They should just give the 400,000 rent amount by default. But, then I guess newbies would find it overwhelming finding a place on their own.
Not to mention the deposit which most noobies are not prepared (able) to pay their first year. The MOE/POEs don't pay deposits. Landlords are usually happy to deal with the "guaranteed" money from a government office so they forgo the usual large 보증금.
Only when the ed office gets the apartment or room in their name usually. They usually won't pay any deposit. A first year or even second year teacher will have problems coming up with these. A foreign teacher will usually have to pay deposit if they get it in their own name unless it is an older dumpier place. But, depending on the local economic conditions you can always negotiate if you have a fluent translator who doesn't mind being the go between. (Though be wary if a place is much cheaper than than the local average. Usually means a problem with the building.)A 10 or 20 million won deposit can get you a decent renovated apartment (with ok rent price 4 to 6 hundred a month) in a semi older building out in the provinces. Though I did have this one older friend out in the country who was in a rural area in a decent high rise apartment paying only 500 K as month with no deposit. (Though my current place with deposit in a regional city is much bigger than his was.)
Does your school have their own place they have rented for years and furniture they have bought themselves? That may be why? But the contract for EPIK is 400,000 won and for SMOE is 500,000 won a month no matter what you pay.
Moving with EPIK, your name absolutely has to be on the contract. If your S.O. is also an EPIK teacher, this is possible as I knew a couple who did it, but you will need to negotiate with your schools and likely sign a lease including both names. This will be easier if you are both moving to a new space together and starting on a fresh lease. Same goes for a Korean S.O. - make sure you get your name on a lease and visit immigration to report a change of address within 2-3 weeks. I'm sure if you give your MOE/POE a call they can guide you.Basically they don't want any shady business. I've seen people trying to guesthouse hop/live out of an AirBnB to cut costs here and as a working person with a visa, that shit isn't gonna fly. Just make sure you communicate with your school and get everything reported to immigration promptly.
Not always the case.....I am married to a Korean and my name IS NOT on the lease and they accepted it...
I know someone who is getting a stipend in SMOE for the coming school year, but they are married. Once you're married, like people have mentioned, you show an address and that's the end of the story. So I don't think it's the school district that is the issue, it's your particular situation.Have you talked to your coordinator about this? What I think might be an issue, if you're in like in Mapo, and your school is in Jamsil. They are being unreasonable for a reason, and if their housing contract is ending soon, it might be something to do with you personally. No offense. I'm not trying to play the devil's advocate but if the apartment doesn't belong to someone in the school, the housing contract is coming to an end anyway, and we all know plenty of people that switched apartments (even midway through contracts I knew one in Gyeonggi and another in Gangwan) it might be something personal. I don't know how your relationship is with your school, or how your work ethic is, but maybe that might have something to do with it? I wouldn't push it too much if you're trying to stay in Korea because the worst case scenario, is you piss them off so much that they won't give you the new contract (yes this happens even if you filed for renewal already) or the best, you don't get the stipend, and still get the apartment. Pick your battle wisely.
