Settling in
How renting in Taiwan differs from Korea: deposits, leases, room types and power bills
Taiwan has no jeonse. Almost every home is rented by the month and the deposit is capped at 2 months' rent. Written for people who have rented in Korea, this covers how long leases usually run, the cap on early-termination penalties, which Korean room types Taiwanese ones are closest to, how the management fee and electricity are charged, winters without underfloor heating, damp, and how to find a room and avoid scams, with legal and official sources.
Seal Co-living team Updated 14 min read Translated from Chinese · 中文原文
On this page
- Is there jeonse in Taiwan? How much deposit should you prepare?
- How long is a lease? What does leaving early cost?
- Which Korean room type is a Taiwanese studio, en-suite room or shared-bathroom room closest to?
- Is Taiwan's management fee the same as Korea's? How is electricity charged?
- How cold and damp does a room get without underfloor heating?
- Does toilet paper go in the toilet or the bin? How do you take out rubbish?
- Where do you look for a room in Taiwan, and what do you check before sending money?
- How do these points work out in co-living?
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
If you have rented in Korea, the first habit to drop in Taiwan is the way you think about deposits. Taiwan has no jeonse (the Korean system where a large lump-sum deposit replaces monthly rent). Almost every home is rented by the month, the deposit is set as a multiple of the rent, and the law caps it at 2 months' rent. You can move in without saving up a large sum first, which is good news for working holiday makers, language students and anyone planning a one-month stay.
The awkward parts are elsewhere. Most landlords want a 1-year lease, en-suite rooms often have no kitchen, the landlord may set the electricity price per kWh, winters come without underfloor heating, and the air is damp all year. Start with the table below. The reasons and what to do about each one follow.
| Item | Common in Korea | Taiwan | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deposit | Jeonse, or monthly rent with a large deposit | Monthly rent only, deposit capped at 2 months' rent | Pay it when you sign and get a receipt |
| Lease length | Leases usually run by the year | Mostly 1 year, short leases are rare | Ask about the minimum lease first and read point 14 of the contract |
| Room types | Studio (one-room), boarding house (hasuk), share house | Self-contained studio, en-suite room in a shared flat, room with shared bathroom, co-living | Check whether the bathroom and kitchen are yours alone |
| Equipment | Studios usually come with all appliances | En-suite rooms often have no kitchen | Ask whether you can cook |
| Costs | Rent plus a management fee | Management fee, water, electricity, gas and internet are agreed separately | Ask who pays each item and what a kWh costs |
| Winter | Underfloor heating | No underfloor heating and little heating of any kind | Bring an electric heater and keep damp under control |
Is there jeonse in Taiwan? How much deposit should you prepare?
There is no jeonse. A residential lease in Taiwan means paying rent every month and leaving a separate deposit. You will not find an arrangement where a large deposit takes the place of monthly rent.
The cap on deposits is in Article 7 of the Rental Housing Market Development and Regulation Act (租賃住宅市場發展及管理條例, "the Rental Act" below): the deposit may not exceed 2 months' total rent. The Ministry of the Interior's Mandatory and Prohibitory Provisions of Standard Form Contracts for Residential Leases (住宅租賃定型化契約應記載及不得記載事項, "the mandatory provisions" below) repeat the same cap in point 5 and say the deposit is paid at the same time the contract is signed. The label 押一付一, which you will see on rental sites, means a deposit of 1 month and rent paid every 1 month. A request for more than 2 months' deposit, or for a deposit transfer before any contract is signed, does not follow the rules.
The same article covers how you get the deposit back. Once the lease has ended, you have returned the home and you have settled the debts arising from the contract, the landlord must return the deposit, or whatever is left after offsetting those debts. What gets offset is unpaid rent and charges, or a penalty for early termination (mandatory provisions, points 5, 14 and 15). At move-out both sides go through the condition of the home and its fixtures together (Rental Act, Article 12). Take photos of the room, the furniture and the walls on the day you move in. They are the most useful thing you can have when the account is settled.
