I’m thinking of moving into a new place with my girlfriend and wondered if the No Foreigners Allowed places would still be off limits in this scenario?
They will definitely more lenient if a Japanese citizen is renting with their foreign partner. To make it easier on yourselves when talking with the agents, you can “white lie” and tell them you are engaged or getting married (please discuss this ahead of time with your partner of course…).
In my case (myself the foreigner), the contract on our place is fully my gf’s name and guarantor is her parents. I have met the agents and they shared that it would create less issues to have only her name.
In the end, as I understand, the landlords are free to reject for whatever reasons, even if the agents provide assurances.
If your partner can use some aggressive negotiation: my supervisor in grad school called the agencies, introduced himself, and asked them to show apartments for one of his students. Only after they had already agreed that he said my name. When they said they would have to check if foreigners were allowed he changed his tone “isn’t that against the law?” and reminded them it was all being recorded since it was an official call from the university.
If you partner can keep your name out until the last second, I think your chances improve a lot. Specially if you must be the main person on the lease (in case your work gives better housing subsidy than your partner’s).
Save yourself time, ask beforehand if the places you wanna see will accept foreigners. In fact, make sure they actually call and double check it with the owner. Some places don’t want your money, other places do. The question is how much time are you willing to waste…
And obviously I think this is fucking awful, but it what it is. Debating it with the real estate agents won’t change a thing and no landlord will go on record saying they don’t want to rent just because you are foreigner, they will find some other reason.
A lot of the dislike is foreigners can leave tomorrow, having a Japanese partner fixes this, especially as she may need to get her family to co-sign. If stuff’s in her name and you’re just tagging along, should be far easier.
If they don’t want foreigners living there, why would you want to give them your money?
Just let her rent it and make sure its not max 1 person on contract then after she got it. Just move in. Not much they can say or do. I usually do this.
For my first apartment, the company between us and the owner recommended my wife be the primary tenant because he likely wouldn’t do it with me.
My second one I just moved into, the owner was completely fine with… certain foreigners… Vietnamese? No. Me as a German? Sure.
I don’t know these individual situations enough to make a comment, but I have never been refused an apartment (no guarantor, no Japanese wife) since I moved here, even for an extended-but temporary consultancy contract in any city all over the country.
Salary? Resident Status? Why is it only happening to certain people? Something does not add up.
I had some places reject us (my now spouse then boyfriend) when we were looking for apartments to rent. The agent contacted the landlord over the phone and said essentially “one half of the couple is a foreign– oh, oh, okay, okay, goodbye”. Really depends on the landlord, unfortunately.
Let your partner go to the procedure sign contract and all
Anecdotal but I’ve never ever been rejected for an apartment with my Japanese husband. I’m white from a western country so that probably helps too. We’ve always gotten our first choice for apartment
People from countries that are looked down upon more or stereotypes as messy, rude, slobby, dirty, low class, untrustworthy, etc. or that are viewed as cooking “smelly food” are probably rejected more
Congratulations on your recent engagement!
Depends on the guarantor for your gf. Japan owners want to see family guarantors with full time job with significant household income. If you plan to stay in Japan for long term at some point you need to buy, as you will then actually get access to the nicer areas in newer buildings and not needing to pay the foreigner premium in rent prices.
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They will definitely more lenient if a Japanese citizen is renting with their foreign partner. To make it easier on yourselves when talking with the agents, you can “white lie” and tell them you are engaged or getting married (please discuss this ahead of time with your partner of course…).
In my case (myself the foreigner), the contract on our place is fully my gf’s name and guarantor is her parents. I have met the agents and they shared that it would create less issues to have only her name.
In the end, as I understand, the landlords are free to reject for whatever reasons, even if the agents provide assurances.
If your partner can use some aggressive negotiation: my supervisor in grad school called the agencies, introduced himself, and asked them to show apartments for one of his students. Only after they had already agreed that he said my name. When they said they would have to check if foreigners were allowed he changed his tone “isn’t that against the law?” and reminded them it was all being recorded since it was an official call from the university.
If you partner can keep your name out until the last second, I think your chances improve a lot. Specially if you must be the main person on the lease (in case your work gives better housing subsidy than your partner’s).
Save yourself time, ask beforehand if the places you wanna see will accept foreigners. In fact, make sure they actually call and double check it with the owner. Some places don’t want your money, other places do. The question is how much time are you willing to waste…
And obviously I think this is fucking awful, but it what it is. Debating it with the real estate agents won’t change a thing and no landlord will go on record saying they don’t want to rent just because you are foreigner, they will find some other reason.
A lot of the dislike is foreigners can leave tomorrow, having a Japanese partner fixes this, especially as she may need to get her family to co-sign. If stuff’s in her name and you’re just tagging along, should be far easier.
If they don’t want foreigners living there, why would you want to give them your money?
Just let her rent it and make sure its not max 1 person on contract then after she got it. Just move in. Not much they can say or do. I usually do this.
For my first apartment, the company between us and the owner recommended my wife be the primary tenant because he likely wouldn’t do it with me.
My second one I just moved into, the owner was completely fine with… certain foreigners… Vietnamese? No. Me as a German? Sure.
I don’t know these individual situations enough to make a comment, but I have never been refused an apartment (no guarantor, no Japanese wife) since I moved here, even for an extended-but temporary consultancy contract in any city all over the country.
Salary? Resident Status? Why is it only happening to certain people? Something does not add up.
I had some places reject us (my now spouse then boyfriend) when we were looking for apartments to rent. The agent contacted the landlord over the phone and said essentially “one half of the couple is a foreign– oh, oh, okay, okay, goodbye”. Really depends on the landlord, unfortunately.
Let your partner go to the procedure sign contract and all
Anecdotal but I’ve never ever been rejected for an apartment with my Japanese husband. I’m white from a western country so that probably helps too. We’ve always gotten our first choice for apartment
People from countries that are looked down upon more or stereotypes as messy, rude, slobby, dirty, low class, untrustworthy, etc. or that are viewed as cooking “smelly food” are probably rejected more
Congratulations on your recent engagement!
Depends on the guarantor for your gf. Japan owners want to see family guarantors with full time job with significant household income.
If you plan to stay in Japan for long term at some point you need to buy, as you will then actually get access to the nicer areas in newer buildings and not needing to pay the foreigner premium in rent prices.