Job Discussion Forums

[Black_Beer_Man]

Seems like there's a glut of empty apartments to rent in the Kanto area, but getting one at a low price is still difficult.

I think I need to go through a real estate company (even though we're in the 21st century and I would have thought online sites would have made going to their offices to look at photos and floorplans obsolete).

And despite the soft real estate market, most of these companies are asking for exorbitant service fees and key money.

My employer won't act as a guarantor, so I looked for a real estate company that does not require one.

Leo Palace got back to me, but to get into one of their apartments, I have to pay fees that are not typical of real estate contracts (ie: fees made up out of thin air).

Besides the usual fees, there are fees for disinfection (17,000 yen) and lock changing. These unsual fees are on top of the 30,000 yen cleaning fee that one has to pay when he / she moves out.

My Japanese friend and his mother thought that the disinfection fee was out of the ordinary (ie: fishy).

Does anybody know an honest real estate comany in Japan that won't take me to the cleaners?

[Rooster.]

I used a local estate agent, but this was the company I used.

http://www.apamanshop.com/sp/

I used a guarantor company instead of my work.