Renting in Japan can be a complicated business. Finding a place as a foreigner can be challenging on its own, but pair this with a complicated system of moving in fees and renting can seem needlessly complicated. One very big positive of renting in Japan though, is that rental laws tend to favor the tenant rather than the landlord so with those initial hassles out of the way, you’re generally protected from things like sudden rental increases or your landlord constantly turning up on your doorstep.
But what happens on the other side of moving in, specifically, what happens if you’re faced with eviction. This is a worst-case scenario, but it is something that, on rare occasions, can happen. In this article, we take a look at possible reasons for being evicted from a property in Japan and what your rights are as a tenant if such an event occurs.
Breaking Contract Rules
Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of evictions: those where the rental contract rules have been broken, and those that are through no fault of the tenant. The first kind is probably the one most people think of when they hear the word ‘eviction’ but they are not something that will happen to you as long as you are paying your rent on time and respecting the conditions of your lease.
While laws do typically favor tenants in most legal situations in Japan, breaking fundamental lease agreements are a situation where a tenant can find themselves in a huge amount of trouble and more than likely end up in court with even more expenses than they started with. Typical things that will incur this type of eviction are:
- non-payment of rent
- using the property for business purposes
- keeping a pet in a property where it’s not allowed
- subletting rooms
- repeatedly breaking rules regarding noise, rubbish disposal, parking or any other building rules
- making unapproved alterations to the property
These types of things will usually incur a series of warnings and can escalate to court quite quickly if nothing is done to remedy the situation. Even so, a tenant cannot be evicted instantly and the proper procedure must be followed before the final eviction order is given. The tenant, of course, has the legal right to defend themselves in court though if it gets to this point, legal fees quickly start to mount up. In the event that an eviction is enforced and the tenant refuses to leave, officers have the right to enter the property and remove the client’s belonging’s, charging even further legal and storage fees.
If a tenant has probably broken the rules of their rental contract, they generally won’t have a lot of bargaining power. The best thing to do in this situation would be to address it as early as possible, before it even gets to court, whether that be paying owed rent or addressing any of the other issues that might have caused them to break the lease conditions.
Other Types of Evictions and Your Rights as A Tenant
Though the above is the main type of eviction people think of, another type of eviction can occur through no fault of the tenant. These can occur based on the property owner’s request such as in situations where the ownership of the property changes hands and is re-purposed or if the landlord decides to demolish the building. These kinds of no fault evictions are much more rare than on the tenant side but are definitely something that can happen, particularly in older buildings. In these no fault situations, the landlord or real estate agent must follow strict processes and the tenant has more rights in terms of negotiations.
Getting evicted in this kind of situation can come as a massive shock but if it happens, it’s important to remain calm, do some research and be aware of your rights in the process. First of all, the landlord needs to provide a justifiable reason for terminating the lease. Legitimate reasons can include things like plans for redevelopment, the building being in danger of collapse or the landlord or their family needing to live in the property. These are typically judged on a case-by-case basis, but the landlord or real estate agent needs to have a legitimate reason and needs to fully explain these reasons to the tenants.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the landlord needs to provide compensation to the tenant for this type of eviction and the tenant needs to agree to that compensation. This is where negotiation comes in and the tenant has a lot more power in this situation. If the tenant refuses to accept the property owner’s terms, it can proceed to court which can be even more costly for the property owner.
As far as compensation goes, the landlord only needs to pay this in the case of a regular lease. Though somewhat rare, there are fixed term rental contracts for specific periods of time that are not eligible for an eviction fee as long as the lease period ends. The majority of housing leases are regular leases though and can be renewed indefinitely. These are the ones that are eligible for compensation.
In calculating compensation or eviction fees, there are quite a number of factors that need to be considered. As anyone who has moved house in Japan knows, moving costs can be very expensive. These need to be taken into account by the landlord as part of the eviction fees paid to the tenant. Your existing rent, the current rental market, key money, removalist expenses and real estate agent fees all need to be taken into consideration as part of the settlement amount. Even the cost of you taking time to look at new places to live needs to be included. If you’re ever in this situation, these are also things that you should take into account when figuring out how much you want to negotiate for. The most important thing is that you should only sign your agreement once you’re satisfied with the amount of compensation that you’re offered.
The Art of Negotiation
The prospect of being evicted from a property that you’re renting can be very frightening, but one thing to remember is that Japan has very strong tenant protections for renters. As long as you are not the one who has broken the lease rules, you have a right to compensation. If you ever find yourself in this kind of situation, just remember to be calm, do your research and try to negotiate the best terms for you.
