Most commonly, you can expect 4-6 month’s rent worth of costs when moving into a Japanese apartment. But what kind of fees do you need to pay? And in total, how much can you expect to have to pay upfront? In this short article, I will explain everything you need to know about apartment costs in Japan.
The main fees
Rent and Maintenance Fees
With your initial fees, you’ll generally pay the partial rent for the month you move in, along with the full rent for the following month. For example, if you moved on June 15th, your initial fees would include half the rent for June, along with the full rent for July. Many buildings often have maintenance fees as well, which you can basically just think of as an additional cost tacked onto the rent. They are paid in the same manner as rent as well. After move in, rent is usually paid at the end of the previous month. Continuing with my example, that means your first rental payment would be for August, paid at the end of July.
Deposit
In many countries, a deposit is something you pay upon move in that you expect to receive back in full upon move out, assuming you haven’t damaged the apartment. Things are a bit different in Japan though. The deposit here is generally one month’s rent, though sometimes more depending on the conditions of the contract. For example, if you’re renting a pet friendly apartment, it’s quite common to have to pay another month (or two) of deposit should you choose to keep a pet.
In Japan, you can think of the deposit as a pool of money from which cleaning fees will be taken from after moving out. Basically every apartment in Japan will have a baseline cleaning fee, which varies in price, but often ranges from ¥30,000-¥50,000. That will come out of the deposit no matter what and covers general wear and tear, but if there are any major damages caused by you, those will be additional costs. If those additional costs fall within the boundaries of the deposit, you will be refunded for the remainder. But if the damages cost more than the deposit, you may need to pay an additional amount. This is surprisingly common in Japan, so we highly recommend treating your apartment as carefully as possible and noting down any damages that were there upon move in!
Key Money
Surprisingly, this is not related to the actual keys. Key money can more accurately be translated as “thank you money”, as it is money that goes to the owner essentially as a “thank you” for renting the apartment to you. Except you don’t have a choice, unfortunately… Most commonly key money will be one month’s rent and is non-refundable. On the bright side, not all apartments have key money. The best way to think of key money is as a tangible symbol of demand. Generally owners will tack on key money to an apartment if they think it is in demand enough that customers will be willing to pay it to move in. Alternatively, apartments that are for any reason less desirable (or if the owner just wants to start making income ASAP) will often not have key money attached.
Security Deposit
Confusingly, a security deposit and a deposit in Japan are two different things. While the deposit is a pool of money to draw from, a security deposit is depreciated upon move out, meaning it isn’t refunded at all. Most commonly a security deposit is used in place of a regular deposit and the baseline cleaning fee that would be taken from it, meaning the security deposit itself essentially acts as the cleaning fee. Sometimes when a property has no deposit nor security deposit though, the baseline cleaning fee will just be paid upon move in… It’s all a bit confusing, but basically you can expect to either pay a deposit, a security deposit, or a baseline cleaning fee upon move in.
Agency Fee
In order to move into an apartment in Japan, you’ll need to use an agency. Agencies will almost always charge an agency fee, the industry standard for which is one month’s rent + tax. Agency fees are non-refundable and only charged with the initial fees, so if you aren’t successfully moving into an apartment via an agency you should never need to pay them! Speaking of agencies, if you have happened to stumble upon this article and are not actively working with an agent, we would be happy to help.
Guarantor Company Fees
You may have heard of the requirement for a “guarantor” in Japan, someone who basically guarantees that you will pay your rent, at the risk of having to pay on your behalf if something goes awry. These days though, needing an actual person to serve as your guarantor is very uncommon. Instead, most property management companies use guarantor companies, both for foreign and Japanese tenants alike, which are basically a service you pay into. If you don’t pay your rent, the property management company will collect the money from them, and the guarantor company in turn will collect from you.
There isn’t really much getting around the need for a guarantor company these days. The exact cost will depend on the company and the results of your application screening, but most commonly it will run between 50% to 100% of one month’s costs. Notably this is different from the above fees, which are usually based on one month’s rent. One month’s costs means it is calculated including maintenance fees for the building, along with other potential monthly costs like tenant support.
