Housing Office | Housing Information | Selection of Conditions for Housing Search

Now that you have a good understanding of the housing situation in Japan, the next step is to actually find your desired home. Since it is not easy to find a room that 100% meets your needs, it is important to clarify and prioritize your conditions and needs.

Selection of Conditions for Housing Search

※Tips to utilizing services offered by real estate agencies※

Before visiting the real estate agency, it is important that you gather information beforehand from magazines, internet, colleagues and UTokyo staff members to understand the market range of rent and conditions. The real estate agency may not take you seriously if the conditions you demand for and the rent range you are willing to pay are far off from what is realistically available. Please keep in mind that many real estate agencies tend to be closed on Wednesdays. Real estate agencies in some areas are also closed on Sundays, so please check the available business days and hours prior to your visit.

Specific Points to Consider

1:Decide on your budget (We recommend that you keep monthly rent within 30% to 40% of monthly income）

2:Selection of location based on conditions such as time to commute, choice of train line, and desired area

3:Consider distance to closest train station (XX minutes by walk / bicycle, etc.）

4:Decide on your desired room layout（Studio type room, separate living room and dining room, etc.）

5:Decide on conditions to prioritize, such as:

Located on second floor or above
Adequate sunlight
Abundant storage space
Room with a loft
Room size of over XXm²
Internet infrastructure（equipped with fiber optic cable）
Use of guarantor service provider allowed
Supermarket nearby
Close to a Japan Railway station

Points to be careful

・Some rooms prohibit pets or use of musical instruments. If you have pets or want to play a musical instrument in your room, please notify the real estate agent of your needs. (It is common for landlords to charge an extra 1 month rent worth of deposit if you want to have a pet in your room.)
・Room sharing is rare in Japan. Having roommates is typically disliked and discouraged by landlords. This is because landlords worry about the possibility of one person moving out, which would double the rent for the person left behind. Also, in most cases where rooms are designed for singles (i.e. one room, 1K, 1DK), landlords would deny tenants requesting to live with 2 people or more. Although there are many international students who wish to have a roommate to minimize rent payment, this is customarily uncommon in Japan.

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※If you sign the lease contract as the only person to live in the room and end up either living with over two people or sub-leasing the room without prior consent of the landlord, you risk losing the trust of your landlord and would also be breaching the law.
※For international students who seek room sharing and who also wish to use the Joint Guarantor Assistance System offered by UTokyo, the roommate must be either a family member (spouse and/or child) or another student of UTokyo.

Planning your move

Please start your housing search 1.5 to 2 months prior to your desired move-in date. A general timeline for your search would be:

Finding housing you like････････････few days to 1 month
Applying and getting approval from landlord････････････few days to 1 week
Contracting, exchanging keys, and moving in････････････2 weeks

It is not customary in Japan to be able to see rooms that are occupied by others. You will only be able to see rooms that are vacant or ones where the previous tenant has completely moved out. You also cannot reserve a room in advance (without payment). Therefore, even if you find a room that you like 3 or 4 months before you move, you will not be able to secure it without paying for rent. Thus, starting your room search too early is not necessarily a good idea.