Hello,
Last May, I was in the process of apartment hunting and signed a contract with the intention of moving in this month, July. However, due to a work relocation, my employer informed me last month, June, that my start date would be postponed to October. Consequently, I had to cancel the apartment contract and have not yet resigned from my current employer. The fudosan (real estate agency) informed me that I may face a ban, which has caused me some concern. I inquired if the contract could be amended to allow for a move-in date in September, but they declined, stating that it would be impractical as other potential tenants may be interested, and the owner would not wait. Therefore, I had no alternative but to cancel the signed contract. I am now worried if this will impact my apartment search, considering the interconnections among some fudosan agencies.
5 comments
It should be ok 👍
Seems a bit rash on their part. For two months delay. It may take that long just to set up a new tenant and contract if they start now. Some people just follow the rules and don’t think things through. They could have negotiated and settled for 1 month.
I don’t know if they all speak to each other.
My partner and I did an application for an apartment the second week of February. We were promised we could start the contract at the second week of March.
After we were told we were approved, we were told we had to start the contract the third week of February instead.
We weren’t willing to pay so much extra rent before we would move, so we tried negotiating the date to at least the 1st of March. They said it’s impossible. So we said unfortunately we need to withdraw our application.
They responded with several angry emails and kept trying to call us after that. That was the extent of it. We had no problem renting with a different agency.
There are hundreds of real estate companies out there handling properties from many small owners, so you are unlikely to be banned for this. You are more likely to be banned by guarantor companies for not paying rent.
There is one thing to watch out for. Some well established real estate companies try to monopolize the properties in certain areas. You see this in Azabu or Hiroo in Tokyo, but is happens in other areas as well. Their goal is to promote these neighborhoods as premium neighborhoods and then raise the prices on the few apartments in old and worn out buildings that are available. Corporate clients have expat money to burn so they keep going back to these established agencies for the convenience.
It is likely that if you cancel and then try to apply again for an apartment in the such an area you will find yourself unwelcome.
Just go somewhere else. Even if that realtor or that apartment/owner does ‘ban’ you, it won’t affect anywhere else.