These protections come with a condition. The lease has to run 30 days or longer, and the home must be rented for something other than leisure or tourism (Rental Act, Article 4).
How long is a lease? What does leaving early cost?
The rules only require a lease of at least 30 days with the start and end dates written down (mandatory provisions, point 3). Nothing says it has to be 1 year. Signing for 1 year is a habit among landlords, and people who want to stay a few months are often turned down at this step. Say how long you plan to stay when you first get in touch and ask whether the minimum lease is negotiable. If the answer is no, look for housing that takes short-term rentals to begin with. We go through those options in Short-term rental in Taipei from 30 days: renting for one to six months, and the total cost.
If you signed for 1 year and need to leave early, look at point 14 of the contract. It is a checkbox. Before the lease expires, the two sides either "may" (得) or "may not" (不得) terminate at will.
With "may" ticked, the side that wants to leave gives the other side at least 1 month's notice. Terminating without notice costs a penalty capped at 1 month's rent, and the landlord has to refund any rent collected in advance.
With "may not" ticked, early termination is only possible on the grounds listed in law, such as needing long-term care after an illness or accident, or a home that is unfit to live in and that the landlord still fails to repair after being asked (Rental Act, Article 11). To terminate on these grounds, you must notify the landlord in writing, with supporting evidence, 30 days before the termination. Going home, changing schools and changing jobs are not on that list, so you would have to negotiate with the landlord. If your plans are still open, check which box is ticked before you sign. You are entitled to take the contract away and read it for at least 3 days (mandatory provisions, point 1), so there is no need to sign on the spot.
Which Korean room type is a Taiwanese studio, en-suite room or shared-bathroom room closest to?
Taiwanese rental ads use the terms below. Treat the right-hand column as a rough guide, because the categories in the two countries do not line up neatly.
| Taiwanese term | What it is | Closest in Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Self-contained studio (獨立套房) | A whole unit of your own with its own address, a bathroom inside and usually a small kitchen | Studio (one-room) |
| En-suite room in a shared flat (分租套房) | One flat divided into several rooms rented out separately, with your own bathroom inside and a shared front door | Close to a studio (one-room), but the front door is shared |
| Room with shared bathroom (雅房) | A room to yourself, with a bathroom shared with other tenants | Close to a private room in a share house or a boarding house (hasuk) room, with a shared bathroom |
| Co-living (共居) | Mostly run by an operator. The room or bed is yours, the kitchen and living room are shared | Share house |
Equipment is where the gap is widest. A Korean studio usually comes fully furnished, with a washing machine, a fridge and a hob inside the room. A Taiwanese en-suite room often has no kitchen, and some contracts state that open flames are not allowed in the room. The washing machine may sit on a balcony and be shared with other tenants. The reason is habit. Eating out is easy in Taiwan, and plenty of people have all three weekday meals outside.
If you want to cook, make "can I cook here" one of your search criteria. At the viewing, ask directly whether there is a kitchen and whether the fridge is yours or shared. Whole flats rented room by room and co-living houses are more likely to have a shared kitchen you can cook in. The differences between room types and what they cost are in Co-living, en-suite room, room with shared bathroom or monthly rental apartment? Comparing places to live in Taipei for foreigners.
Is Taiwan's management fee the same as Korea's? How is electricity charged?
Same name, different contents. A Korean studio often bundles water, internet and cleaning of common areas into one management fee collected with the rent every month. In a Taiwanese contract, the management fee (管理費) normally means the fee of the building or complex, and a checkbox shows whether the landlord or the tenant pays it. Water, electricity, gas and internet each have their own box and are agreed separately (mandatory provisions, point 6). When you read an ad, ask about each item beyond the rent: who pays it and how it is calculated.
Electricity is where surprises happen, because quite a few landlords set their own price per kWh. The mandatory provisions cap it. When electricity is billed by usage, the price per kWh may not exceed the "average price per kWh for the current period" (當期每度平均電價) on that home's electricity bill. When it is not billed by usage, the total the landlord collects each period may not exceed the total on the bill. Read the electricity box carefully before you sign, and if the number looks off, ask to see the bill and compare.
