I will be moving from Tohoku to Chiba Prefecture at the end of next month. I was just approved for the apartment I wanted and originally hoped to start my contract at the end of November to secure a good location and start moving my things things down slowly.
I want to start my contract and get the keys on 11/30, but I cannot actually relocate to Chiba until after 12/23 which is my last working day in Tohoku. After doing some quick research, it seems there is a 14 day window between when you “move in” to when you must register with the city hall. I assume the move in date is when you get the keys, whether if you physically stay in the apartment or not…
Can I have two apartments (1 Tohoku, 1 Chiba) at once while I go through this month long transition? Or will I run into potential legal troubles going this route? It is my first time moving and handling everything on my own in Japan so any advice is greatly appreciated.
3 comments
The moving date is when you actually move. Not uncommon for people to have two houses or more.
Plenty of people do this, you can have two lease agreements/houses and there’s no problem.
Just don’t forget to get your moving out certificate before you leave Tohoku. You have two weeks after you get it to register at your Chiba city office.
Yep, you can do this and a lot of people do. I moved last year and had about a week of crossover between the two apartments (which I did deliberately so I could move my stuff gradually).
As long as you only use one of the addresses as your registered address (I.e. your juuminhyo) then it’s not a problem and you won’t get into any legal bother. As others have said, don’t forget to do all the move-in, move-out procedures within the correct time frame.