I’ve just signed a contract for a new apartment in Japan after a day of hunting via two different estate agents. One based in Ikebukuro, and the other in Iidabashi. Both were looking for me east of those locations, but the end results was markedly different.

The first way Lead Trust and the second Able.

In the end I signed with Able, however I first went to Lead Trust. Also recommended to me were Mini Mini, but in the end I didn’t go. They do apparently deal in quite a lot of very small, but cheap apartments and a English friend of mine said good things about the company. Lead Trust I didn’t get any recommendations about, but a Japanese friend found some apartments online via them so he booked an appointment for me. Able was recommended via a friend as having been used twice before with good results.

From my experience, don’t use Lead Trust. Their service was fine, although I didn’t like the fact that everything they showed me has two months gift money （礼金）when 1 month is common, but the apartments were OK and we got taken to three, the last of which was a newly refurbished, pretty large manshon（マンション） 3 minutes from a very convenient station. The price was good (1 month gift money), the location excellent. The final bill however was extortionate. Their agency fee was 1.05 (one point zero five) months rent, which isn’t unusual but many agencies at this time of the year have a campaign for half price fees. The apartment also came with a cleaning fee (nearly half a month’s rent), for the previous tenant or for me, I don’t know, and an extra fee (1/4 month’s rent), I can’t remember what it was for, and then the thing which made me angry; a charge for a guarantor company even thou my Japanese friend sitting next to me was going to be the the guarantor. ‘But because you’re a foreigner the guarantor company is still required, even if you have a guarantor already’ they said. That’s an extra 1/2 month’s rent, please. Bollocks. I’m not entirely sure if that was a lie, but research online suggests this just isn’t the case. You only use a company if you haven’t got a Japanese that can do it. Maybe different landlords are picker than others, but the guy in the agency said ‘almost always’ this is so, which I do think is either ignorance or a lie.

Suffice to say, I didn’t sign. In any case, I still needed to see Able.

This estate agent was far better. Same service (I see why they charge so much, you get driven to each place by an agent), but with a better selection of apartments with lower initial fees. They had a campaign which was half price fees, and no cleaning fee or guarantor money. I got a new apartment in a nice location for work, for a lot less up front money. They even pushed the gift money down a bit on my request.

You can go with other companies who specialize in dealing with foreigners. I was recommended Tokyo Rent but they didn’t have anything in the area I wanted. There are others too. I expect rents to be higher with these companies or else quality lower.

A few things I learned.

1) Searching online isn’t as useful as I thought. The information of some apartments was just wrong. Campaign special prices that rise after 3 months, or just plain wrong. I don’t think there was a single one found online that we actually went to see. If you want the most accurate information go direct to an agency and get them to find places. You have to do it anyway.

2) Check the charges first. Obvious, but I really wasn’t expecting that guarantor charge or cleaning fee.

3) Learn to write your address, occupation and company address, in kanji.

4) Generally you have to pay gift money. Places without tend to have higher rent.

There are other options. I could have rented a place with my company. It would have been furnished, although probably not cheaper for the location I wanted. No initial fees, of course, but if I move company I have to move apartment anyway. I could have got cheaper rent If I’d hunted more but I had a deadline and the place I finally found was very nice.

Now the hassle of moving my stuff, and cleaning this current apartment to within an inch of it’s life.