnancy or less than 6 months after childbirth do not, by themselves, qualify for the shorter-term exception.
Item 8 double cropping is outside the ordinary minimum
The official notice concerns self-cultivated land on which summer crops were grown, followed by cultivation and harvesting of crops or forage from October of that year through May of the next year.
The Article 23(1) item 8 lease must be no longer than 8 months and is excluded from the ordinary three- or five-year minimum.
A contract label alone does not establish the ground; prepare evidence of summer self-cultivation, the following crop and the actual period.
Follow the steps from evidence collection to a register change
- Define the owner and parcel scope. Enter up to 5 parcels of one individual and identify joint ownership, corporate ownership or other special cases requiring individual review.
- Confirm ownership and farming history. Enter acquisition grounds and dates, parcel use, location and temporary-circumstance evidence.
For inheritance or leaving farming, include relevant holdings outside this batch.
- Enter the proposed contract. Separate route, tenant purpose, cultivation facilities, signing, commencement and end dates.
If requesting a short-term exception, verify its ground and supporting documents separately.
- Review results and missing facts. Check the legal item, areas, third ownership anniversary, minimum term and reference expiry; take unresolved issues to the city or county farmland office.
- Proceed through the confirmed route. Review the written-contract principle for a direct lease, or consult and apply for Farmland Bank entrustment.
Address the farmland-register change when a contract is concluded, amended or terminated.
Farmland Act Article 49-2 requires the register change application within 60 days of the relevant change.
The displayed signing date plus 60 days is a reference before holiday adjustment; confirm the actual submission deadline and method with the office for the parcel’s location.
Prepare the register-use information change form and the lease or loan-for-use contract required by Rule Article 57-2(1).
A later commencement date does not justify postponing attention to the contract-signing event.
Worked examples of ownership, area and contract dates
Exactly five years versus more than five
Assume acquisition on 2020-11-07, a 2026-11-07 reference date, age 60, the required residence relationship and confirmed farmer status.
Exactly 5 years of the owner’s agricultural use of this parcel fails the item 4 requirement of more than 5 years.
A verified period exceeding 5 years can establish that route.
Even at exactly 5 years, qualifying ordinary ownership lasting at least 3 years can separately support the item 6 entrustment route.
The day before and on the third anniversary
At the 2026-11-07 reference date, land acquired on 2023-11-08 reaches its third ownership anniversary on 2026-11-08 and has not yet met the item 5 or item 6 duration.
Land acquired on 2023-11-07 reaches its anniversary on the reference date.
A verified item 3 ground such as study is assessed independently without adding the same three-year requirement.
Inherited holdings with partial entrustment
Assume a non-farming heir holds 12,000 m² of relevant inherited land and the entered parcel is 5,000 m².
If 3,000 m² of the direct-holding allowance is confirmed for this parcel after accounting for other land, the split is 3,000 m² direct and 2,000 m² requiring entrustment.
The owner’s total excess is also 2,000 m²; it is not multiplied by the number of parcels.
Signing, commencement and expiry
Signing on 2026-11-07 gives a 60-day reference of 2027-01-06.
For commencement on 2026-12-01, the ordinary three-year reference expiry is 2029-11-30; a five-year parcel gives 2031-11-30.
Under Civil Act Article 160(2)–(3), expiry is the preceding day when the corresponding date exists, or the last day of the final month when it does not; commencement on 2024-02-29 therefore gives a three-year reference expiry of 2027-02-28.
Actual first-day counting, holidays and contract terms need separate confirmation.
A double-cropping example from 2026-10-01 through 2027-05-31 must satisfy both the eight-month limit and the seasonal window.
Summer self-cultivation and the following crop’s cultivation and harvest must also be confirmed.
Do not carry the same result over to September commencement, June expiry or unverified farming evidence.
Use the result to prepare a direct contract, entrustment, continued farming or sale
An owner retiring with family assistance
When checking a parent’s records, compare use of the particular parcel and residence before relying on age and total farming experience.
Distinguish a temporary interruption from cessation of farming.
Once the direct-lease facts are confirmed, prepare the term, facility arrangements and documents for the register change.
Inherited parcels in several locations
Separate owners and parcels, then total all relevant holdings for each person.
An uncertain allowance allocation needs resolution before comparing rent offers.
Whether the heir actually farms and whether a testamentary beneficiary is an heir also affect the legal starting point.
After confirming the entrustment route, use the Farmland Bank fees and net rent calculator to compare fees, vacancy and owner costs.
