Say This: How to Report a Problem in Your Apartment in Korean

Disclaimer: This guide is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Repair responsibility, cost allocation, and tenancy rights depend on the specific lease agreement, on who holds that lease, and on current law. Nothing here should be treated as a statement of legal entitlement. Emergency contact numbers, dispute resolution bodies, and utility company procedures change and vary by region and provider. Verify against an official source, and consult a qualified professional for any dispute.

This guide covers: who to contact first and why that answer differs for academy-provided housing, the six sentence patterns that cover almost every household problem, vocabulary organised by what has actually broken, twelve ready-to-send message templates in Korean with English translation, what to do when nobody responds, which problems are genuine emergencies and who to call, the general practice around who pays for what, and what a convenience store can and cannot solve at three in the morning.

Who to contact when something breaks

Short answer: It depends on the building type and on who holds the lease. In academy-provided housing the first contact is usually the academy, not the landlord, because the academy is frequently the named party on the lease. In a serviced building the first contact is the management office. In a small villa or one-room building it is usually the landlord directly.

Getting this wrong is the most common reason a repair takes two weeks instead of two days. The message goes to someone with no authority to approve the cost, sits unanswered, and gets forwarded late.

The four possible contacts

The academy housing exception

Academy-provided housing changes the order. In many arrangements the academy signs the lease and pays the rent, and the teacher occupies the unit without being the named tenant. That means the landlord may have no obligation to deal with the occupant directly, and may not even have the occupant's number.

Report to the academy first, in writing. Ask which contact they want used for future problems, and whether they want to be copied on messages sent directly to a management office. Establishing this in the first week, before anything breaks, saves an argument later.

For how academy housing arrangements are typically structured and what is usually included, see the academy housing guide.

When to use the management office versus the landlord

Management office handles anything belonging to the building rather than to the unit: corridor lighting, lifts, water supply to the whole line, heating systems, the intercom, waste rooms, parking, and noise complaints between units.

Landlord handles what is inside the unit and provided with it: the boiler, the air conditioner, built-in appliances, fixtures, sanitaryware, and the door lock.

The line blurs when a problem inside one unit originates in another, which leaks and noise almost always do. In that situation the management office is the correct first contact even though the damage is inside the unit, because only the management office can access the unit above.

The six sentence patterns that cover almost everything

Korean makes this easier than it looks. Most household problems can be reported by dropping a noun into one of six frames. Learn the frames and the vocabulary tables below become immediately usable.

Pattern 1: X is broken

[noun]이/가 고장 났어요.
[noun]-i/ga gojang nasseoyo.
"[Noun] is broken."

Use 이 after a consonant, 가 after a vowel. 보일러가 고장 났어요. 세탁기가 고장 났어요.

Pattern 2: X does not work

[noun]이/가 안 돼요.
[noun]-i/ga an dwaeyo.
"[Noun] does not work."

Softer and vaguer than "broken." Useful when the cause is unknown, which it usually is.

Pattern 3: X does not come out

[noun]이/가 안 나와요.
[noun]-i/ga an nawayo.
"[Noun] does not come out."

For anything that should flow. 온수가 안 나와요. 물이 안 나와요.

Pattern 4: Water is leaking from X

[place]에서 물이 새요.
[place]-eseo mul-i saeyo.
"Water is leaking from [place]."

천장에서 물이 새요. 싱크대 밑에서 물이 새요.

Pattern 5: X is blocked

[noun]이/가 막혔어요.
[noun]-i/ga makhyeosseoyo.
"[Noun] is blocked."

변기가 막혔어요. 배수구가 막혔어요.

Pattern 6: There is a [smell / noise / problem]

[noun]이/가 나요.
[noun]-i/ga nayo.
"There is a [noun]." Literally, it is coming out.

냄새가 나요. 이상한 소리가 나요. 가스 냄새가 나요.

Adding when it started

Adding the request

Vocabulary by what has broken

Water, heating, and the boiler

The boiler is the single most reported item in Korean rental housing, because it controls both hot water and floor heating, and because it fails in winter.

Electricity and lighting

Appliances

Doors, windows, and security

The door lock deserves special attention. Korean units overwhelmingly use electronic keypad locks, which run on batteries and fail without much warning. Being locked out of a unit at night because a battery died is a common and entirely preventable experience.

Pests and noise

Twelve message templates

These are written for a messaging app, which is how most of this communication actually happens. Each opens by identifying the unit, because the recipient may manage dozens.

