Staying with friends/family while househunting

Hi folks,

Just a quick one. If one were to move to Japan on a working visa, would they be able to have a short-term stay (eg. 1-2 months) with friends or family while looking for a place to rent long term? Particularly, how would this affect things like town-hall registration, residence cards, opening bank/mobile accounts, paperwork when starting work, etc.

Essentially – if someone is willing to let you stay with them for a while, do any other institutions care that you’re not a tenant/owner of that residence?

Related question: if said friend/family member were themselves a renter and not a homeowner, would they likely get in trouble for letting someone stay for an extended period of time? Not sure what typical Japanese tenancy agreements say about this sort of thing.

1 comment
  1. >Essentially – if someone is willing to let you stay with them for a while, do any other institutions care that you’re not a tenant/owner of that residence?

    So long as you’re able to receive mail at the address you should be fine.

    >If said friend/family member were themselves a renter and not a homeowner, would they likely get in trouble for letting someone stay for an extended period of time?

    It depends on the terms of the contract. Having friends stay for a bit shouldn’t ever cause issues. Having friends register the place as their legal residence and staying for a few months may cause a landlord to have concerns. If your friend/family are concerned they should talk to their landlord to make sure there are no surprises.

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