[Civil Documents] How to Write a Power of Attorney for Document Submission: 3 Common Corrections When Filing a Rent/Lease Report by Proxy

3-Line Summary

• Housing lease agreements with a deposit exceeding 60 million won or monthly rent exceeding 300,000 won must be reported within 30 days from the date the contract was signed. If you did not submit the contract when filing your moving-in report (transfer of residence), the rent/lease report remains a separate requirement.
• A representative can file the rent/lease report using a power of attorney. While a moving-in report can only be delegated to a spouse or direct blood relative of the head of the household, a rent/lease report can be filed by anyone who has been granted power of attorney.
• There are three common areas where power of attorney documents require supplementation. ① Vague scopes of delegation, such as “all matters related to real estate”; ② Missing signatures or dates; ③ Incomplete pages of the contract or blurry copies of ID cards.

Table of Contents

1. Two Days Before Departure: Checking the Rent/Lease Reporting Deadline
2. Why the Rent/Lease Report Remains Separate Even After Filing a Moving-in Report
3. Proxy for Document Submission: Who Can File on Your Behalf?
4. Three Corrections Made to the Power of Attorney
5. Filing at the Community Service Center and the Fixed Date
6. Things to Check Before Entrusting Document Submission to a Proxy

I am an administrative agent with an office in Songdo, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. I would like to introduce an episode I encountered while working.

1. Two Days Before Departure: Checking the Rent/Lease Reporting Deadline

On a Tuesday afternoon, September 1st, a single A4 sheet was placed on my consultation desk. It was a boarding schedule for an oceanographic research vessel. Departure on September 3rd, return on October 15th. This meant the client would be living on a ship for six weeks.

The client was a researcher in their late 20s working at a marine research institute in Songdo. They had signed a monthly rent lease for an officetel in Dongchun-dong, Yeonsu-gu, on August 18th and moved in on Sunday, August 30th. The deposit was 10 million won, and the monthly rent was 650,000 won.

“I did the moving-in report via Government24 on the day I moved. But yesterday, a senior at the lab asked if I had filed the rent/lease report. I didn’t know there was a separate one.”

Counting from the date of the contract, the reporting deadline was Thursday, September 17th. The client would be out at sea on that day. The landlord was a person in their 70s living in Geoje, who had simply said over the phone, “Isn’t it the tenant’s responsibility to handle the reporting?”

There were only two days left before departure. The task to be completed before departure was preparing the delegation documents so that someone could report on their behalf.

2. Why the Rent/Lease Report Remains Separate Even After Filing a Moving-in Report

The client’s first question was, “Isn’t it enough if I’ve already done the moving-in report?” To explain the reason, I first had to look at the relationship between the two reports.

Housing Lease Contract Reporting (Rent/Lease Report) is a report required under Article 6-2 of the Act on Report on Real Estate Transactions, etc. The parties to a lease contract must report to the competent authority having jurisdiction over the location of the housing within 30 days from the date the contract was signed. The following conditions apply to the report:

• Amount: Deposit exceeding 60 million won or monthly rent exceeding 300,000 won
• Area: All of the Seoul Metropolitan Area, metropolitan cities, Sejong City, and cities in provinces (excluding county areas)
• Contract Type: New contracts and renewal contracts where the amount has changed

Incheon is a subject area, and the monthly rent of 650,000 won exceeds 300,000 won. The client’s contract was subject to reporting.

There is also a connection with the moving-in report. According to Article 6-5 of the same Act, if you submit the lease contract when filing a moving-in report, it is deemed that you have filed the rent/lease report. The client had not attached the contract when filing the moving-in report online. Therefore, while the change of address was complete, the rent/lease report remained outstanding.

If the reporting deadline is missed, it is subject to a fine of up to 1 million won. The actual amount varies depending on the period of delay and the contract amount. There was something more important to the client than the amount. Once the lease contract is submitted and the rent/lease report is accepted, it is deemed that a fixed date (hwakjeong-ilja) has been granted (Article 6-5, Paragraph 3 of the Act on Report on Real Estate Transactions, etc.). It was crucial to know whether the fixed date for the 10 million won deposit could be secured before departure.

3. Proxy for Document Submission: Who Can Submit on Someone’s Behalf?

The scope of people who can submit documents on behalf of another varies depending on the civil petition.

Moving-in Reporting (Jeonip-singo) is a report made by the head of the household. According to Article 11 of the Resident Registration Act, if the head of the household cannot do it personally, they may delegate the task; however, the people eligible to receive this delegation are limited to the spouse of the head of the household, direct blood relatives, the spouse of a direct blood relative, the spouse of a direct blood relative’s spouse, and so on. A sibling or an administrative agent cannot submit a moving-in report simply by carrying a power of attorney. I also covered this in a previous post regarding the extent of delegation possible with a power of attorney.

Rental Reporting (Jeonwolse-singo) is different. If the person required to report cannot do so personally, a delegated person may report on their behalf by presenting a power of attorney and a copy of the reporter’s identification. Article 4 of the Enforcement Rule of the Act on the Handling of Civil Petitions also stipulates that if an agent files a petition, the institution must verify whether the person is the authorized delegate using identification and a power of attorney.

The client’s tasks can be summarized in the following table:

In principle, rental reporting is a joint duty of the lessor (landlord) and the lessee (tenant). However, if one party submits the rental contract, it is deemed that both parties have filed the report jointly. There was no need to bring the landlord from Geoje all the way to Incheon. The delegation from the client alone was sufficient.

4. Three Corrections Made to the Power of Attorney

The night before the consultation, the client had already filled out a power of attorney form they had obtained from the internet. They were a very prepared person. However, I noticed three areas that would likely result in a request for supplementation at the service counter if submitted as they were.

