No-guarantor apartments in Tokyo: where the check moved

You can rent in Tokyo without a 保証人 (hoshōnin — a guarantor, one named person who agrees to pay your rent if you stop) and without a guarantor company. Five products do this. None of them dropped the screening. Each one swapped the guarantor for a different test, and your job is to find the test you pass.

The tests are an income multiple, a savings balance, a rent prepayment, an operator carrying the risk itself, or your employer signing in your place. This guide gives you the five classes, the documents each asks for, the arithmetic at 3 and 18 months, and the questions to send before you pay.

Why the ordinary 2-year lease started asking

Japan's amended Civil Code took effect on 1 April 2020. 民法第465条の2 governs a 個人根保証契約 (kojin ne-hoshō keiyaku — an open-ended guarantee signed by a person rather than a company). Paragraph 2 is one sentence: 「個人根保証契約は、前項に規定する極度額を定めなければ、その効力を生じない。」 ("a personal open-ended guarantee has no effect unless it sets the maximum amount named in the preceding paragraph"). The Ministry of Justice leaflet names the rental case directly: 「不動産の賃借人の一切の債務の保証がこれに当たります」 ("a guarantee covering all the obligations of a property tenant falls under this").

So a landlord who wants your friend to sign has to write a yen figure into the contract first. That figure is the 極度額 (kyokudogaku — the ceiling on what a guarantor can ever be made to pay), and the ministry says it must be 「「○○円」などと明瞭に定め、書面に記載しておかなければなりません」 ("clearly set as a specific yen figure and recorded in writing"). Skip it and the guarantee is void.

A 保証会社 (hoshō-gaisha — a guarantor company) is a company, not a person, so none of this applies to it. That is why the agent's form now carries a company name instead of a blank line for your uncle.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism keeps a register of those companies. Registration is optional: 「これは任意の登録制度であり、登録をしなくても家賃債務保証業を営むことは可能です」 ("this is a voluntary system; a company can run a rent-guarantee business without registering"). Ask which company you are being sent to, and whether it is registered.

Where the check went, class by class

Read the second column first. It says who loses money if you stop paying, and the rest follows.

The public option, and the number that decides it

UR is 都市再生機構 (Toshi Saisei Kikō — the Urban Renaissance Agency, the government body that runs public rental housing). Its own page numbers four charges it does not make: 「1.礼金ナシ！」「2.仲介手数料ナシ！」「3.更新料ナシ！」「4.保証人ナシ！」: no key money, no agent fee, no renewal fee, no guarantor. Move-in cash is 「敷金（月額家賃の２か月分）と日割り家賃、共益費だけ」 ("only the deposit of two months' rent, pro-rated rent, and the common charge"). The deposit comes back.

The check moved to income, and UR publishes the bar as a table. For one applicant: rent under ¥62,500 needs monthly income of four times the rent, rent from ¥62,500 to under ¥200,000 needs ¥250,000 a month, and rent of ¥200,000 or more needs ¥400,000. For a household the brackets move to ¥82,500 and ¥330,000.

Two doors open if you miss that bar:

• Savings. 「申込者本人の貯蓄額が、基準貯蓄額（月額家賃の100倍）以上ある場合」: 100 times the monthly rent, in your own name. On a ¥120,000 apartment that is ¥12,000,000 sitting in an account. Look at that number before you plan around it.
• Prepayment. Pay rent and the common charge up front for a set period, in whole years up to ten. UR's wording: 「この制度をご利用いただく場合は、収入要件は問いません」 ("the income requirement does not apply when you use this scheme").

Foreign residents are eligible. The same page names the accepted statuses: permanent resident, diplomat, official, special permanent resident, and 中長期在留者 (chūchōki zairyūsha — mid-to-long-term residents, meaning anyone holding a residence card). A 90-day tourist entry is not on that list.

One document trap sits here. UR warns that a 住民票 (jūminhyō — resident record) issued to a foreign resident leaves fields blank unless you ask for them. At the ward office, ask in writing for nationality, residence status, period of stay, the expiry date, and the residence-card number.

Contracts auto-renew every year, with no renewal fee. Units come empty: UR's copy talks about the saved money going toward 「購入予定のインテリアや家電製品」 ("interior items and appliances you plan to buy").

What the operator checks instead

On a furnished mid-term stay, the operator (the company that runs the furnished rental) holds the master lease (the long lease it signs with the building owner, separate from your contract) and signs you on a 定期借家 (teiki shakka — a fixed-term lease that ends on a stated date). If you stop paying, the owner still gets paid, because the operator owes that rent either way. That is why no guarantor appears on your paperwork.

The substitute check is four documents: a passport, a residence card or visa paperwork, a bank statement covering 3 months of rent, and one emergency contact who can live in any country. The documents guide has the format for each. HalfKey asks for no guarantor company and no personal guarantor, and holds a unit for up to 7 days without payment on a visa-application receipt or a job offer.