Replace the bracketed parts. Keep the structure.

1. First contact, general

안녕하세요. [301]호 사는 [이름]입니다.
[문제]가 있어서 연락드립니다.
확인 좀 부탁드립니다. 감사합니다.

Hello. This is [name] in unit [301]. Contacting you because there is [problem]. Please check it. Thank you.

2. No hot water

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
어제부터 온수가 안 나와요. 난방은 되는데 온수만 안 됩니다.
보일러 기사님 좀 보내주실 수 있을까요?

Hello, unit [301]. Since yesterday there has been no hot water. The heating works but only the hot water does not. Could you send a boiler technician?

The detail about heating working while hot water does not is worth including. It narrows the fault and gets the right technician sent the first time.

3. Water leak, urgent

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
천장에서 물이 새고 있습니다. 계속 떨어지고 있어서 급합니다.
지금 확인 가능하실까요? 사진 보내드리겠습니다.

Hello, unit [301]. Water is leaking from the ceiling. It is still dripping so this is urgent. Could you check now? I will send a photo.

4. Blocked drain or toilet

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
[변기 / 싱크대 배수구]가 막혔어요. 물이 안 내려갑니다.
수리 부탁드립니다.

Hello, unit [301]. The [toilet / kitchen drain] is blocked. The water does not go down. Please arrange a repair.

5. Air conditioner not working

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
에어컨이 안 켜져요. 리모컨 건전지는 새로 갈았습니다.
점검 부탁드립니다.

Hello, unit [301]. The air conditioner will not turn on. I have already replaced the remote batteries. Please arrange an inspection.

Stating what has already been ruled out prevents the reply that just asks whether the batteries were checked.

6. Power outage in the unit only

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
저희 집만 전기가 나갔어요. 차단기 내렸다 올렸는데 안 됩니다.
확인 부탁드립니다.

Hello, unit [301]. The power has gone out in my unit only. I switched the breaker off and back on but it did not work. Please check.

7. Door lock battery

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
도어락에서 건전지 부족 알림이 계속 울립니다.
건전지 교체 부탁드립니다.

Hello, unit [301]. The door lock keeps sounding a low battery alert. Please replace the battery.

Deal with this the day it starts. The alert runs for a period before the lock fails entirely, and once it fails the unit cannot be opened from outside.

8. Mould

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
[화장실 / 방] 벽에 곰팡이가 생겼습니다. 이사 왔을 때부터 있었습니다.
확인하고 조치 부탁드립니다. 사진 보내드리겠습니다.

Hello, unit [301]. Mould has appeared on the [bathroom / bedroom] wall. It was there when I moved in. Please inspect and take action. I will send a photo.

Whether the mould predates occupancy matters for who pays, which is why the timing goes in the first message rather than being volunteered later.

9. Insects

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
집에 벌레가 많이 나옵니다. 방역 가능할까요?

Hello, unit [301]. A lot of insects are appearing in the unit. Would pest control treatment be possible?

In serviced buildings, scheduled pest control is often already arranged and this message simply gets the unit added.

10. Noise from another unit

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
윗집에서 밤에 소음이 심합니다. 며칠째 계속되고 있습니다.
관리사무소에서 안내 부탁드립니다.

Hello, unit [301]. There is serious noise from the unit upstairs at night. It has continued for several days. Please have the management office pass on a notice.

Route this through the management office rather than knocking on the door. Direct confrontation over noise between floors is culturally fraught in Korea and escalates reliably. The management office exists partly to be the intermediary.

11. Asking who pays

혹시 수리비는 어떻게 되나요? 세입자 부담인지 확인 부탁드립니다.

May I ask how the repair cost is handled? Please confirm whether it is the tenant's responsibility.

Ask before the technician arrives, not after. Once work is done the conversation is about a bill rather than about an arrangement.

12. Following up on no response

안녕하세요. [301]호입니다.
[날짜]에 [문제] 관련해서 연락드렸는데 아직 해결이 안 됐습니다.
언제쯤 가능할지 알려주시면 감사하겠습니다.

Hello, unit [301]. I contacted you on [date] about [problem] and it has not yet been resolved. I would be grateful if you could let me know roughly when it will be possible.

Naming the original date does the work here. It is neutral in tone and it establishes a timeline without accusation.