① Scope of Delegation: “All Matters Related to Real Estate”

In the section for the details of delegation, it was written as “All matters related to real estate.” While writing broadly might seem convenient, it actually causes problems at the service counter. The presiding official must verify whether this power of attorney authorizes the specific civil petition being filed at that moment, and they cannot make that determination with the word “all.”

The corrected wording was as follows:

• Name of Petition: Housing Lease Contract Report
• Subject Property: Room ○○○, ○○ Officetel, Dongchun-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon
• Contract Information: Concluded on August 18, 2026; Deposit: 10 million KRW; Monthly Rent: 650,000 KRW
• Incidental Tasks: Receipt of the report certificate, submission of supplementary documents

The key is to write what, for which property, and to what extent the task is being delegated so that it is visible at a glance. The reason I included “submission of supplementary documents” was to prepare for the possibility that the service counter might request additional documents while the client was out at sea.

② Signature and Date

In the delegator’s signature section, only the name was written in print, and the date of preparation was left blank. A power of attorney must include the delegator’s signature or seal, the date of preparation, and the contact information for both the delegator and the agent. If the date is missing, it is difficult to verify when the delegation occurred, making it easy for the counter to request that the document be redone.

The client wrote the date on the spot and re-signed using their usual signature. Since a large discrepancy between the printed name and the signature on the ID can lead to a lengthy verification process, we matched it to their usual signature.

③ Attached Documents: The Front Page of the Contract and a Copy of the ID

The copy of the contract the client brought only included two pages. The original was three pages long, and the final page contained the special terms and conditions and the landlord’s signature. The entire contract is required for the report. In particular, if the page with the landlord’s signature is missing, the basis for viewing it as a joint report disappears.

I also had to obtain a new copy of the ID. In the photo taken with a mobile phone, there was a glare from the fluorescent lights, causing the name section to be washed out in white. For the delegator to be verified, the name, date of birth, and photo on the ID copy must be clearly visible.

The re-taken photo arrived that night from an accommodation near the pier. The ID was placed on the workbench of the research vessel when the photo was taken, and a yellow memo was stuck next to it. It read, “The ship hasn’t departed yet. I took the photo so it wouldn’t shake.” This time, the photo was clear.

5. Filing at the Community Service Center and Fixed Date

As scheduled, the client departed on Thursday, September 3. All the delegation documents remained at the office.

Filing was done on Tuesday, September 8, at the Community Service Center (Haengjeong Bokji Center) having jurisdiction over the location of the housing. It was 9 days before the deadline. The submitted documents were as follows:

1. Housing Lease Contract Report
2. Copy of the Lease Contract (all 3 pages)
3. Power of Attorney (stating the scope of delegation, date of preparation, and signature)
4. Copy of the delegator’s (lessee’s) ID
5. Agent’s ID

The official in charge checked the scope of delegation on the power of attorney and the last page of the contract in sequence. It was accepted on the spot without any requests for supplementation, and I received the report certificate and the contract stamped with a fixed date (hwakjeong-ilja).

I sent the results via email that evening. The research vessel mentioned that they exchange emails via satellite internet only at specific times. Two days later, a short reply arrived. Below the email signature, the ship’s location on that day was marked with latitude and longitude. This was the first time the office had received a reply from such a remote location.

6. Things to Check Before Entrusting Document Submission to an Agent

While this case involved a monthly rent/deposit report, the same principles apply to most administrative tasks where document submission is entrusted via a power of attorney.

Things to check before entrusting

1. Eligibility for Proxy Filing: First, check if the specific administrative matter can be filed by a proxy using a power of attorney. There are matters where the person authorized to receive delegation is fixed, such as a change of residence report (jeonip-singo), and matters that only the individual themselves can perform, such as a Certificate of Personal Signature (bonin-seomyeong-sasul-hwagin-seo).
2. Scope of Delegation: Instead of writing “all,” write identifying information such as the name of the administrative matter, the subject (address, vehicle number, etc.), and the contract date. Also, specify whether you are entrusting the agent to submit supplementary documents or to receive the results.
3. Signature, Date, and Contact Information: Fill in the delegator’s signature or seal, the date of preparation, and the contact information for both the delegator and the agent without omission.
4. Attached Documents: Ensure the contract is complete and the copies of IDs have clear names and photos. Also, check whether the matter requires original documents or if copies are sufficient.
5. Deadline Calculation: Check what the starting point for the deadline is. For monthly rent/deposit reporting, the 30-day period starts from the date the contract was signed, not the date of moving in.

Summary of Monthly Rent/Deposit Reporting

• Subject: Deposits exceeding 60 million KRW or monthly rent exceeding 300,000 KRW (in cities within the Seoul Metropolitan Area, Metropolitan Cities, Sejong, and provinces)
• Deadline: Within 30 days from the date the contract was signed
• Where to Report: The Community Service Center having jurisdiction over the location of the housing or the Real Estate Transaction Management System (online)
• Combined Services: If you submit the contract when filing a change of residence report, it is recognized as a monthly rent/deposit report; if a monthly rent/deposit report is accepted, it is deemed to have been granted a fixed date.
• Proxy Reporting: An authorized person can report the matter if they have a power of attorney and a copy of the reporter’s ID.

The client returned to port on October 15 as scheduled. A week later, they stopped by the office to pick up the original contract stamped with the fixed date. They mentioned that their next boarding schedule was already out. They said they would come with the schedule two weeks before their next departure.

This has been reconstructed to aid understanding and is not related to any specific person or event.