Three situations still draw a request for a personal guarantor here: a very expensive serviced unit, a tourist-visa stay with no employer behind it, and a guest with no income to show. The 60-day guarantor guide walks each one.

Sharehouses, and the fastest path if your employer is Japanese

A sharehouse rents you a private bedroom in a shared building. Operators in this class usually use no guarantor company. They take their own refundable deposit, commonly ¥30,000 to ¥60,000, plus one emergency contact, on a month-to-month contract with 30 days' notice. The stay-type guide compares the four products on cost and deposit.

社宅 (shataku — company housing) is the shortest path if it is open to you. Your employer signs the lease and pays the landlord, so your employment is the guarantee. Email HR before you look at a single listing. UR runs a corporate programme, so the answer can be yes even at a small company.

The math at three months and at eighteen

Assume a ¥120,000 studio, one applicant, central Tokyo, and a furnished equivalent at ¥180,000 a month.

The 2-year lease with a guarantor company. The ministry's 2016 briefing on the market recorded the common rate: 「契約時の保証料は、初回時月額賃料の50％、以後一年毎に１万円と設定している事業者が多い」 ("most companies set the fee at 50% of one month's rent at signing, then ¥10,000 each following year"). On ¥120,000 that is ¥60,000 now and ¥10,000 at month 12. Around it sits the rest: 礼金 (reikin — "gratitude money," non-refundable, one to two months) at ¥120,000, 敷金 (shikikin — a refundable deposit) at ¥120,000, and the agent's fee. The ministry notification on agent pay caps that agent at 「借賃の一月分に相当する金額以内」 ("no more than one month's rent") across both sides, so ¥120,000 plus tax.

Non-refundable cash before you sleep there: ¥60,000 + ¥120,000 + ¥120,000 = ¥300,000, plus ¥120,000 of deposit you must have and will get back.

• At 3 months: ¥300,000 of fees against ¥360,000 of rent, so the fees cost ¥100,000 a month. The contract runs 2 years, so leaving at month 3 costs more again.
• At 18 months: ¥310,000 of fees, counting one ¥10,000 renewal, against ¥2,160,000 of rent. The same stack costs ¥17,200 a month.

The furnished mid-term route. No reikin, no agent fee, no guarantor fee. You pay higher rent, a departure cleaning fee around ¥50,000, and a setup fee of ¥10,000 to ¥30,000. Take the setup fee at ¥15,000, so ¥65,000 of one-off charges. At 3 months on ¥180,000: ¥540,000 + ¥65,000 = ¥605,000, against ¥660,000 on the 2-year route. At 18 months: ¥3,305,000 against ¥2,470,000.

The rent gap is ¥60,000 a month and the upfront gap is ¥235,000. ¥235,000 ÷ ¥60,000 = 3.9. From month 4, the 2-year lease is cheaper on cash.

UR at the same rent. ¥120,000 a month, no key money, no agent fee, no renewal fee, ¥240,000 of refundable deposit. At 18 months that is ¥2,160,000 and nothing else, or ¥310,000 less than the private 2-year lease on identical rent. What you clear instead is ¥250,000 of monthly income, ¥12,000,000 of savings, or a prepayment.

Read that crossover honestly. Month 4 is where cash says leave the furnished product. People who stay past it stay for one of two reasons: they cannot pass anyone's check at month zero, or they do not yet know their end date. Both are good reasons. Neither is about the money.

Six questions to send before you pay

Send these in one message and wait for written answers.

1. Is a guarantor company required on this unit, and what is its name?
2. Is that company on the ministry's 家賃債務保証業者登録制度 register?
3. What is the initial fee and the yearly renewal, in yen?
4. If a personal guarantor is required instead, what 極度額 goes into the contract?
5. Will you accept an emergency contact who lives outside Japan?
6. What income or savings figure do you screen on, and which document proves it?

Clear answers to all six mean the check is one you can price. A hedge on question 3 or 6 means the screening is discretionary, and that is where foreign applicants lose weeks.

Work out which check you pass, then inquire

1. Write down three things today: your monthly income, your savings balance, and your visa status with its expiry date. Those decide which classes are open to you.
2. If you have a Japanese employer, email HR about 社宅 first. That answer arrives fastest and removes the whole problem.
3. If your income clears ¥250,000 a month, search ur-net.go.jp for your wards, then order the resident record with the foreign-resident fields spelled out.
4. If your stay is under 12 months, or the end date is still open, price a furnished mid-term unit against the month-4 crossover before signing anything 2-year.
5. If you take the 2-year route, get the guarantor company's name, its registration, and both fees in writing before you apply.
6. If you'd like HalfKey to compare a furnished mid-term shortlist for you, reply to this article's contact form with your dates, ward, and budget.

— HalfKey runs furnished Tokyo apartments with no guarantor company or personal guarantor required. Browse listings for your dates.