Finding a flat in Tokyo

Just like anywhere else in the world, finding a flat in Tokyo is a stressful and expensive task. It requires patience yet quick and possibly risky decision-making at times, and seeing all the great properties just outside budget is horribly depressing. To be honest, I don't even like writing about the process, re-living some of the stress, but here goes. (There's a lot to cover, so the writing's a bit sloppy - apologies in advance).

Letting/Estate/Property/Realty agents, whatever you call them depends on where you are from, can often be found near the train stations for the area you wish to look in. They are easily recognized by the numerous cards with floor plans and exterior photos. These cards a fairly comprehensive and contain lots of the information you're after: size classification, actual size in square meters, a quite detailed floor plan, number of minutes walking from the station(s), property age, rent per month and (most of the) additional payments required.
The agent will have many more available to look at inside, and if you are somewhat picky like we are, you are quite likely to look at hundreds of these before going to see any flat on the inside.

Size classification: Properties are labelled with one of the following codes for quick categorisation. They'll give you a pretty good indication of size, and apart from your budget you'll be asked which kind of flat you're after.

1K (One Kitchen): A studio flat, one room with open kitchen inside.
1DK (One Dining Kitchen): Practically the same, just slightly bigger.
1LDK (One Living Dining Kitchen): One combined living/dining room with open kitchen, and a seperate bedroom.
2LDK (Two Living Dining Kitchen): The same, but with two seperate bedrooms.
The list goes on, obviously, with 3LDK, 4LDK, etc.
One thing you soon notice is that having a seperate kitchen in a rarity in this country. When it's there, it will be indicated with an "S" for Separate somewhere in the label, but you'll rarely come across it.

Actual size in square meters & Detailed floor plan: With the last property agents I've had to deal with being in London, I find these two bits of information a luxury.

Most flats in Japan are very small, so it's good to be able to check if the layout is a little clever. Personally, I'm not too fond of having the door to the toilet open directly onto the kitchen.

Each room size is given in number of tatami mats, which (in Tokyo) are 180x90cm each. The most common size for a room is 6 tatami. The floor plan also indicates which rooms actually have tatami flooring, easily recognized by the layout pattern drawn in the plan. Most flats have one tatami-floored room, older flats often more, and newer flats are the most likely to not have tatami flooring at all.

Number of minutes walking from the station(s): If multiple stations are within walking distance they will all be listed, the maximum being usually 15 minutes. The further the flat is from the station, the lower the price is likely to be.

Property age: While the average lifespan of a building in Europe is 50 years, in Japan it is closer to 20 years. A property older than 10 years is considered quite old, and the rent is likely to be lower than that of a newer flat.

Rent per month: This figure is definitive, unlike in the UK where a potential tenant can make an offer on the month's rent.

And finally, listed in numbers x monthly rent, there's the deposit and "gift money". The deposit is usually 1-2 months, and can be expected to be refunded when you end your tenancy.
The "gift money" however is another matter. As the name indicates, this is a "gift" from the tenant to the landlord, which you pay out of thanks for him letting you rent his property. This isn't a requirement for all properties, but this being the equivalent of one or two months rent are equally common.

The hidden costs are revealed later, once you've seen and/or decided which place you want to rent. The property agent takes another month's rent for their services, there's the key money (cost of getting a new lock installed), insurance, and if applicable, a building service charge and additional rent for a car parking spot.

After sifting through the cards an agent will take you to a limited number of flats. Depending on the distance between the flats you are seeing, you may be riding the train with the agent instead of being driven around by car.

We made our decision quite fast, after seeing only four properties on the inside. That in itself made us question if we hadn't decided too quickly (more stress). The flat we'd chosen unfortunately required 2 months deposit and 2 months "gift money", but at least we no longer would have to look around any more. By this time we'd spent many days looking at floor plans online, checking their location in Google Earth and had visited several property agents already.

Once you decide, you need to present a Guarantor - someone who, in the event of an emergency would be able to pay your rent. The ideal candidate for that is Japanese man with a steady job. My brother in law was kind enough to fulfill this formality. Before we could move in though, the landlord would still have to approve of a foreigner without a full-time contract living on his property. For a friend of mine who lives here that has been reason enough to be rejected twice from properties he wanted to rent. I guess we got lucky then, because after a few weeks we got the approval before me even having started work, and my wife wasn't working at the time either.

So, if you want to rent in Tokyo, be willing to cough up up to 6 months rent before you can move into your pricey, cozy and utterly empty flat. There will be no furniture, fridge, cooker, washing machine or bed in it. I'll give some tips on how to get those dirt cheap in an upcoming post.