Job Discussion Forums

kevinyam · Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 31

I'm about to start a job here at Nova and I'm looking at finding my own apartment now. I'm just wondering how difficult is it to get out of the Nova apartments. I know I have to give thirty days notice, but if I give the notice on say March 5th, does that mean that I will have to pay for the entire month of April because I won't be out by the start of the month??

I don't really care if I'm stuck paying for one or two weeks rent at Nova after I've moved out, but I don't want to be stuck in this apartment until the end of April.

any Nova teachers know how this works??

worlddiva · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:49 pm Post subject:

I don`t know for sure as i don`t work for nova but I know people that do. She did not like her Nova accomodations and decided to move out. She had to pay 2 months rent plus an extra week....definitely check the dates for giving in a notice as it works with the first of the month and not your pay period...at least that`s what she told me yesterday.

that`s all I got.

canuck · Joined: 11 May 2003 Posts: 1921 Location: Japan

Mike L. · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 519

Should be pro rated by the day!

Do a search on this site for "CO-OP housing" or "Danchi" and you may come up with some other alternatives!

worldwidealive · Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 84

nicyvesweet · Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 90

If I may ask: what was wrong with the Nova apartment?

Not being a toad, I'm supposed to be staying in one when I arrive and I'd really like to know your grievance.

worldwidealive · Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 84

johanne · Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 189

Yes, I have to agree with worldwidealive. I lived in a Nova apartment for 1 year in Kanazawa. I was lucky that at the time Nova had just opened their first school there and I had a 3 bedroom apartment to myself for 3 months. However, after those 3 months an arrogant little twit moved in and it was hell for 2 months until he decided to stop whining about how awful Japan was and moved back to England. I was then on my own for another month before another teacher came. I was paying 60,000 yen and it was a nice place. There was a swimming pool on the roof, although it was only opened for 2 months (I don't know why as it was hot enough about 5 months of the year). A third teacher came and he was really getting ripped off since the 3rd bedroom was little more than a glorified storage room - it didn't even have a closet. Luckily for him I moved out a month later, to move in with my boyfriend where I only had to pay half of the 40,000 rent on a 2DK.

I had had the nicest room in the NOVA apartment - with tatami and a large Japaense style closet, so the 3rd teacher was able to move into the 2nd nicest room while the 2nd teacher took my room. This is essentially the problem with NOVA - you never know who who'll be living with or exactly what kind of room you're going to get, even if the apartment itself is nice. Definately find your own place if you're staying more than a year.

Rorschach · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 130 Location: Osaka

It's a mixed bag with Nova apartments. Some of the people I came over with landed in beautiful apartments. I saw one in Kita-Tatsumi (Osaka) that was huge. My apartment on the other hand was a pigsty. I was the first one there. My apartment had recently been vacated by two outgoing teachers but there was still one guy in the apartment who had been there for about 10 months (French branch teacher) and another guy was coming in from Scotland on the same day as me. I was dropped of by one of the Nova admin staff, given a key and told good luck.

I was staggered how bad the apartment was, I was shocked. The toilet smelled like a septic tank and there were brown stains on the wall. The kitchen area was just as bad, the floor was sticky and the sink was piled high with dirty dishes. My room was big but filthy, the carpet had all sorts of bugs crawling through it. My first three hours in the apartment I decided to move out as soon as possible. I had to stick it out in that apartment for 2 months saving the money to move. It was tough because with Nova you are paying rent in arrears but with a normal apartment you have to pay in advance. So for one month I had to pay rent on two places at once, it almost broke me (those first 3 months were perhaps the worst for me).

Nova accomodation is good if you only intend to stay a year. If you have even an inkling that you will stay longer find another place because you are being overcharged on rent. I would have stayed in my apartment had it been cleaned before I came and I lived with people I got along with (entirely different story).

kevinyam · Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 31

That's good that you can leave at any point in the month and not have to pay the full month.

My apartment just isn't worth the rent I'm paying. Heater barely works, stains all over the carpets,and a 4.5 mat bedroom with a closet barely big enough to fit 1/3 of a normal persons wardrobe.

worlddiva · Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2005 12:21 pm Post subject:

sorry about the misinformation...I was just telling you what a Nova teacher told me. Smile

worldwidealive · Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 84

Johanne has another point, and that reminds me. (I am assuming that you are female, Johanne) That is something else that happened to a co-worker. She was a woman and had a man move into her apartment for 2 months during a "housing crunch". She was not pleased that she was in a co-ed living environment with a strange man. Although she got along with him well in the end, the lack of privacy is bad enough in Japanese apartments without having to be "properly dressed" at all times in your own home.

WWA

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

Why assume - - - when someone says "they" are moving in with a boyfriend - - - that person is a female? Be careful!

Also, I'm thinking of coming to Japan in the fall. Don't know if I'd be working for Nova, but I really like living on my own - - are all Nova apartments shared?

worldwidealive · Joined: 03 Mar 2004 Posts: 84

johanne · Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 189

Yes, I am female. I personally didn't mind sharing with guys - it was more the fact of what a idiot one of them was. However, NOVA didn't offer me a choice here. There were only 5 teachers on staff as it was a small school and they had 2 apartments available for all of us to share and the numbers never worked out to have a "female" and a "male" apartment. To tell you the truth, I don't think NOVA cares at all about this point. The other apartment had a couple sharing with a male teacher and yes, each member of the couple was paying rent to NOVA. They found their own place after a couple of months.