I’m looking to move again. I read some other posts here about rent and the outrageous fees when moving, and undoubtedly someone always says to negotiate them down or away. I’ve moved 4 times in Japan so far but never had the thought to try and negotiate due to lack of knowledge about it.
So how would you actually go about doing that?
And at what point of the process can/should you do it? It obviously has to be before you sign the contract, but is it something you bring up while first viewing the apartment? Or something you ask before applying? Or just after you pass the financial investigation, before signing the contract?
First, a review of some of the costs:
1. Rent (家賃)
2. Deposit (敷金)
3. “Thank you” or remuneration fee (礼金)
4. Realtor agency fee (仲介手数料)
5. Key/lock changing fee (玄関鍵交換費)
6. TV/Internet fees, like a mandatory J:COM subscription
7. HOA fees (町内会費)
I had a few ideas in mind:
1. Look at other similar apartments for rent in the area and find an average price. Use that to talk down any rent that is above it. And if there aren’t any others up for rent in the area, try to find what other people are paying in the area? How might you do that?
2. Look for anything missing from the apartment and use it as a bargaining tool. For example, is it missing an aircon in a primary room? Then say you’ll need to buy an aircon yourself so you’d like them to get rid of the 礼金 or 仲介手数料.
3. I’m actually looking at a house in a residential area that’s for rent, and they list the renter as having to pay the HOA fees each month. This really seems to me like something the actual owner of the house should pay themselves. Can I ask them to get rid of it? It’s only 300 yen per month, but still…
4. I have no interest in J:COM service so want to refuse it. But how?
Are any of these tactics likely to work? What ideas do you have?
In practice, which of the fees have you been able to negotiate away, and how? Have you negotiated rent down, and how?
Would love to read some stories with actual examples of how you did it.
If it matters, I’m married to a Japanese person so language wouldn’t be a problem. It’s just that neither of us have any idea how to go about it.
4 comments
I have succeeded in lowering the rent on a five bedroom house in Tokyo, but it was a very unusual property with a strange layout, and not many people could actually use it. That kind of negotiation succeeds once every 100 requests, I bet.
But in general if you want to live in central Tokyo you usually won’t be able to negotiate anything down, price wise, on the landlord side. Multi-tiered discounts are already built into the system, and rent can almost never be lowered. The non-monetary conditions and the facilities CAN often be changed. You could easily have a Washlet toilet added to a larger apartment, for example.
Outside of Tokyo the rent and fees can sometimes be lowered. Wherever there is less demand, there is more desperation.
As for the real estate agent you are working with, if you decide quickly and apply right away, they may be able to lower their real estate fees. But not on the most desirable properties, which require a lot of effort to secure while everyone else is trying to apply for them at the same time.
The better the property the higher the fees. This is how they PREVENT excess applications. If you want to look at dozens of places before choosing, or you try to use more than one real estate agent (agents can tell if you are doing this) then you will likely get no discount.
Honestly I just look for places to rent that doesn’t ask for 3,5,6 online
Obviously you’ll only be able to negotiate on units that other people don’t want to rent for whatever reason, which means you’re specifically looking for shitty and/or overpriced units. Not sure that’s a great way to hunt for a rental.
Asking for reduction in secondary costs (key money, deposit, miscellaneous fees, etc.) is very possible, although it largely depends on the property in question, the location, and many other factors. I’ve convinced property owners to remove key money costs on more than occasion.
Asking for a reduction in rent is generally a lost cause but still possible in exceptional circumstances. Unfortunately, most property owners are willing to sit on empty properties for as long as possible before reducing rent costs. They’re more than ready to play the long game and understand that prospective tenants are often more desperate and willing to fold than the owners.