{
  "schema": "selectbnbs_guide_v1",
  "slug": "guides/korea-airbnb-rules-2026",
  "title": "Korea Airbnb Rules 2026: Booking Sites Must Check Permits From 12 November",
  "summary": "From 12 November 2026, Korean law requires booking platforms to check a lodging permit before listing a stay. What it covers, what it doesn't, and how to check yours.",
  "language": "en",
  "last_updated": "2026-10-13",
  "content_sections": [
    {
      "title": "Korea Airbnb Rules 2026: Booking Sites Must Check Permits From 12 November",
      "paragraphs": [
        "From 12 November 2026, Korean law requires online booking platforms to check a lodging business's registration certificate before they list it, and forbids them to list a business whose registration they cannot confirm. Airbnb has asked Korean hosts for registration details since 2024. The new rule puts a similar duty into law for every online intermediary, not just one platform. For your trip, the advice is the same either way: check the stay's permit with SelectBNBs Verify before you pay, whichever site you book on."
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "What changes on 12 November 2026?",
      "paragraphs": [
        "An amendment to Korea's Public Health Control Act (공중위생관리법, Act No. 21098), promulgated on 11 November 2025 and in force one year later, adds a new Article 4-2 on online sales intermediaries. When a platform lists a lodging business, it must check the registration certificate (영업신고증) that the local city, county or district office issued to that business. If it cannot confirm one, it must not list the stay. The article makes an exception for a platform that removes an unregistered business as soon as it finds one on its own site. Public Health Control Act, version in force from 12 November 2026 · Act No. 21098 and its addenda",
        "The Act's Article 22 caps the fine for a platform that breaks this rule at ₩10 million. In July 2026 the Ministry of Health and Welfare published a draft enforcement decree that sets the fine at ₩5 million, to take effect with the law on 12 November; as of 13 October 2026 we had not found a final version. The ministry's stated reason: unregistered lodging sold through online platforms is spreading, so intermediaries need a minimum duty to check. Article 22 fine · Draft decree, legislative notice · Yonhap via Financial News, 3 July 2026",
        "Platforms are preparing. Naver told its business users on 7 October 2026 that, as an online sales intermediary, it will check lodging businesses' registration certificates under the Public Health Control Act. Naver Smart Place notice"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Which stays does the new rule cover?",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Korea registers short-term stays under more than one law, and the new article sits in only one of them.",
        "Category Korean name Registered under Named in the new Article 4-2? Lodging business (general or residential) 숙박업(일반) / 숙박업(생활) Public Health Control Act Yes Urban homestay for foreign tourists 외국인관광 도시민박업 Tourism Promotion Act Not named; registered under a different law Hanok experience business 한옥체험업 Tourism Promotion Act Not named; registered under a different law Rural homestay 농어촌민박사업 Agricultural and Fishing Villages Improvement Act Not named; registered under a different law",
        "Many of the apartments and homes that travelers book on Airbnb are urban homestays for foreign tourists, and many hanok stays are hanok experience businesses. Seoul's guidance notes that urban homestays for foreign tourists are excluded from lodging-business reporting under the Public Health Control Act, the reporting that Article 4-2 refers to. Seoul Metropolitan Government guidance How platforms will be expected to check these other categories is not set out in any official source we found as of 13 October 2026. Trade press has noted that local governments issue and record those registrations in different formats, which makes them harder for a platform to check. Sukbak Magazine, 30 September 2026",
        "That gap is one reason to check the record yourself. Verify searches the official permit datasets for all of these categories, not only lodging businesses. What Verify covers"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Isn't this what Airbnb already does?",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Partly. Airbnb has required new Korean listings to submit an accommodation registration certificate since 2 October 2024, and says listings created before then that had not submitted one by 16 October 2025 cannot accept reservations. Airbnb Korea help page In a September 2025 briefing, Airbnb Korea said hosts who had not submitted registration details would be unable to take new bookings from 1 January 2026. Sukbak Magazine, 3 September 2025 That is Airbnb's own policy, and it applies only on Airbnb.",
        "Airbnb said as much itself. Briefing Korean reporters in September 2025, its Korea country manager said that removing unregistered stays from one platform has a basic limit unless other platforms take part, and called for a legal requirement covering every accommodation platform, Korean or foreign. Sukbak Magazine, 3 September 2025",
        "From 12 November, the law covers that ground for lodging businesses."
