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Features: "Reaching an Accommodation - Page 3" |
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Reaching an Accommodation - Page 3
By: Staff
Looking at the apartment.
Older apartments may not have hot running water or a shower and may have a Japanese toilet. Your agent may believe sincerely that you cannot live with all this - reassure them that you can. | |
Check the apartment out for damage and noise and confirm a "refresh" will be done.
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Check the apartment out for damage and noise and confirm a "refresh" will be done. Old tatami is all very well, (we love it more than pretty flowers) but little bugs live in it through the summer and are difficult to eradicate. Ask how much of your shikikin you are likely to get back. Some fudo-san are prepared to be very candid with you. Check the loo, etc.
Blind date
It is not unknown to be asked to take a place "blind" particularly at the end of the business year and the start of the new college year. (March) You may simply not be allowed in to have a look. By the time the old tenant has left, and the apartment is available for viewing, someone else will probably have taken it blind...
Some fudo-sanya will try to charge you for all of the month in which you are moving in (even if it is the 18th) despite THEM not having the room available until then. Make it clear that you will pay for the time the room is available and you have reserved it. You can't expect them to keep it available and empty for a month just because you want to move in on the last day.
Insurance
You may be offered an insurance policy. It may well be overpriced. Think twice before rejecting it. A - you might need one and it's a lot of hassle to set one up elsewhere just to save a few yen. B - it's one of the few ways the estate agent can make a bit of extra commission ..... and if you want favours from them they will be better disposed towards you. They might be able to save you more money somewhere else up the line than they are taking off you with the insurance policy. But don't overwhelm them with special requests when you first meet.
Paperwork
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...the contract may come back looking like a small massacre has been undertaken in its pages...
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Getting the paperwork sorted out will take about two weeks. You need an inkan, you stamp the contract down the spine of each page. So does your guarantor (who has to show an inkan proof) and various other interested parties. The contract is taken up to a City Hall office and registered. It may come back looking like a small massacre has been undertaken in its pages - 7 of 8 different red inkan stamps down the join of each page is quite normal. Then you can move in. Check the apartment immediately you have moved in and take pictures of any damage. Tell the fudosanyasan immediately as it will be deducted from the returnable portion of your deposit. This will amount to less than half of what you paid out, at best....
Some fudo-sanya are more favourably disposed than others to gaijin. Get the word out to friends as early as you can do and see what they recommend.
A last word about animals - check whether pussy is allowed - in many places there are strict rules.
Remember, apartment hunting is deeply depressing in most countries, not just Japan.
DON'T shout, DON'T lose your temper, DON'T give up and DO DRESS UP!
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