Hello everyone, I (JLPT N5) just arrived in Tokyo 2 weeks ago, its my first time living here as student. I am not sure how to handle being tricked by real estate agent.
The school I enrolled in (English language study program) has foreign student services department but chances of them helping out seem slim.
Summary of issues:
- Crucial info not made known before payment
– Apparently, Japanese mobile number is required before moving in to prevent utilities cutoff. As such, electricity and air conditioner did not work during 1st day of summer move-in.
– He scheduled Tokyo Gas’ visit on my school day (which means I would definitely miss the visit) even after telling him I won’t be available, and then told me to re-schedule myself.
– Procedures for contacting utility companies was not made known (e.g Tokyo Gas). Agent promised to connect me with "his connection" for smooth name-transition of utilities after signing contract paper, this never happened.
- Dishonest
– No follow up on statements or promises e.g claimed during unrecorded phone call to want to assist regarding no running hot water in shower (i did not think about testing the shower’s hot water because it is summer time). See screenshot for his response. https://imgur.com/a/5Nq0HLB
– Contract is 2 yrs but he claims no penalty if contract is cut after 1 yr stay.
– Expenses such as 消毒料 & 入居安心サービス are claimed by him to be mandatory, “as required by building owner” (I cannot verify this because the owner company does not speak English).
– Claims that 鍵交換料 is not key exchange fee, but is "lock fee" (i brushed off this red-flag because he’s non-Japanese, but find it weird that he mistranslated this despite working as agent for 1+ yr)
Due to these issues (and certain others I won’t mention to maintain brevity), I am thinking of leaving back for my home country.
What should I do in this case? My biggest concerns are the electricity and water would be cut off again for the remainder of my stay here.
I will stay at hotel but I hope to recover my 6x months payment (total <700k JPY), which include 2x months deposit or 敷金 (which he stated that 1x month is un-refundable for property maintenance fee) and 1x month advance payment for Sep.
I would appreciate any advice or help you can give. Thank you very much.
by jojotanjaya
10 comments
“Ok then you are on your own!” is an insane reply holy shit.
Fuck you too Samir.
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Sorry you are dealing with such a stressful situation.
I think you being N5, which basicslly amounts to nothing, is causing a lot of the issues here tho.
You seem to be relying on Samir to do a lot of the stuff like setting up utilities which are usually handled by the tenant, not the real estate agent.
Unless im misunderstanding something and they are explicitly offering some service that is meant to guarantee to help you set up water, gas, etc., then they are not really to blame for you not researching on your own what requirements, like a Japanese phone number, there are.
it was your decision that school is more important than a comfortable life. You are a weakling and Japan is not for you – if you run away from such a small problem. It is harsh here (but not like people living under missiles in Ukraine). A SIM card can be bought for any tourist in 1 day – just google (1650 yen per month). Good luck, drink more milk and not give up…
My suggestion is first, to make a timeline (what promises) and save all proof (failure to held them).
Then, call Foreign Residents’ Advisory Center (FRAC) about “daily life” and tell them about your situation, especially your utilities. Sorting them out should be far cheaper than staying in hotel.
[https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/about/0000002541](https://www.seikatubunka.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/about/0000002541)
If you have someone that can speak Japanese on your behalf, you can also try calling JP Consumers Affairs: [https://www.kokusen.go.jp/map/index.html](https://www.kokusen.go.jp/map/index.html)
*They do have English hotline [https://www.cht.kokusen.go.jp/en/](https://www.cht.kokusen.go.jp/en/) but this is stated “for tourists”.
I am NAL, but that since you have paid your money, my guess is recovering them will need court order (lawyer, free consultation at houterasu, etc).
Looks like Samir is incompetent and only there to handle English-speakers. Do you have anyone who can speak Japanese that can help you speak to the Japanese staff at Minimini?
I don’t know about the other points, but for the penalty after 1 year I can share my experience.
I also had a 2 year contract at my current place. However I’ll move after exactly 1 year because it is precisely said that I have to pay a one-month-rent fee if I leave before 1 year.
And I said, I’ll move in a few weeks after exactly 1 year there (despite a 2 year contract) and the only thing I had to pay in addition to my rent was the cleaning fee (and that was also explicitly written in contract).
So on that point, he might be right, but you have to check the contract you signed.
I’d try your school as I’m sure they have experience with housing problems and could get someone to help negotiate for you.
I don’t think you were tricked. Real estate agents being bad with communication and situations being a bit different and specific properties having different rules that the agent aren’t fully aware of (because they’re lazy) is quite normal. Agents are quite shit in Japan.
What it sounds like is this: The agent didn’t give you the full run down on every little thing about renting in Japan, because it’s not their job and they’re lazy. You learned some hard lessons about Japan’s real estate market, like having a ton of deposits especially for foreigners and utility companies being ruthless about time (I’ve never known a utility company to come when convenient).
So what do you do? Live there, or cut your losses. You signed a contract with them for this situation, unless they’re doing something obviously illegal or outside of the contract contents, there’s not much you can do. And I don’t think they’re doing anything illegal.
Your school definitely has someone who can help you out. Please ask someone for help before running away. This will seem minuscule in a few weeks time once everything is settled.
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