Keep it in writing

Phone calls are faster and messages are better. A message thread produces a dated record of what was reported and when, which is useful for the ordinary purpose of remembering what was said, and useful again if a repair drags on and the timeline becomes relevant.

Photograph everything, immediately. Photos taken at the moment the problem appears carry a timestamp in the file metadata. Photograph the problem, the surrounding area for context, and anything already damaged.

If a conversation happens by phone, summarise it in a message afterwards. A short "확인 감사합니다, [날짜]에 오시는 걸로 알겠습니다" confirms the arrangement and puts it in writing without any friction.

Emergencies: what not to handle by message

Some problems should not go into a messaging app at all.

119 covers fire, ambulance, and rescue. 112 is police. Both operate continuously and offer interpretation support. Verify the current contact number for the local city gas provider and electricity provider, which vary by region, and save them before they are needed.

Who usually pays

Short answer, and it is only a general pattern: repairs necessary for the property to be usable have typically been treated as the landlord's responsibility, while consumables and damage caused by the occupant have typically been treated as the occupant's. The line is frequently disputed and the lease terms govern.

Three things that materially improve the outcome:

• Report early. A small leak reported the day it appears is a landlord repair. The same leak reported after it has damaged flooring becomes an argument about who allowed the damage.
• Document the move-in condition. A set of photographs taken on the first day, covering every room, every appliance, and every existing mark, resolves most disputes about pre-existing problems before they start.
• Ask before the work happens. Template 11 exists for this. The question is neutral and normal, and asking it is not treated as difficult.

For academy-provided housing, add one more: confirm with the academy who approves and pays for repairs before anything breaks. In some arrangements the academy pays and recovers nothing, in others the occupant pays for minor items. Knowing which applies removes the delay while somebody works it out mid-repair.

If a dispute cannot be resolved directly, Korea operates legal aid services and housing lease dispute mediation bodies that handle tenancy matters. Verify the current name, jurisdiction, and access route for these before relying on them, and take proper advice for anything substantive.

The three in the morning problem: what a convenience store can and cannot fix

Things break at night. Management offices close, landlords do not answer, and hardware stores shut early. Between roughly 9pm and 9am, the convenience store is frequently the only retail option within walking distance, and knowing exactly what it stocks decides whether a problem is survivable overnight or not.

Are convenience stores open when you need them?

Short answer: Most are, but hours are set at store level rather than nationally, because the networks are overwhelmingly franchise-operated. A store in a business district or near a station will usually run around the clock. A store in a quiet residential street may not.

Korea's market is dominated by four networks. Ministop, formerly a fifth, was absorbed into the 7-Eleven network, so those locations now trade under that brand.

The practical takeaway: if the nearest store is an Emart24 and it is the middle of the night, check before walking there. Of the four, it is the one most likely to be closed. Chain apps carry store-level hours and are more reliable than general map listings, which update late.

Store counts across all four networks run to the tens of thousands and change constantly. Treat any specific figure as approximate.

What a convenience store actually stocks for a household emergency

• Batteries. The most important item on this list. Electronic door locks run on standard batteries, and a dead lock is the difference between being inside and being outside. Every chain stocks common battery sizes. Check which size the lock takes before it fails, and keep a spare set in the unit.
• Bottled water. When the water supply is cut, whether by a fault or by scheduled maintenance, this is the fallback for drinking and for basic use. Buy more than feels necessary, because a supply interruption in a building empties the nearest store's shelves quickly.
• Phone chargers, cables, and power banks. Stocked at essentially every store. Relevant when a power failure means the phone that is being used to contact the management office is also dying.
• Regulated waste bags. Korean districts require designated waste bags, and convenience stores sell the ones valid for their own district. Note that a bag bought in one district may not be valid in another.
• Cleaning supplies, in a limited range. Kitchen towel, rubber gloves, general cleaner, bin liners, and wipes. Enough to contain a leak or clean up after one, not enough to fix anything.
• Insect spray, in some stores. Availability varies considerably by store and by season. Reliable in summer, less so otherwise.
• Prepared food and hot water. When the kitchen is the thing that has broken, this is dinner. Microwaves, kettles, and seating are standard.
• Cash. Most stores host an ATM. Relevant when an emergency call-out needs paying and the situation is not one where a card is accepted.
• Tape, glue, scissors, string. A very small stationery range that occasionally solves a very small problem.

For how to stack membership points, in-app coupons, and card benefits on these purchases, see the convenience store discount guide. Even an emergency purchase at 3am still earns the stacking.

