[https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/xtmuka/lost\_apartment\_from\_discrimination\_wat\_do/](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/xtmuka/lost_apartment_from_discrimination_wat_do/)
Original post \^
So, just as a brief refresher:
\-Found a nice apartment
\-Went to view, loved it, looked clean and nice for the price, but it was in a kinda sketchy area
\-Told the real estate agent I wanted it right away
\-Gets me started on the paperwork
\-Halfway through the process, agent tells me landlord doesn’t want to sign the lease because he ‘found someone else at the same time’
\-Was suspicious of this, called him out asking whether or not it was discrimination (didn’t really call out the agent bc it’s not his fault, just kind of complaining to him that i think the landlord is being discriminatory)
\-Guy says landlord is a 「難しい人」
\-Tell him to tell the landlord that I’m a decent guy, I’m quiet and clean and I want to stay there for awhile
And that’s where we left off.
Now, from here, I got an e-mail saying that the landlord changed his mind and he’ll sign the lease. Now, that’s what I wanted to happen, but I couldn’t help but feel really suspicious about it. Why did he all of a sudden change his mind? I was considering all the possibilities on how something could be wrong with the place I didn’t notice, or that he’ll be giving me hell in the future, etc.
I asked my agent ‘what did you say to change his mind?’ and he kinda just mumbles and stutters through it saying ‘I can’t say why… we can’t talk about that… It’s better to keep the peace, the landlord said not to ask him why he changed his decision’
Now, I tend to be a somewhat paranoid person so I’m very suspicious about this. The room is already in a kind of dodgy area of Ikebukuro, it’s a little too cheap for how big and clean it is, It’s a little bit suspiciously clean (literally everything is spotless and looks like it was just scrubbed down, every other house I found in the price range was very filthy), the guy flip flopped on the answer in like 2 days, and they won’t tell why. Not to mention, the agent I’m using seems kinda shifty by the way he talks, and has been pretty rude throughout the correspondence, and I’ve never once spoken a word to the landlord.
Am I just being paranoid? The real estate guy wants me to move in on the 9th, and he wants me to come sign papers and pay the 160,000円 move-in-fee by tomorrow or saturday. I’m heavily leaning towards ‘no’ because of how dodgy this situation feels.
I need something as soon as possible though. I just moved into a new sharehouse a few weeks ago and still never did a contract on it because I told the guy here that I want to leave, and I still never changed my address with the ward offices and it’s been like a month and I’m scared of getting in trouble, I just want a new place asap.
What other areas should I look in? I’ve been looking towards Setagaya-ku looks really nice and somewhat affordable, but it’s like 1hr15min away from my school and upcoming part time job. I don’t really mind sitting on the train that long, but it’s also 1hr away from where I am now and moving is going to be a pain in the ass.
I like fashionable sort of areas with good shopping and lots of young adults (18-35ish) and things to do, but whenever I see any of those type of neighborhoods mentioned on here or online (Daikanyama, Shimokita, Harajuku, Meguro), people tend to complain that those neighborhoods are ‘dead’ and ‘overrated’ and a shell of their former glory, what’s even popular/desirable at the moment?
10 comments
Don’t sign anything. Trust your gut feeling. Even if he gives you an explanation, you won’t be able to trust him.
Trust is important in business. No trust no business.
The only thing I can think of is maybe someone died there? I think legally they are required to tell the next tenant (though not the one after that).
This is a long shot, but you could try typing the address into https://sp.oshimaland.co.jp/ and seeing if the apartment is on the list.
As I mentioned in my previous post to your previous thread. Similar thing happened to me.
Great appartement, supposedly agent checked that foreigners are ok, we apply, and a week later once we got guarantor approval, then owner back tracked and said no foreigners. Sucks but we moved on.
Then later, same thing as you. The agent says he convinced the owner that we’re good people, owner says OK. We go through the whole process. And the day before signing, agent calls and moshiwake gozaimasen’s his way in explaining that the owner just changed his mind last min again.
Basically 2 weeks of apartment search wasted by that dude.
Frankly, you love the apartment, and if you ensure that things go normally and you will never have to interact with the landlord then why not, go for it and try. Just know that you are likely in for a lot of waste of time if not future frustrations.
What happened? The other person cancelled and you were #2 in line.
Happens *all the time*, especially for popular areas.
Sketchy part of Ikebukuro? Maybe the north side? I presume there are other rooms in the building?
On a positive/’it’s fine’ side, maybe one of the other tenants moved out and the landlord wants to minimise their income loss.
On the negative side, yes maybe the landlord has discovered some issue in the area, like a noisy neighbour, and now wants to dump the place on someone ASAP.
I wouldn’t read too much into the apparent cleaniness of the room. It probably just means the other places you went to hadn’t yet been through their full cleaning processes yet. Usually, if an apartment has been professionally cleaned, there will usually be a sign/notice in the entranceway indicating this.
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As for ‘I like fashionable sort of areas with good shopping and lots of young adults (18-35ish) and things to do’.
Such places basically don’t exist. Young people may gather in certain areas to hang out or whatever but where people actually live is extremely scattered. I think people tend to (or have to) value connectivity to the various hubs above actually living somewhere supposedly ‘cool’. For young people in general, you’d probably need to focus on areas close to universities (like Ikebukuro), otherwise scattered like I said.
If you feel weird about it just move on. The RE agent might get a little pissy, but move on. You don’t want to sign a contract when you’ve got negative feelings before even moving in.
yeah i would not sign it. There are lots of landlords who will not rent to foreigners, or as it sounds like in this case, will only rent to foreigners if there are no non-foreigners who want to rent it. There are also lots of landlords who are not in the slightest bit discriminatory towards foreigners. It takes some work at times to find them, and you might have to get rejected by a few discriminators, but you will find a good apartment if you keep trying. I think this is actually a big problem for japan, but in your own personal situation the best thing you can do is stay focused and keep looking.
Fuck man are you kidding? You asked the guy to reconsider, he did, and now you’re not happy because he did what you asked. You literally got what you asked for and now you want to go the other way. And you trusted everyone up to the point of getting what you want. It’s a bit hard to be happy if you flip flop like that.
With that said, you have to make a decision. Is there any reason not trust the landlord and agency guy? Pick yes or no and move on from there.
It’s probably because the other guy turned out to have a red flag that the owner didn’t want to deal with. I read that other thread and you really seemed to want that apartment. Now you can get it, so go for it.
Jesus Christ. You’re kind of proving why people don’t want to rent to foreigners. Just fucking make a decision and stop being dramatic about it all.