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Why did the law change?",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Seoul's own figures show where unregistered lodging is sold. From January 2020 to August 2025, police in Seoul caught 357 unregistered lodging businesses; 351 of them, or 98.3%, were listed on online accommodation platforms. Seoul police booked 95 illegal-lodging cases in 2025. Korea JoongAng Daily, 23 August 2026",
        "The same August 2026 report described units in an office-only building near Seoul Station being let to tourists. Law enforcement suspected the operators made their listings invisible to users with Korean accounts while showing them to overseas accounts. Office-only buildings cannot legally be operated as lodging under the Building Act, and officetels cannot be registered as urban homestays. Korea JoongAng Daily, 23 August 2026 · Seoul Stay registration rules · Are officetels allowed?"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "What do the official permit records show?",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Verify searches 144,830 records in eight official Korean permit datasets. 91,556 of them are marked \"Operating normally\" (latest government source update 11 October 2026). Current coverage and status counts",
        "Category Records Operating normally Closed Other statuses Urban homestay for foreign tourists 15,023 11,660 3,200 163 Hanok experience business 3,205 2,628 541 36 Lodging business 58,857 31,289 27,568 0 Rural homestay 55,730 36,664 18,982 84 Tourist pension (관광펜션업) 1,679 1,343 281 55 Tourist accommodation 4,441 3,562 718 161 Campgrounds (general and auto) 5,895 4,410 1,068 417 All eight datasets 144,830 91,556 52,358 916",
        "\"Other statuses\" are temporarily closed, cancelled, deregistered, expired, suspended, stopped, excluded, deleted or transferred.",
        "More hosts have been registering. Local offices issued 3,736 new urban-homestay permits in the first nine months of 2026 , more than in all of 2025 (3,454) and well above 2024 (2,323). New permits rose 19% on the previous quarter in the quarter that contained Airbnb's 16 October 2025 deadline, and the busiest quarter in the period was January to March 2026, the quarter when Airbnb's planned block on new bookings for listings without registration details was due to start.",
        "Quarter New urban-homestay permits Recorded closures 2024 Q4 939 55 2025 Q1 864 48 2025 Q2 707 46 2025 Q3 859 50 2025 Q4 1,024 71 2026 Q1 1,306 85 2026 Q2 1,232 120 2026 Q3 1,198 108",
        "These counts come from the permit records as they stand on 11 October 2026, by permit date and recorded closure date. They show when permits were issued, not why, and they count permits, not listings or hosts.",
        "A closed record still has a real permit number. A number copied from an old listing or a previous business at the same address can look official, so read the status, address and source date on any result. How to read a Verify result · How the records break down"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "I've already booked a stay for November or later. What should I do?",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Find the registration details now. On Airbnb, find Registration details in the listing. On other sites, look for accommodation registration or license information, or ask the host through the platform's messages. Check the record. Paste the details into Verify and compare the business name, address and status with the place you booked. Read your cancellation terms. If a platform removes a listing, its own policy decides what happens to bookings at that listing. Read the platform's help pages and your reservation terms. Keep payment on the platform. If a host offers to \"rebook directly\" by bank transfer or a messenger app, stop and check. Why to pay through the platform",
        "If the search finds nothing, that is not proof the stay is unregistered: names differ, short numbers repeat and details get mistyped. Next steps after a no-match result"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Questions and answers about the 2026 rules",
      "paragraphs": [
        "Does the rule apply to Agoda, Booking.com and other overseas sites?",
        "The law uses the general term \"online sales intermediary\" (통신판매중개자) and does not name platforms. The sources we have read do not say how it will be enforced against platforms based outside Korea. Whatever site you use, the check is the same: the accommodation's registration details. Can I check a stay from Agoda or Booking.com?",
        "Will every unregistered listing disappear on 12 November?",
        "We can't say. The law sets the duty and the fine; each platform decides how it checks listings and how fast. A listing that is still online after 12 November has not been confirmed by that fact alone.",
        "Does a listing still being bookable prove it is registered?",
        "No. Being bookable shows the platform lists it. Registration is shown by an official record that matches the stay. What a permit check establishes",
        "What about special-exception listings, such as WeHome's?",
        "Some domestic home-sharing listings operate under a government special exception. On 6 May 2026 the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that WeHome's service would move from a regulatory-sandbox exemption to a temporary permit, with affected hosts required to register as urban-homestay businesses by the end of 2027. A number starting WEHOME- is the special-permit number printed on the host's WeHome certificate, not a district office registration number, so Verify cannot match it; ask the host for a district-issued license number or the road address. Ministry of Science and ICT announcement · Sukbak Magazine report · WeHome's instructions for identifiers",
        "Did the rules on who can host change too?",
        "Not with this amendment. The rules on which homes can register, such as the exclusion of officetels from urban-homestay registration, are covered in our main guide. Is Airbnb legal in Korea?"
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Before booking your stay",
      "paragraphs": [
        "The law is catching up with what travelers can already do: check the permit, whichever site you book on.",
        "Check a Korean stay with SelectBNBs Verify →",
        "Choosing between a few stays? Alo from our team grew up in Korea and still lives here. On a private 30-minute video call in English he can talk through which neighborhood and which stay fit your trip, and you get a written follow-up. It costs $89. The call is trip advice, not a permit check.",
        "Talk your trip through with us",
        "This guide gives general information for travelers, not a legal opinion on an individual property. The relevant local authority can confirm a specific case. SelectBNBs Verify is an independent service using official public data; it is not a Korean government website."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "question": "Does the rule apply to Agoda, Booking.com and other overseas sites?",
      "answer": "The law uses the general term \"online sales intermediary\" (통신판매중개자) and does not name platforms. The sources we have read do not say how it will be enforced against platforms based outside Korea. Whatever site you use, the check is the same: the accommodation's registration details. Can I check a stay from Agoda or Booking.com?"