Guarantor companies often have a monthly or yearly fee as well. Monthly fees are often 1% of monthly cost, though sometimes higher. Most commonly yearly fees will run you about ¥10,000 per year, starting a year after you move in.
Smaller fees
Lock Exchange Fee
When moving into an apartment in Japan, the new tenant usually bears the cost of a new lock. The price varies, but it’s usually between ¥12,000-¥22,000. In some rare cases a lock exchange may be optional, but you should generally expect to have to pay.
Fire Insurance
Fire Insurance is always required for rental properties. Most commonly this will take the form of a one time free that covers the length of the contract. Similar to the lock exchange fee, you can expect this to run you about ¥12,000-¥22,000 depending on the company that the property management company chooses (you do not get to choose your own). Though relatively rare, sometimes fire insurance can also be a monthly fee, probably running between ¥500-¥1,500.
Tenant Support Fees
Most apartments will require tenants to enroll in a tenant support program, giving you access to a phone line that you can contact when in need of assistance. Fees vary, but most commonly you can expect between ¥15,000-¥22,000 covering the length of your contract, or a monthly fee in the vicinity of ¥1,000-¥2,200.
Fees that sometimes pop up
Disinfection Fee
Sometimes a property management company will charge a fee to disinfect the property prior to move in. This generally doesn’t imply anything negative about the unit itself, but is rather something that a property management company will impose on all units it manages for the sake of consistent cleanliness. If this fee is charged, you can expect around ¥15,000-20,000.
Bank Transfer Fee
Rent is usually paid by bank transfer in Japan and bank transfer fees are always paid by the tenant. Usually that fee is taken by your bank, but some property management companies will charge their own additional fee for processing, in particular when the rent is collected automatically each month from your bank account. It’s usually small though, around ¥550 or less.
General Processing Fees
Some property management companies will charge a processing fee that just covers the general paperwork and labor that goes into the apartment rental process. This is usually a ¥10,000-¥22,000 one time fee.
Parking Fees
This varies too much to give an estimate, but if you plan on having a bicycle, motorcycle, or car, extra fees may be involved! Bicycle parking is sometimes free, though it depends on the area and building. If you do need to pay though, you can expect a relatively minor cost. Motorcycle and car parking will essentially always be an extra, heftier cost though, and in Tokyo it’s common for most buildings to not even have parking.
An example cost quote
To close this out, let’s imagine you’re looking to move into an apartment that costs ¥80,000 for rent and ¥5,000 for maintenance fees. Your move in date is June 25th, and while the smaller fees will be included in this example, let’s assume the rarer fees aren’t being charged this time around. We’ll need to pay the partial costs for June, the full costs for July, and then the various initial costs. That gives us the following:
- June 15th – June 30th Partial Rent: ¥42,667
- June 15th – June 30th Partial Maintenance Fee: ¥2,667
- July Rent: ¥80,000
- July Maintenance Fee: ¥5,000
- Deposit: ¥80,000
- Key Money: ¥80,000
- Agency Fee: ¥80,000 + ¥8,000 tax
- Initial Guarantor Company Fee: ¥59,500 (I’m using 70% of the monthly costs for the purpose of this estimation, as that tends to be a common middle ground.)
- Lock Exchange Fee: ¥15,000 + ¥1,500 tax
- Fire Insurance: ¥18,000
- Tenant Support Fee: ¥15,000 + ¥1,500 tax
That would give us a total initial cost of ¥488,834.
Your next rental payment of ¥85,000 would be due at the end of July, which would be for August’s rent.
While these fees can be intimidating, it’s important to remember that every property is going to be different. There are properties without key money for example, or properties where the deposit may be replaced with a cheaper cleaning fee. And if you’re searching for a property outside of the busy season, sometimes negotiating discounts with the owner may be possible, especially if it’s a property that hasn’t had a tenant in awhile. Sometimes there are even properties with free rent deals if you move in within a certain period! If you still have questions, or are ready to start your own apartment search, please head to our inquiry form here. We hope to hear from you!