임차인의 유익비상환청구권

Abstract

The Tenant's Right to Compensation for ImprovementsLee, Sung-SamThere are many cases involving the tenant's right to compensation for improvements made to the leased premises, which a tenant usually invoke as a defense in the landlord-tenant cases relating to the tenant's removal from the rented premises.In these cases, the courts have held that a special agreement of prior abandonment in the cases of compensation for improvements is valid regardless of the lessor's consent to investment of expenses, while such agreement is not valid in the cases of claiming purchase of adjunctions to the leasehold. Also, the courts have held that the tenant is not entitled to demand purchase of the adjunctions if the lease contract is terminated due to the tenant's obligation default, or unless the lessor gave consent to build the adjunctions. Moreover, there are many discrepancies between various lower courts about the point of time at which the improvement expenses is to be calculated and whether a lien is to be recognized or not.This article analyzes the recent cases of the lower courts in order to set the limitations and criteria on the tenant's rights to demand purchase and to compensation for improvements, the accession rules, the relation between possessor and recoverer, unjust enrichment, etc.