Even though the chance of your getting scammed in Japan isn’t high, you could possibly avoid paying unnecessary initial costs. The initial cost in Japan is crazily expensive but if you know these pieces of knowledge, you might be able to cut as much as 100,000 yen from the initial cost. Therefore, check this out if you are planning to rent an apartment in Japan.
Fire insurance (火災保険)
Most properties require you to have fire insurance that covers a wide range of damages from not only fire but also any kind of damages caused by you or natural disaster.
Since it’s almost mandatory for you to have insurance, real estate agents usually include fees of their tied-up insurance companies in the upfront cost, which normally costs between 10,000 to 20,000 yen.
However, though it is mandatory for you to have insurance, you don’t have to use their tied-up insurance companies.
The cheapest way is to use an online insurance company. There are many companies that offer good enough coverage at a much lower price (around 4,000 yen per year).
Don’t worry about the quality of these insurances because the “The cheaper, The worse” rule doesn’t apply to the insurance world in Japan.
Rakuten home assist is one of the reliable companies.
・Rakuten home assist
Agent Commission (仲介手数料)
Under Japanese law, real estate agents can charge as much as 1 month’s rent + consumption tax (maintenance fee’s not included) for the broker’s commission.
For example, let’s say your rent is 80,000 yen (tax included) and plus a maintenance fee of 10,000 yen per month.
In this case, the agent can charge at most 80,000 yen for the commission. (They can’t include the maintenance fee in this calculation.)
They are neither allowed to charge you more than this amount nor include the maintenance fee in the rent. This type of overcharging can happen so be careful.
Pest extermination and sterilization (害虫駆除、除菌)
Some agents include the fees for the pest extermination and sterilization (害虫駆除、除菌) in the upfront-cost and these categories might be naturally written on the contract.
In most cases, these treatments are not necessary and they often try to charge these fees in order to get extra money.
When these categories are on the contact paper, you can just tell your agent “ I don’t need this”
Visit more than 2 agents
More than 90% of properties are registered in more than multiple real estate agents and each company offers a different plan.
Nowadays, there are a lot of agents that don’t even charge the commission and provide a decent service.
Therefore, if you have the time, consult with more than 2 agentsthat offer the apartment you want and compare the contract.
Negotiations
If you are confident in Japanese or have a Japanese friend to help you, you can negotiate for the rent, deposit, and key money of the apartment. This is how you do.
Firstly, you ask your agent if they can lower the price of these fees. If they are willing to negotiate with the landlord of the building, then just let them handle it.
If they say it’s not impossible without asking the landlord, you should ask to get his/her number and negotiate directly.
(Agents are not the ones who set these fees and they might say “no” because asking the landlord to price down is just a pain in the neck for them. Again, they don’t have a right to set the price of these fees so you’d better talk to the landlord)
Sharehouse/ Monthly apartment
If you really want the initial fee to be as small as possible, share houses or monthly apartments are reasonable alternatives. The average upfront cost for a share house would be around 50,000 yen and monthly apartments mostly don’t require you to pay which.
Besides this, not only are rooms usually furnished, but kitchen utensils are complimentary, which will lower the initial cost as well.
Avoiding the initial fees in Japan
The initial fee for an apartment rental in Japan is too expensive to turn a blind eye to, Sadly, there are still many real estate agents who take advantage of your lack of knowledge and try to overcharge you.
Knowing these things will surely protect you from these vicious agents and lower the initial cost as well. With proper agents, find the right apartment and start a new life in Japan
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