Gangbuk-gu expands housing lease protections for foreign residents

Gangbuk-gu in Seoul announced Monday that it is expanding its housing lease protection program for foreign residents who face difficulties communicating in Korean and accessing relevant information.

The district launched the program in January last year in response to growing housing demand among foreign residents. Under the program, when foreign residents visit a community service center to register a change of address or obtain a fixed-date lease stamp, staff provide key information about housing lease protections through an automatic nine-language stamp. Foreign residents seeking consultation in their native language receive an initial advisory session and are referred when necessary to globally licensed real estate agents in the area or to the Seoul Global Center.

As part of the expanded rollout, the district will distribute QR code stickers alongside the automatic stamp, allowing residents to install MY SEOUL, the Seoul Metropolitan Government's dedicated app for foreign residents. To further break down language barriers during the lease process, the district will also make multilingual housing lease contract templates available through the Gangbuk-gu office website.

"We have strengthened on-the-ground administrative support to ensure that foreign residents are not disadvantaged during the housing lease process because of language and information barriers," Gangbuk-gu District Mayor Jeong Chang-su said. "We will continue to help foreign residents settle more stably by providing multilingual housing lease guidance and lifestyle information."