Hey pals!
I am just about to sign a contract for a share house in Tokyo but I don’t trust to send the money by bank transfer to an unknown Japanese bank account.
Does anybody know a website to verify the legitimacy of a society/company/LLC in Japan?
In alternative, is there any commonly accepted payment method that I could use?
Thank you to anybody who can help me.
Can’t wait to come to Japan. See you soon.
4 comments
Google, then research the hits.
Yes transferring the money to them for initial move-in fees is normal. Alternatively, wait until you’re here and do it all with them.
>I don’t trust to send the money by bank transfer to an unknown Japanese bank account.
This is how almost every real estate transaction in Japan is handled. If you want to book a sharehouse before you arrive you are going to need to suck it up and get over it.
>Does anybody know a website to verify the legitimacy of a society/company/LLC in Japan?
You are ***way*** over-thinking this. Unless the company has like zero web presence and is only communicating with you via a hotmail address the chances of it being a scam are effectively zero.
Housing scams (at least the “Advertise a house that doesn’t exist” sort that are popular in the US) are for all intents and purposes *nonexistent* in Japan.
>is there any commonly accepted payment method that I could use?
Bank transfers ***are*** the commonly accepted payment method.
> In alternative, is there any commonly accepted payment method that I could use?
Not exactly common, but some sharehouses might accept credit card. Oakhouse is one such case I know of.
As others have said, this is completely normal and it’s highly unlikely you’re going to get scammed.