What a convenience store cannot do

Being clear about this saves a wasted walk.

• No tools. No spanners, no screwdrivers, no plunger, no wrench. A blocked toilet cannot be solved with anything on those shelves.
• No plumbing or electrical parts. No washers, no fuses, no tap fittings, no replacement sockets.
• No light bulbs, reliably. Some stores carry a small selection of common LED bulbs. Most do not. This is not something to depend on.
• No door lock replacement. Batteries yes, hardware no.
• No serious pest control. A can of spray is not a treatment for an infestation.

Where to go instead, once it is morning

• A variety goods chain covers most of the gap: tools, bulbs, plungers, adhesives, cleaning equipment, basic hardware, at low prices. This is the correct destination for nearly everything the convenience store lacks. Typical hours run into the evening but not overnight.
• A neighbourhood hardware store (철물점, cheolmuljeom) handles anything the variety chain does not: proper plumbing parts, keys, fittings, and advice. These are small, local, often family-run, and close early. Worth locating in advance.
• The building's own maintenance staff, in a serviced building, handle far more than most occupants expect, frequently including bulb replacement, minor plumbing, and door lock batteries. Asking at the security desk first is often faster than any shop.

Frequently asked questions

Who do I contact first when something breaks in academy-provided housing?

The academy, in writing. In many arrangements the academy holds the lease and the occupant is not the named tenant, which means the landlord may have no obligation to deal with the occupant directly. Ask in the first week which contact the academy wants used, before anything breaks.

What is the most useful single Korean phrase for reporting a problem?

[문제]가 있어서 연락드립니다. 확인 좀 부탁드립니다. Roughly, "I am contacting you because there is [problem]. Please check it." It is polite, neutral, and works with any noun dropped into it.

Should I call or send a message?

Message, where possible. It produces a dated record of what was reported and when, it avoids a real-time conversation in a second language, and it allows photographs to be attached. If a call happens, send a short summary message afterwards.

What do I do if nobody responds?

Follow up in writing, naming the date of the original message. If there is still no response, escalate to the next contact: from landlord to estate agency, from occupant to academy, or to the management office where one exists. Keep every message.

Who pays for repairs?

As a general pattern, repairs needed to make the property usable have been treated as the landlord's responsibility, and consumables and occupant-caused damage as the occupant's. The specific lease governs, and the line is disputed often enough that the question should be asked before work is carried out rather than after.

My electronic door lock is beeping. Is that urgent?

Yes, in the practical sense. The low battery alert runs for a period before the lock fails, and once it fails the door cannot be opened from outside. Replace the battery or report it the same day. Batteries are available at any convenience store.

What should I do about noise from the unit upstairs?

Route it through the management office rather than approaching the unit directly. Noise between floors is a well-recognised and culturally sensitive issue in Korea, direct confrontation escalates it reliably, and the management office exists in part to act as the intermediary.

Are convenience stores open in the middle of the night?

Usually, but not always. Hours are set by individual franchise owners, not nationally. Stores near stations and in business districts are the most reliable. Of the four major chains, Emart24 has the largest share of stores that do not operate around the clock.

Can I fix a blocked drain with something from a convenience store?

No. Convenience stores carry no tools and no plumbing supplies. A variety goods chain during the day, or a hardware store, is the correct destination. If water is backing up and cannot be contained, treat it as a same-night call to the management office rather than a shopping problem.

What counts as a genuine emergency?

A gas smell, fire or smoke, active flooding into another unit, and an electrical burning smell or sparking. These are phone calls, not messages. Gas and fire are 119. Anything involving another unit goes to the management office or security desk immediately, because containing the spread matters more than diagnosing the cause.

How do I prove a problem existed when I moved in?

Photograph every room, appliance, surface, and existing mark on the first day, before unpacking. Photographs carry a timestamp in the file metadata. This resolves most disputes about pre-existing damage before they begin, and it takes about fifteen minutes.

The short version

Contact the right person first, because the wrong one costs a week. In academy housing, that is usually the academy. In a serviced building, the management office. In a small villa, the landlord.

Six sentence patterns cover almost every problem: it is broken, it does not work, it does not come out, it is leaking, it is blocked, there is a smell or noise. Add when it started, add what you want done, send a photo.

Keep it in writing, ask who pays before the work happens, and photograph the unit on move-in day.

And keep a spare set of door lock batteries in a drawer. Of everything in this guide, that is the one that will save an entire night.

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