TL;DR: Who is responsible for fixing a leaking faucet in Japan, the tenant or the landlord?
I’ve been in the same apartment for about 5.5 years now (coming up on 6). My lease ends in April, and I was thinking of moving instead of renewing. The building is roughly 20 years old.
Last winter my kitchen faucet started leaking a little. It stopped in the summer, but now that it’s gotten cold again the leak has come back and is noticeably worse.
In all these years I’ve never had to contact the management company, and looking at their Google reviews… they seem like the type that tries to charge extra for small repairs, especially for foreigners.
I’m considering fixing it myself by just buying replacement seals, but before doing that I wanted to ask: is a leaking faucet normally the landlord’s responsibility or the tenant’s in Japan? I’ve read before on this sub that the landlord is responsible for water heaters, hot-water issues, etc.
I’ll be moving out around March/April, so technically I could just leave it leaking since the water bill doesn’t change that much.. but I really don’t like wasting water.
A friend told me not to call the landlord/management because they might charge me for a full faucet replacement when I move out instead of just the seal.
by wakaokami