Hi all, currently have an ongoing rental nightmare here in Japan, so need to vent a bit, but also ask for advice.
Background: I moved to Tokyo last month, and I rented an apartment which within 2 nights of moving in, found out was completely unlivable due to thin walls, cheap glass, and the fact it was both right on a main road and atop an underground subway line that made the noise levels too high and the entire unit shake.
Informed the real estate agent and the management company of this, and their response? Your problem, you want out, read the contract, go by that. Key money, deposit, Cleaning fees + A/C fee, all gone, nearly 600,000 yen total down the drain. It was too bad, so informed them of moving out. All was in the contract unfortunately.
There’s a catch. The real estate agent was rushing us throughout the process, falsely claimed how difficult the rental market is for foreigners to get us to sign quick, and insisted “this unit is managed by my friend, he owes me, you’ll get it.” Massive red flag in hindsight. But the kicker was that the noise level issue was not disclosed prior to signing, and was not apparent on the two times I visited it due to the fact road construction at both times significantly slowed down traffic and reduced the noise.
Literally every person in this transaction has been so slimy, sleazy, and disgusting. Official move out day is the 28th of this month, and given the level of sleaziness and rudeness thus far, I suspect they may try to shake us down on the grounds of “repairs” given its an old, worn out unit. This is because they are trying to shake us down for a move-out fee of 1 month. I don’t want to tie up anything more with them, so I won’t be paying. Take it out of the deposit if you must. Their response? If you don’t pay, we seek it from the guarantee company
Fortunately, I have since got out of there and found a brand new unit in a quiet, better off area for less money.
But does anyone have any advice on how I can avoid losing any more to these Neanderthals and get out of this? Do I have any legal grounds to claim the unit was falsely represented and go after them for my money back? Will the management company going to the guarantor company adversely affect my ability to renew my visa/secure permanent residency down the road or my credit?
14 comments
>Background: I moved to Tokyo last month, and I rented an apartment which within 2 nights of moving in, found out was completely unlivable due to thin walls, cheap glass, and the fact it was both right on a main road and atop an underground subway line that made the noise levels too high and the entire unit shake.
Read the sub. This is the standard Japanese apartment. If you want something with thick walls, good double pained glass, and high enough off street level that it’s quiet you’re going to have to pay a premium for it. If you can find someone who’ll rent to you.
The rest of your story is irrelevant, you signed a contract you didn’t sign a trial period where you can get out of it free if you’re not happy.
You can either pay or the guarantor company will come after you to get their money back knocking on your door demanding payment until it finally goes to court, they get a court order and seize your property to auction off to pay your debt.
What realtor did you use? That seems like a key point for avoiding some badness in the future. I’ve had realtors steer me away from dubious listings before.
An old building on a main road will always be noisy. 100% guaranteed. The subway could come as a surprise if you only visited for a short time.
Well, things to consider for next time. Sorry to hear about your woes.
Sorry to hear this but it sounds like most of it is on you. The age of the apartment should be listed, you should check the location for main roads and the subway, and so on.
Did you visit the unit at 3:00 am? Or did you only view the apartment for like 18 seconds?
How in the world did you *completely miss an underground subway?*
Did they blindfold you on the way in and out of the apartment?
How in the world did you *completely miss the main road right outside?* If you noticed the road construction, didn’t you stop to think a) is that road construction noisy, and b) if not, will the road be busy when the construction finishes?
Pay what you owe, you signed the contract, you viewed the unit – twice. They’re not trying to ‘shake you down’, you’re breaking the lease early, you owe the one-month move-out fee. The idea that the ‘noise level’ wasn’t disclosed is irrelevant, the contract will clearly state where the unit is located, and again – you visited the unit *twice.* If you like dealing with people you think are ‘sleazy and rude’, by all means refuse to pay and have fun dealing with them for the next year or so, and then being made to pay anyway.
You made a bad decision because you basically abandoned all common sense. Mistakes are expensive, but hopefully you’ll learn from this one.
600,000 yen key money is quite a bit. I’m assuming rent is around 150,000 yen a month… at which point you should be getting a nice 2 or 3 ldk everywhere except maybe downtown Tokyo. Even some concrete mansions become an option at this price point. But really… if you aren’t yet comfortable in Japan you should be renting somewhere without Key money. There’s plenty. Even if you are comfortable it’s only (sometimes) necessary if you have special requirements like wanting a pet.
Overall as others said, this seems like a mistake on your end. Nothing you mentioned makes the place “unlivable”. But, if you just moved in they shouldn’t have any grounds to charge repairs (unless you actually damaged something), so no worries there. Of course you shouldn’t pay bogus charges. For the 1 month move out fee… read the contract, if you’re required to pay then pay. Dave Ramsey calls this stupid tax – at least you learned something.
> But does anyone have any advice on how I can avoid losing any more to these **Neanderthals** and get out of this
They aren’t the “Neanderthals” in this situation.
In my experience, all real estate agents are slimy, sleazy, and disgusting. I just hate, hate, hate having to deal with them.
The last one assured me that the apartment was soundproof (during a daytime viewing when all the neighbors were absent). Guess what? I can hear if my neighbors so much as chew on gum. It actually feels like they’re standing next to me.
The same agent also put *enormous* pressure on me to rent that particular apartment and refused to show me any other options, no matter how much I asked to see them (they were listed as available on the website, but had mysteriously become occupied by the time I arrived at the agency).
Another agent outright lied to me about guarantor requirements, and messed us around so much that my personal guarantor got disgusted and backed out, and then so did I. And I got stuck with ¥80,000 of cancellation fees. I was so desperate to get away from that sleazebag that I just paid up.
I’m sorry I don’t have any advice for you, but you definitely have my sympathy.
No landlord, *and I hate landlords*, in their right mind would voluntarily say their room is noisy.
Unfortunately, that’s a typical city apartment. Doesn’t sound like anything out of the ordinary, or that anything was hidden from you.
It was on you to check these things before signing the contract. The real estate agents have a different objective than you have, namely that they just want you to sign a contract for the most expensive place possible as soon as possible, that’s it.
Apartments vary in quality quite a bit in Japan, so you really have to do your research and know what to look for. You can sometimes even find reviews online for certain buildings, etc.
If the rent seems to be too good to be true, there is often a hidden reason for this.
As a rule, good apartments go quickly so it takes some luck in terms of good timing to get one.
How about giving it time. I once moved in next to a railway line. For the first week I though I was going to lose my mind but after a while my brain just switched off the train noise, so I only noticed the first one of the day.
I am very sorry but the first glimpse of the title I was thinking what rectal horror story you have…
When I first came to Japan, I stayed in an Oak House sharehouse (highly recommended and transparent) and begin apartment hunting.
For my current apartment, I visited it 3 times at different days and times and sat in silence for 1 hour, inside and also investigated the surroundings.
I think the lesson here for you is to look before you sign off… and don’t get rushed by the agent.
Don’t they normaly ask what’s important for you?
We got asked everytime we moved and nr. 1 was it should be quiet. There was a construction about a year after we moved in but at night it was quiet at least and now it’s done. I’m sorry it happened to you, sound noise is the worst.