“I was charged for outrageous fees for moving out of an apartment…”
You might be one of many facing this kind of trouble.
The following three troubles are often reported in moving out of an apartment.
・ Charged for outrageous fees for moving out
・ No refund of security deposit
・ Charged for repair costs for damage/stain that you don’t remember
To get straight to the point, you fundamentally don’t need to pay for outrageous fees in moving out of an apartment. Unless the damage/stain is caused intentionally by you, like spilling some juice and leaving some stains/spots on the floor, we are not responsible for paying outrageous fees.
You can get a security deposit back, which is around ¥100,000, and avoid paying a lot of money if you know the trouble measures.
So, this time, we explain the following.
・ What is the “obligation to restore the site to its original condition” in moving out
・ Examples of typical troubles and the trouble measures
・ Key points to avoid being charged for outrageous fees in moving out
At the end of the article, we introduce what to do when the trouble gets too knotty to solve, so please check it out as well.
Residents are obligated to restore the site to its original condition when they move out
.
Before introducing typical troubles, we briefly explain the “obligation to restore the site to its original condition” required to all residents.
The obligation to restore the site to its original condition means a responsibility that you must clean a room/space you rent as much as possible before moving out. Most residents owe themselves this obligation, and a real estate company calculate moving-out fees based on this obligation.
However, the obligation doesn’t include the following.
・ Deterioration over time.
・ A part of the damage on floor/wall caused in everyday life
・ The damage caused by a natural disaster such as earthquake
The damage caused in everyday life are, for example:
・ Discoloration on floor by sunlight
・ Holes/scars made by putting a poster on the wall
・ Stains inside of an AC and a screen door
・ Damage caused by installing an AC on the wall
These damages can be caused/made by everyone, and are not by intention. So, restoring these damages are usually subject to an exemption from the obligation in many cases. Also, first of all, you don’t need to pay the cost of repair because it’s included in a security deposit.
Please refer to “The Guidelines for Trouble regarding Restoring to its Original Condition*” issued by MILT – Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, to figure out which damage you should be responsible for. According to the guidelines, you need to clean up the following.
*Unfortunately, it’s available only in Japanese, but here is an alternative resource in English: https://www.juutakuseisaku.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/juutaku_seisaku/tintai/pdf/310-6-jyuutaku_eng.pdf
・ The damage/stain caused by residents’ carelessness (e.g., mold caused by not enough cleaning
・ Trash/stain made in everyday life (e.g., grease stain in the kitchen)
The above is the borderline for being pursued for responsibility, so please keep it in your head.
We introduce typical trouble and how to deal with it next.
Typical trouble – Case 1: Charged for outrageous fees
The first typical trouble is “charged for outrageous fees.”
Some real estate companies charge outrageous fees, like hundreds of thousands of yen, as a “cleaning fee.” Many people think, “Well, I’ve lived here for a long time…,” and feel they have no choice but to pay. However, as a fact, this is not always necessary to pay.
As we mentioned in the beginning, the damage/stain caused in everyday life is hard to avoid as long as we live, and this is not included in the “obligation to restore the site to its original condition.” A landlord is supposed to cover the repair cost from a security deposit that we paid, so we don’t need to pay a cleaning fee.
However, the current situation is that many residents don’t know the rule so that they give up and pay the outrageous fees.
How to deal: Check special policy conditions regarding house cleaning
As a measure for this trouble, please check special policy conditions regarding house cleaning on a housing contract.
In many cases, a cleaning fee for moving out is written on the housing contract you made when you move in. So, you don’t need to pay if there is no line mentioning you are obligated to pay the cleaning fee when you move out.
Also, if you are supposed to pay the cleaning fee, the average amount is equal to one month’s rent (¥50,000~¥100,000). If you are charged more than the amount above, it could be illegal.
Please check the following if you are charged the outrageous moving-out fees.
・ What exactly you are paying the moving-out fees for
・ Check the moving-out fees are mentioned in special policy conditions regarding house cleaning
Please burden the fees if you intentionally cause the damage/stain.
Typical trouble – Case 2: No refund of security deposit
The second is that you didn’t get your security deposit back.
You might remember that you paid a security deposit and a key money when you moved in an apartment. Each meaning is:
・ A security deposit: A deposit that covers the fees for putting your room back into the original condition when you move out.
・ A key money: Sort of an honorarium to a landlord for renting you an apartment.
The key money is not refundable since it’s sort of an honorarium to the landlord. However, the security deposit is for the purpose of putting your room back into the original condition. So, if your room is clean enough, there is no reason to be used. Thus, fundamentally, you should be able to get the security deposit back when you move out.
However, many people don’t know that they would be able to get the security deposit back, and most real estate companies take it all. The average amount of the security deposit is equal to one month’s rent (¥50,000~¥100,000. That’s a lot of money…) We believe many people would be happy to get it back.
How to deal: Check a housing contract and talk based on the guidelines
Please check a housing contract first if you don’t get a security deposit back. In fact, as we mentioned earlier, a policy regarding the refund of the security deposit is written on the contract (e.g., “the security deposit is not refundable.”) in many cases.
For example, if the contract says, “the security deposit will be used for cleaning.,” you don’t get the security deposit back. Either you need to pay or not will be judged based on which/what kind of damage/stain you are responsible for, like we introduced in the case 1.
Please go talk to a real estate company if the contract doesn’t mention about the security deposit. As a result, in many cases, you get the full amount of the security deposit back.
Typical trouble – Case 3: Charged for repair costs for damage/stain that you are not responsible for
The third is “charged for repair costs for damage/stain that you are not responsible for.”
In an apartment whose age is old, there might be the damage/stain left by a former resident.
In most cases, you are not responsible for the repair because you didn’t cause/make the damage/stain. However, you may be charged if you cannot prove that you are not at fault of the damage/stain.
How to deal: Take some photos of your room on the day of moving in
Please take some photos of the apartment on the day of moving in to prove you are not at fault of the damage/stain. By taking pictures of your room without furniture and home appliances, you can prove there was already this damage/stain when you moved in.
Especially, a smartphone camera automatically records the date as well. We recommend you to take some photos of every corner of an empty room on the day of moving in first, and keep them until the day of moving out.
Go talk to a Shohi Seikatsu Center (Consumer Affairs Center) if you can not solve a problem by yourself!
So far, we introduced the typical troubles in moving out and how to deal with them, but sometimes it becomes too hard to solve a problem by yourself.
In that case, we recommend you to go talk to the following agencies.
・ Kokumin Seikatsu Center (National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan): An agency whose mission is to create stable and improved people’s lives
・ Shouhisha Center (Consumer Center): An agency that deals with complains and queries from consumers about a product and service. The agency is in each prefecture.
The above are the specialized agencies, and also they commit to neutrality and impartiality. So, they won’t create unfavorable circumstances and relationships by blaming a landlord/real estate.
Please consider asking the agencies above help if it becomes difficult to solve a problem by yourself.
Summary – Avoid the trouble in moving-out by knowing examples of typical trouble and how to deal with them.
In this article, we introduced the examples of typical trouble and how to deal with them.
To sum up, the following are examples of typical trouble.
・ Charged for outrageous fees for moving out
・ No refund of security deposit
・ Charged for repair costs for damage/stain that you don’t remember
And trouble measures we introduced are:
・ Check special policy conditions regarding house cleaning
・ Check a housing contract and talk based on the guidelines
・ Take some photos of your room on the day of moving in
You should be able to avoid paying unnecessary moving-out fees by knowing the examples and the trouble measures.
Regarding moving-in to/out of an apartment, many people may wonder what exactly “brokerage fee” means.
We explain about broke