Taipower's own residential rates are progressive. The more you use, the more each kWh costs, across 6 tiers. Up to 120 kWh a month costs NT$1.78 per kWh, and the top tier starts at 1001 kWh. June 1 to September 30 counts as the summer period every year, and the top tier costs NT$8.86 per kWh in summer and NT$7.03 in other months (Taipower website, checked 10 Oct 2026; rates are adjusted from time to time, so follow Taipower's latest notice). Running the air conditioner all night in summer pushes the bill well above other months.
How cold and damp does a room get without underfloor heating?
The monthly mean temperature at the Taipei station in January is 16.4°C (Central Weather Administration, 1991–2020 average). That does not sound cold. Taiwanese homes have no underfloor heating and usually no heating system at all, though, and with the humidity on top, indoors feels colder than the thermometer says. Some air conditioners heat as well as cool and some only cool, so ask at the viewing. Most people get through winter with a small electric heater, an electric blanket and thick loungewear. Keep the heater away from bedding and drying laundry.
Damp is a year-round matter. In the same climate statistics, monthly mean relative humidity at the Taipei station never drops below 70%. It peaks at 78.0% in February, January is 77.4%, even the lowest month, July, is 70.7%, and the annual mean is 75.0%. Korean winters are dry enough to need a humidifier, and Taipei winters are the opposite. Wardrobes, wall corners and the underside of mattresses are where mould shows up first.
Smell the room at the viewing. Open the wardrobe and the bathroom door, and look for black spots on window frames, wall corners and the ceiling. A room without an outside window holds on to damp even more. After you move in, use a dehumidifier or the air conditioner's dry mode, leave space in the wardrobe, and put in a moisture absorber that you replace when it fills up. Put the mattress on a bed frame, never straight on the floor.
Cockroaches are common in Taiwan's warm, damp climate, and even a clean home sees them now and then. The basics are to leave them no food and no water. Keep food in sealed containers or the fridge, take rubbish and food waste out the same day, and cover the drains. Pharmacies and supermarkets sell bait, which goes under the sink and behind the fridge. If there are a lot of them, tell the landlord or manager directly.
Does toilet paper go in the toilet or the bin? How do you take out rubbish?
Toilet paper can go in the toilet. According to the Environmental Management Administration under the Ministry of Environment, toilet tissue that meets national standard CNS1091 breaks apart in water and can be flushed. Packs marked 可丟馬桶 ("can be flushed"), the CNS Mark or the Green Mark are this kind. Facial tissue, kitchen paper, hand towels and wet wipes must not be flushed, and sanitary pads, hair and food waste go in the bin too.
You will still see plenty of toilets with a sign asking you to put paper in the bin. The administration's position is that toilet paper can be flushed in old buildings as well, provided the drains are cleaned regularly and nothing else is thrown in. The owner knows the pipes best, though. Where the landlord or manager clearly says no flushing, follow the house rule.
Rubbish cannot be left outside the building. You wait for the garbage truck and carry it out yourself. Times, the official bags and recycling are covered in How do you take out the garbage in Taipei? Truck times, official bags, recycling and food waste.
Where do you look for a room in Taiwan, and what do you check before sending money?
Most searches start on 591 (租屋網, the main rental listing site), and the interface is in Chinese. A glossary of its filters and listing terms, plus a Chinese message template for contacting landlords, is in Finding a room in Taipei without Chinese: how to use 591, what the listing terms mean, and other ways to search.
Newcomers often meet landlords who will not rent to foreigners or who ask for a guarantor. Taiwanese regulations do not require a guarantor for renting a home, so this is a condition you can negotiate. What you can offer in its place, and how to read a Chinese lease clause by clause, is in Renting in Taiwan without a guarantor: how to read a Chinese lease clause by clause. If that goes nowhere, move on to another place or look at operator-run housing.