If no ground has been established, discuss continued farming or sale; if a disposal order has already been served, compare the actual order and notices using the farmland disposal order penalty and deadline calculator.
Lease permission here is separate from self-cultivation and non-business-land treatment under Korean tax law.
Understand conditional sanctions and deferred amendments
An impermissible lease or gratuitous use can expose the owner to a criminal fine of up to KRW 20 million under Farmland Act Article 61 item 2.
Failure to apply for the Article 49-2 register change carries an administrative-fine ceiling of KRW 3 million under Article 64(2) item 2.
These ceilings are not fixed amounts payable in every case and are not added together here.
After the disposal-duty and disposal-order process, noncompliance by the designated deadline requires a separate review of the 25% higher-value basic enforcement formula and possible annual assessment.
The enforcement charge is not automatically imposed immediately upon signing a lease.
Consider Farmland Act Article 63(1), (2), (5) and the procedure applied through paragraph (10); individual adjustments, notices and compliance deadlines are outside this calculator.
An entrustment consultation also does not automatically cure an earlier improper acquisition or violation.
Some inheritance and former-farmer amendments in Act No. 21798 are deferred until 2028-06-17 by Supplementary Article 1 item 3, with protection for existing owners in Supplementary Article 3.
The non-use disposal-duty provisions in Article 10(1) items 4-2 and 4-3 must not be automatically treated as already effective in 2026.
Recheck amendments effective from 2026-12-17 and transitional treatment for ownership at 1996-01-01.
Farmland-use promotion programmes, designated projects, corporations, special acquisitions and joint ownership need individual review.
Frequently asked questions
Does three years of ownership allow a direct lease to anyone?
The three-year duration is a condition of the item 5 weekend or experience-farming route and item 6 entrustment.
A direct lease to an ordinary farmer needs another applicable ground such as inheritance, temporary circumstances or the older-owner route.
Is age 60 with exactly five years of self-cultivation sufficient?
Item 4 requires more than 5 years of the owner’s agricultural use of that parcel.
Exactly 5 years is insufficient, and the residence relationship and owner-status conditions must also be checked.
Must inherited farmland be held for three years first?
The item 6 three-year requirement is not applied wholesale to item 1 inheritance or item 7 excess-area entrustment.
First check the heir’s farming status, relevant total area and whether a testamentary gift was made to an heir.
Can foreign travel or pregnancy support a one-year lease?
Temporary lease permission and the shorter-contract exception are separate rules.
Foreign travel or pregnancy alone does not automatically qualify under Decree Article 24-2(2); review the ordinary three- or five-year rule and the contract relationship separately.
Does double cropping also need a three-year minimum?
Article 23(1) item 8 is excluded from the ordinary minimum and permits a period no longer than 8 months.
Confirm summer self-cultivation, following-crop cultivation and harvest from October through the following May, and the supporting evidence.
Do the 60 days start when the tenant begins using the land?
Article 49-2 uses the event such as conclusion, amendment or termination of the contract.
Separate signing from commencement and confirm the displayed pre-holiday-adjustment reference with the receiving office.
Does an entrustment result guarantee Farmland Bank acceptance?
The statutory route and actual acceptance review are separate.
Take the parcel’s condition, ownership and farming history to the Korea Rural Community Corporation to confirm programme eligibility.
Does review needed or no ground mean I have already violated the law?
The inputs do not determine past violations or sanctions.
Review needed reflects missing facts or scope limits; no ground means the entered routes have not established permission, so resolve the evidence and consult the local office.
Official Korean sources and effective dates to recheck
Sources were checked on 2026-11-07.
The Farmland Act and Decree use the 2026-09-18 effective text; the Rule uses its 2026-09-22 effective text, cross-checked against the official effective-date consolidated versions.
Double cropping follows the current text of Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Notice No. 2018-47.
Recheck provisions scheduled for 2026-12-17 and 2028-06-17, the existing-owner transition in Act No. 21798 and Supplementary Article 4 of Act No. 8352 concerning earlier owners.
The local authority must assess evidence, justified circumstances, farmer or cessation status and contract effects; actual entrustment terms need separate confirmation.
Prepare the parcel checklist and choose the next route
Collect registration and inheritance records, the farmland register, use history for the particular parcel, residence records, temporary-circumstance evidence and a draft contract.
If direct and entrusted areas differ, confirm the boundaries first and save the result checklist so the owner, family and responsible office can discuss the same facts.
After confirming permission, address the contract term and register change, or proceed to a Farmland Bank consultation for entrustment.
Resolve outstanding questions before comparing net rent, tax and sale alternatives.