    },
    {
      "question": "Will every unregistered listing disappear on 12 November?",
      "answer": "We can't say. The law sets the duty and the fine; each platform decides how it checks listings and how fast. A listing that is still online after 12 November has not been confirmed by that fact alone."
    },
    {
      "question": "Does a listing still being bookable prove it is registered?",
      "answer": "No. Being bookable shows the platform lists it. Registration is shown by an official record that matches the stay. What a permit check establishes"
    },
    {
      "question": "What about special-exception listings, such as WeHome's?",
      "answer": "Some domestic home-sharing listings operate under a government special exception. On 6 May 2026 the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that WeHome's service would move from a regulatory-sandbox exemption to a temporary permit, with affected hosts required to register as urban-homestay businesses by the end of 2027. A number starting WEHOME- is the special-permit number printed on the host's WeHome certificate, not a district office registration number, so Verify cannot match it; ask the host for a district-issued license number or the road address. Ministry of Science and ICT announcement · Sukbak Magazine report · WeHome's instructions for identifiers"
    },
    {
      "question": "Did the rules on who can host change too?",
      "answer": "Not with this amendment. The rules on which homes can register, such as the exclusion of officetels from urban-homestay registration, are covered in our main guide. Is Airbnb legal in Korea?"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Public Health Control Act, version in force from 12 November 2026",
      "url": "https://www.law.go.kr/LSW//lsSideInfoP.do?lsiSeq=279683&joNo=0004&joBrNo=02&docCls=jo&urlMode=lsScJoRltInfoR"
    },
    {
      "title": "Act No. 21098 and its addenda",
      "url": "https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsInfoP.do?efYd=20261112&lsiSeq=279683&ancYd=20251111&ancNo=21098"
    },
    {
      "title": "Article 22 fine",
      "url": "https://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsInfoP.do?efYd=20261112&lsiSeq=279683&ancYd=20251111&ancNo=21098"
    },
    {
      "title": "Draft decree, legislative notice",
      "url": "https://www.moleg.go.kr/lawinfo/makingInfo.mo?mid=null&lawSeq=87390&lawCd=0&lawType=TYPE5&pageCnt=40&currentPage=1&keyField=&keyWord=&stYdFmt=&edYdFmt=&lsClsCd=&cptOfiOrgCd="
    },
    {
      "title": "Yonhap via Financial News, 3 July 2026",
      "url": "https://www.fnnews.com/news/202607030611274772"
    },
    {
      "title": "Naver Smart Place notice",
      "url": "https://help.naver.com/notice/noticeView.help?noticeNo=34651&serviceNo=30026&lang=ko"
    },
    {
      "title": "Seoul Metropolitan Government guidance",
      "url": "https://news.seoul.go.kr/culture/archives/27478"
    },
    {
      "title": "Sukbak Magazine, 30 September 2026",
      "url": "https://www.sukbakmagazine.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=69533"
    },
    {
      "title": "Airbnb Korea help page",
      "url": "https://www.airbnb.co.kr/help/article/1387"
    },
    {
      "title": "Sukbak Magazine, 3 September 2025",
      "url": "https://www.sukbakmagazine.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=65818"
    },
    {
      "title": "Sukbak Magazine, 3 September 2025",
      "url": "https://www.sukbakmagazine.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=65818"
    },
    {
      "title": "Korea JoongAng Daily, 23 August 2026",
      "url": "https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/illegal-lodging-operators-targeting-foreign-tourists-frustrate-residents-office-workers/12838062"
    },
    {
      "title": "Korea JoongAng Daily, 23 August 2026",
      "url": "https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/illegal-lodging-operators-targeting-foreign-tourists-frustrate-residents-office-workers/12838062"
    },
    {
      "title": "Seoul Stay registration rules",
      "url": "https://stay.visitseoul.net/cms/registration1"
    },
    {
      "title": "Ministry of Science and ICT announcement",
      "url": "https://www.msit.go.kr/bbs/view.do?sCode=user&mId=307&mPid=208&bbsSeqNo=94&nttSeqNo=3187276"
    },
    {
      "title": "Sukbak Magazine report",
      "url": "https://www.sukbakmagazine.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=68227"
    },
    {
      "title": "WeHome's instructions for identifiers",
      "url": "https://www.wehome.me/legal/legal-guide"
    }
  ],
  "related_guides": [
    "/guides/booking-platforms/",
    "/verify/"
  ],
  "inLanguage": "en"
}