Renting in Japan is like playing "pass the parcel". It's very long process with a lot of layers and when the music stops, sometimes you get lucky and most times you don't.
I'm lucky that my husband is Japanese and deals with all the red-tape and bureaucracy (hee-hee). Since we have been in Tokyo, we have moved twice and we are in the process of moving a third time. In an ideal world we wouldn't move as the costs are exorbitant but now that Ren is the master of the castle, it needs to be a baby-friendly one and not one made of concrete and marble floors.
The breakdown (that's what it feels like anyway!)
Deposit (one month’s rent)
Key Money (one month’s rent)
Agency fee (up to one and a half months rent)
First month’s rent
Property insurance
Maintenance fee
Key exchange fee
Guarantor's Fee
Of course there are properties that might not have key money and other negotiables, but those are few and far between. So when you plan on renting, be prepared to pay up to 5-6 months rent...up front...in cash! Finding agencies which accept credit cards is a whole different post.
This excerpt which I found on the foreigner bible - Gaijinpot - sums up key money perfectly:
Of all the fees that you will have to pay the one that everyone seems to hate the most is key money. The dreaded reikin (礼金) or ‘key money’ is a non-refundable fee that dates back to the Kanto Earthquake. Much of Tokyo was destroyed by the earthquake and so landlords were in an enviable position of choosing who they rented their property to.
To try and skip to the head of the line and win the favor of the landlord many people would offer a small payment to express gratitude for letting you live on their property. (Reikin literally means ‘gratitude money’)
Even though the earthquake was almost 100 years ago, and the country now has around 54 million housing units of which 13% are unoccupied, the Japanese rental market and its landlords like to preserve this tradition. And why wouldn’t they? At the peak of Japan’s real estate bubble, renters might have given up to a year’s rent to their landlord as a moving-in ‘gift’ and, though the price of key money has decreased since then, owners can still charge up to 3 months key money for apartments in the more up market areas of Tokyo.
When we started our journey to find the perfect apartment, we did a bit of self-searching and Google Translate before heading to an agent. We used these sites:
1. HOMES
2. SUUMO
These first two sites are where all of the public listings can be found. Multiple agents can list a single listing, so be sure to check each one and see if there is a different in upfront payments. (Japanese only)
3.R-STORE
4. M-STANDARD
5. LINEA
6. R-FUDOSAN
These above sites focus on more modern and designer apartments in Tokyo.
7. GAIJINPOT
8. CRAIGSLIST
I found that these two sites showed multiple listings that didn't exist and were advertised to bait me. I eventually gave up on these two
Our pre-requisites were:
We wanted to live in the hustle and bustle of town without having to take transport to work.
Have space (70sqm plus)
Have a 2LDK layout or more.
Be modern with no tatami mats.
Not pay an arm and a leg.
Seems simple? NO. Everything we wanted was way out of our budget, or old and dated. We searched for months and I must've sent 20 listings to an agent and he took us to the listings. I hated every.single.one. This wasn't the start that I was hoping for. For the most part, I realized that residents aren't too fazed with how the apartment looks because they would only really use it for sleeping. But I needed my house to be a home, a place to relax and enjoy.
Our agent then started sending alternatives with smaller apartments and less modern interiors. I wasn't thrilled but we were running out of time. We went to two places that we were happy with and he urged us to apply right there and then. I must admit that I was thrown by this but he insisted that there would be other applications in no time. He wasn't lying! We lost out on these apartments as people had applied without even viewing and the protocol is usually first-come-first-served (if they pass the various checks). We were despondent and - frankly - totally over this whole process.
My husband had seen one apartment that was listed for at least two months but viewing could only take place once the tenant moved out - which was in a month's time. We managed to be the first in on the first viewing day and right then we emailed off all the necessary documents. As we exited the building, our agent handed the keys to the next agent with his clients. There were two other groups waiting too!
A week later after jumping through the final hoop of a phone interview with the guarantor, we received notice that we were accepted could move in by the month end.
My top tip:
Check the market and see what's available and don't view apartments unless you're ready. When you have all of your documents in order and the cash ready to go, expect to move in within 4 weeks with a successful contract...that's if you get the lucky layer from the "pass the parcel"!
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