상가임차인의 갱신요구권 행사기간에 관한 소고

Article 10(2) of the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act provides that “[t]enant's right to request renewal of the contract may be exercised within the extent that the whole period of lease including the period of initial lease does not exceed 10 years.” As this article shows, the present rule is that tenants can only exercise the right of renewal with 10 years from the initial lease contract. This paper explores the possibility of abolishing this ten-year-period. In doing so, the paper discusses the following five questions: First, what does this period intend to protect? Secondly, commercial lease contract is a deal and thus the parties should take the risk arising therefrom. That being the case, what are the reasons that support the rule that allows tenants to request the renewal of the contract beyond the agreed term? Thirdly, is the period of 10 years appropriate? As will be seen in this paper, the Act also indirectly attracts the landlord to continue to maintain the lease contract with the present tenant even after 10 years of period have passed. The question arises whether or not such indirect approach is workable and effective in practice. After answering these questions, this paper argues that, from a legislative point of view, it might also be possible for us to consider abolishing the current rule that allows tenants to request renewal of the commercial lease only for ten years.