Eviction suit over a karaoke room lease renewal
The client had run a karaoke room on the second floor of a building for five years, and the landlord complained about the noise throughout. The client shortened the hours, turned the music down and rented the unit above to soften it, then asked to renew the lease. The landlord refused and sued to evict, saying the noise, and claims of serving alcohol and arranging hostesses, made the tenancy impossible to continue.
Karaoke roomTenantLease renewalLandlord's noise claimEviction suit
Full win (전부승소)Civil
This image is for illustrative purposes and is not a photo of an actual case.
Right to request renewal of contract under the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act
Under the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act, a lessee may use the leased property for up to 10 years by requesting a contract renewal between 6 months and 1 month before the lease term expires.
However, the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act provides that the lessor may refuse renewal if there is a cause attributable to the lessee, and one such cause is 'other cases where the lessee has significantly violated the lessee's obligations or there is a serious reason making it difficult to continue the lease.'
We will examine through attorney Joo Youngjae's case what specific situations constitute 'significant violation of the lessee's obligations or serious reasons making it difficult to continue the lease.'
Facts of the case
The plaintiff was the owner and lessor of a 4-story building (1st and 2nd floors were neighborhood living facilities, 3rd and 4th floors were multi-family housing), and the defendant (the client) was a lessee operating a singing room (karaoke business) on the 2nd floor.
The defendant entered into a lease agreement with the plaintiff around March 2014 with a contract period of 5 years and operated the singing room. During the lease period, the plaintiff continuously expressed complaints to the defendant regarding noise from the singing room.
In response, the defendant made efforts to appease the lessor, such as shortening business hours, reducing music and microphone volume as much as possible, and additionally leasing the room directly above the singing room.
Around March 2019, the defendant exercised the right to request renewal of the contract, but the plaintiff refused renewal around April 2019.
After the contract period ended, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit for eviction against the defendant, arguing that the defendant had caused noise while operating the singing room and had committed illegal acts such as providing alcohol and arranging female helpers, which constituted grounds for refusal of renewal under 'significant violation of the lessee's obligations or serious reasons making it difficult to continue the lease.'
Attorney Joo Youngjae's assistance
In response to the plaintiff's claims, attorney Joo Youngjae argued that the defendant's singing room had never produced noise exceeding the tolerable level, and even if the defendant provided alcohol or arranged female helpers, these were not acts that betrayed the plaintiff's trust or caused damage to the plaintiff, and therefore did not constitute 'significant violation of the lessee's obligations or serious reasons making it difficult to continue the lease.'
Court's decision
The court largely accepted attorney Joo Youngjae's arguments, holding that there were no grounds for refusal of renewal in this lease agreement, and dismissed the plaintiff's claim.
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