Take one more step before sending money. Being told to pay a deposit before you are allowed to view is a rental scam method the Criminal Investigation Bureau (刑事警察局) has warned about. This order keeps you much safer: view first, take the contract away and read it, pay the deposit when you sign, and before transferring check that the account holder's name matches the landlord named in the contract. If something feels wrong, call the 165 anti-fraud hotline to check, or report it online at the 165 anti-fraud site. For working holiday makers, what to prepare from before departure to the first days after landing is in Finding a place on a Taiwan working holiday: before you fly, your first home and avoiding deposit scams.
How do these points work out in co-living?
Take us as the example. Seal Co-living's minimum lease is 30 days. A one-month stay is fine, and what you sign is a residential lease. The deposit is 1 month of rent. Water, electricity, gas and internet are included in the NT$1,000 utilities fee each month. The amount is fixed, so there is no price per kWh to argue about. A one-off move-in fee of NT$1,500 is paid when you move in.
Most of our rooms are shared rooms, and rooms come furnished. Whether you can cook in the kitchen is stated on each house page. Rent per bed starts at NT$8,000 (≈ US$250), which is the price on the longest lease tier. The shortest lease tier starts at NT$9,000 (≈ US$280). Room types and prices for each house are on the house list. The kinds of co-living in Taipei and how to compare operators are covered in Co-living in Taipei: what it is, the main types and how to compare.
You can do a video viewing while you are still in Korea. Tell us when you enquire. You can write to us in Korean, English, Japanese or Chinese and we will reply. Whether you need a guarantor, whether bedding is provided, how leaving early is calculated, and how signing and payment work while you are abroad are all things to ask us first.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a typical rental deposit in Taiwan?
The legal cap is 2 months' rent (Rental Act, Article 7). In practice some landlords take 1 month and some take 2 months, and you pay when you sign. Seal Co-living's deposit is 1 month of rent.
Can I stay for just one month?
Under the rules, a residential lease is possible for a term of 30 days or longer. Most ordinary landlords want 1 year, so you need housing that takes short-term rentals to begin with. Seal Co-living's minimum lease is 30 days.
Do I need a guarantor?
The regulations do not require one, so it depends on the landlord. If you are asked, try negotiating another form of security. Whether Seal Co-living needs a guarantor is something to ask us first.
Do I have to buy my own heater for winter?
Usually, yes. Taiwanese homes have no underfloor heating and rooms normally have no heating system. Whether the air conditioner can heat depends on the model. Live in the room for a while first, and buy one when it starts to feel cold.
Can I ask in Korean?
Yes. You can ask in Korean, English, Japanese or Chinese, and we will reply.
Sources
(All sources below were checked on 10 Oct 2026.)
- Laws and Regulations Database: Rental Housing Market Development and Regulation Act (amended 2023-02-08): https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0060125
- Ministry of the Interior: Mandatory and Prohibitory Provisions of Standard Form Contracts for Residential Leases (amended 2025-04-18): https://glrs.moi.gov.tw/LawContent.aspx?id=GL000907
- Cheng Shiu University Office of Student Affairs: rental Q&A (definitions of 雅房, 套房 and 獨立套房): https://osa.csu.edu.tw/p/406-1069-5536,r237.php?Lang=zh-tw
- Taipower FAQ: How is the electricity bill calculated?: https://www.taipower.com.tw/2289/2558/2705/22997/normalPost
- Central Weather Administration: climate statistics, monthly means (Taipei station): https://www.cwa.gov.tw/V8/C/C/Statistics/monthlymean.html
- Environmental Management Administration, Ministry of Environment: toilet paper can safely go in the toilet: https://www.ema.gov.tw/policies/issues/8800.html
- Central News Agency (中央社), "Criminal Investigation Bureau: being asked to pay a deposit before viewing a rental may be a scam" (2024-06-29): https://www.cna.com.tw/news/asoc/202406290176.aspx
- National Police Agency FAQ: is there a call charge for the 165 anti-fraud hotline?: https://www.npa.gov.tw/ch/app/faq/view?module=faq&id=2144&serno=A1078837
- Seal Co-living house pages (minimum lease, deposit, utilities fee, move-in fee, prices)
Approximate conversions use the Bank of Taiwan rate on 14 Oct 2026. You pay in Taiwan dollars.
