Basically, I’ve been here since April of this year. I started off in a sharehouse, didn’t like it, contract ended last month, so I found another sharehouse because most of the apartments I wanted were out of my budget. New sharehouse is a nightmare and there’s a really rude, creepy individual that’s been harassing me at the new one, and the room and house is filthy beyond imagination.
I find an apartment through kimiwillbe, and it’s perfect. It’s a 5 minute walk from the sharehouse I’m in right now, so I can move my things easily. It’s within my budget, in a neighborhood I really like, and the place inside is beautiful for the price. Very spacious compared to what I’m used to (current room is 6sq meter, this one is 21). I visited the place and I was blown away, I loved it so much.
So Wednesday, while I was still inside and viewing the house itself, I stopped everything and emailed the agent helping me and said ‘Thanks so much for the help, I love this one, I’d like to get started on beginning the contract ASAP’. He said alright, send XYZ, so I went home and immediately sent all the information he wanted. Next day he asks for a little bit more information, I send it all within the hour and ask him where and when to pay the upfront costs, he says Monday the 3rd.
**I ask him if the apartment was reserved for me at this point and he says yes.**
I’m real excited to finally move into a somewhat decent place here, I start packing my shit, getting ready to go, taking a look at a futon on Nitori, happy to finally have my first apartment.
Then I get a dreaded e-mail yesterday morning-
“*Hello.*
*I regret to say that we got a notice from the owner of the apartment that he cannot sign the lease contract.*
*He found another tenant through another real estate agency at the same time and he chose him.*
*And we should have claimed more strongly.*
*I have to show another apartment immediately.*
*The apartments below are available to move soon.*
*If you want to see some this weekend, please let me know.*
*I can attend you on Sunday.*
*I am very sorry for the inconvenience.”*
I email back, obviously irate, asking why he would tell me it was reserved for me, and how possibly could someone have seen it and applied faster since I viewed it Wednesday. The agent keeps apologizing profusely.
I found this to be a little odd, and I REALLY did not want to pull this card, but a Japanese friend of mine suggested it might be discrimination. So I sent a followup email asking ‘Could this be a case of discrimination from the landlord?’
The response-
*” He is a kind of difficult person.*
*Let me talk to him again.*
*I am sorry for the trouble.”*
*So,* I tell him to please let the landlord know that I’m a decent person, I plan on staying here for awhile, I’m clean, quiet, considerate, etc… and offer to arrange a meeting with the landlord so that he can see I’m a good tenant and decent person.
So, I go to bed last night hoping to wake up to some good news, maybe they talked it out… the agent *did* say ‘I will attend you Sunday’.
Well, no email all day. So I called the number he left on the email and he answers saying ‘hey yeah sorry I never got an answer from the landlord today I tried to call’.
So I try to clarify the situation and he basically tells me ‘yeah, there was another guy that applied the same time as you blah blah blah’
I tell him ‘I’m assuming the other person is Japanese?’
He says ‘yeah….sorry.’ and goes on to explain that there’s another foreign tenant in the building and that he’s been causing problems with the landlord.
I told him to please try to work this out for me, and that I find it hard to believe that this ‘japanese guy that applied at the same time’ even really exists (his english isn’t that great so i’m not sure he understood what i meant by this) and to keep me updated.
What can I do here? The sad part is, this apartment ticked all boxes for me, but everything else in my budget is either a dump or too far away from my school, work, and girlfriend.
12 comments
Yep, the landlord chose a Japanese tenant because they think it will be less hassle. There is fuck all you can do about it other than to find another apartment
I don’t recommend it, but you can up your offer with reikin money. That means, a cash gift.
Short answer: You’re S.O.L. There’s nothing you can do, and even if the agent could convince the owner, do you think said owner is suddenly going to start doing right by you?
The very first thing I do when I find an apartment I’m interested in (I’ve had 3 apartments in Japan) is ask the agent to confirm that the owner is OK with foreigners. So far, I’ve been lucky, but there are no fair housing protections here.
What the hell is kimmiwillbe?
Heh, I’ve had landlords yell at the agent and hangup after they said my name.
I’m sorry, but you’ll have to find another apartment.
> So Wednesday, while I was still inside and viewing the house itself, I stopped everything and emailed the agent helping me
You emailed the agent while viewing the apartment? Who was showing you the apartment?!
It’s more normal than you think in Japan.
The real estate agency actually knows about it, so they will try to convince the landlord first by showing you earn enough money, have guarantor and fills all requirements. After they have convinced the landlord they will say that the person renting is a “gaikokujin (foreign)” from “xx country” and that’s probably the part you lost the apartment.
I have been denied multiple apartments before because I’m a “gaijin”
The key is to keep trying till you find one landlord that accepts foreign.
Or try UR Apartment if there’s one nearby.
I’ve moved apartments a couple of times during my time in Japan. When I encountered this situation, the same as you, I was furious.
The second time it happened, I was mad.
The third time it happened, it was expected.
The fourth time it happened, I just looked for another apartment.
If you’re planning on staying in Japan for the long-term, this is sadly something you’ll have to put up with. There are no laws on our side in these situations, so it’s pointless trying to “fight” it.
It happened to me 3 times before I found my current place (at least in my case I wasn’t strung along, the agency called the landlords to confirm a foreigner would be ok and the first 3 just said “yeah no”)
“a kind of difficult person (難しい人)” is basically a very polite way to say “he is an asshole” in Japanese. Especially when it’s related to discrimination it’s a huge red flag.
If the said Japanese guy that makes it even worse, because that means the landlord would rather lie (or ask the agent to lie to you) than to have a foreigner in the apartment. If I were you I’d avoid it at all cost.
Remember, even if you worked out a way and somehow got the apartment, you may need to talk to the landlord here and there.
Just move on.
Lol welcome to Japan!