The owner of the apartment is Daiwa House in Tama area. The initial payment only covers 1 month rent + key money (1 month worth) + cleaning (50% of rent), it seems a good deal, not too much of initial burden. however, is there a caveat to this? i have heard that owners of apartments use the deposit money for repairs and such; since they don’t ask for deposit money, what will be the situation when I move out? are they going to quote me and charge me for repairs? does anyone have experience with Daiwa House?
Thank you!
3 comments
The more desirable the apartment, the higher the initial costs. If your chosen apartment is far from the station in the Tama area, or old and lacking air conditioners, or near a loud highway or something, then your initial costs will be lower. It is the typical trade off in Japan.
If they charge you key money but no deposit then they are probably not concerned about damage. That suggests that the apartment has not been renovated recently.
They can charge you for damages when you move out, but not for normal wear and tear. Just to be clear, even if you pay a deposit, when you cause damages in excess of the deposit amount, they can bill you for those damages.
One thing to look out for: early check out penalties. Usually a place with low initial fees will charge you one or two months rent if you try to break the contract early.
Not rare. It’s in their interests to rent the place as fast as they can. Also, I remember reading a recent change in law made it better to charge cleaning fee separately in contract you pay after you move out rather than from deposit.
Not out of the ordinary, unless you’re in a very desirable area, where landlords can get away with murder.
But you’re right. If you break something, the landlord will use your deposit to fix it; that’s partly what the deposit is for. I’d recommend making a personal liability insurance, if you don’t have one already. They’re cheap, and they will take care of other people’s things you break, including in your apartment, and they will also deal with an über greedy landlord, if need be.