So I have been living in the same apartment since I moved to Japan(Tokyo) 6 years ago.
The owner was an old Japanese guy (never met him) but the management company was right across the main street nearby. No issues so far.
Then, in 2019, the ownership is transferred to another company and I am sent some documentation about the transfer and a new bank account to pay rent to. I do that and life goes on. In late 2019 my contract is up for renewal, finally, I meet the new owner (rather employees of the company the lease transferred to) and they send me the contract renewal stuff, I pay the fees, etc.. and it’s all done.
Last year in December my contract is up for renewal but I hear nothing from them. I try contacting the phone number in my renewal documents to no avail. Now here is the fuck-up (on my part), at the time I was planning a month-long trip home and also was switching jobs so I forgot about it after getting no response, and then this year I went on my trip, came back, joined a new job, and never thought about my contract again. It’s possible they tried to get in touch but missed me when I was away. But I have no notices or letters from them. As far as I can tell no contact at all. Of course, I have been transferring rent on time without fail to the same bank account. My phone number and email are also the same so they know where to reach me (and they have SMSed and emailed me in the past during the previous renewal).
Now here I am more than 6 months past my renewal date with no contact. I have been trying to call them and email them for a few days with no response yet. I suppose I could go to their registered address but it is a bit far and according to Google doesn’t really look like a front office, just a plain building.
So I’m wondering what my worst-case options are. Of course best case they get back to my emails or calls but if I am unable to get in touch at all, what should I do? Even if I wanted to move I would need to contact them right.
Sorry If it sounds a bit silly but I would love to hear what you guys think. Also, this is a throwaway because my real account has old posts with the neighborhood I live in, don’t want anyone to look it up.
3 comments
In Japan, once a room is rented, the resident has strong rights.
As long as you are paying your rent, you will not be evicted, even if your contract is overdue for renewal. If you can get in touch with the manager, you can simply renew the contract retroactively.
However, you probably signed a term fire insurance in addition to your room contract. Have you renewed that? Normally, that should be sent to you directly for renewal, not through the management company. If you forgot to renew your fire insurance, you should contact your insurance company immediately.
Not an expert but my understanding if you are on a standard lease is that the contract is automatically renewed every two years, or at least that in cannot be stopped by the landlord alone. However you are supposed to pay a 1 month worth of rent renewal fee so they should be chasing you for that and not the other way around lol
Even if your contract was a fixed term lease, if they forgot to ask you about renewing or let you stay past the end of your contract without a specific check out date, then your contract has been automatically renewed as a regular (ongoing) lease.