Student renting in Tokyo: who can be your guarantor

If an agent says your Tokyo apartment needs a 連帯保証人 (rentai hoshōnin — a joint guarantor) and your family lives outside Japan, ask your school's international student office what it can do before you talk to another agent. The answer decides which rooms you can apply for, and it changes from school to school and from year to year.

A joint guarantor promises to pay if you don't. JASSO's housing guidance says one is generally required when renting an apartment in Japan, and that the landlord can demand overdue rent or repair costs from that person. In practice the agent expects someone in Japan who can pay, and asks them for a 印鑑証明書 (inkan shōmeisho — a seal certificate). The certificate comes from the ward office where the person is registered as a resident. In Minato, for example, you can register a seal only if you have resident registration in the ward and are 15 or older. A parent in another country has no ward office to issue one, which is why "my parents will guarantee" rarely works.

Route 1: ask whether your school will sign

Since 1999, Japan Educational Exchanges and Services (JEES) has run a scheme called 留学生住宅総合補償 (ryūgakusei jūtaku sōgō hoshō — Comprehensive Renters' Insurance for Foreign Students). JEES does not become your guarantor. Your school, or a named staff member such as the head of the international centre, signs the lease as guarantor, and the scheme protects both of you. JEES's English page lists the cost at 4,000 yen for one year or 8,000 yen for two, paid by the student through the school.

The payment buys two different protections. The first is insurance for you: if you damage the room by fire, explosion or a water leak, or cause damage to someone else that you have to pay for, it pays on your behalf, up to 50 million yen per accident. The second protects your school. If you stop paying rent and the landlord collects from the school as your guarantor, the scheme pays the school back for up to three months of rent and up to 100,000 yen of repair costs when you move out, with 300,000 yen as the overall ceiling.

Here is an invented example. Your rent is 70,000 yen and you leave owing three months, which is 210,000 yen, and the landlord also charges 120,000 yen to restore the room. The scheme counts all 210,000 yen of rent but only 100,000 yen of the repairs, which comes to 310,000 yen, and then applies the 300,000 yen ceiling. The school gets 300,000 yen back. You still owe whatever was unpaid; the scheme protects the school, not you.

JEES's note to real estate agents asks them to waive the seal certificate when an institution is the guarantor and accept the school's letter instead, and to skip a second liability policy because the cover would overlap. Keep the enrolment slip JEES gives you; agents check it.

Only your school can tell you whether it takes part, and on what terms. Keio will cosign for your period of study if you join the scheme, cannot find anyone else, have no unpaid tuition or dormitory rent, and apply at least two weeks before you want to move in. It interviews you in person, so it does not accept applications from overseas, and it will not cosign if the landlord requires a guarantee company. Tokyo Metropolitan University says its International Center can serve as guarantor on the same insurance, but that some rooms and agencies won't accept it, so check with the agency first.

Other schools have stopped. The University of Tokyo closed its guarantor system to new applications on 31 January 2025 and now points students to the rent guarantee service run by the university co-op. If your school has done the same, don't wait for a letter that won't come. Go straight to the next route.

Route 2: a guarantee company instead of a person

A 保証会社 (hoshō-gaisha — guarantee company) takes on the guarantor's promise for a fee. You don't usually choose the company. The landlord or the managing agent names one, and you apply through the agent's application form. JASSO puts it simply: a joint guarantor may not be needed if your contract requires a guarantee charge.

Each company sets its own conditions, and student plans still want someone reachable in Japan. The plan one company offers to Hitotsubashi students asks for your residence card (both sides), a student ID or acceptance letter, and one emergency contact who lives in Japan and speaks Japanese, of any nationality; it's limited to one occupant and rent up to 100,000 yen a month. The company Ritsumeikan recommends asks for two contacts, your parents at home and one person in Japan, again of any nationality. Several universities negotiate a student rate, so ask the international office which company it works with before the agent names a different one.

An emergency contact is not a guarantor. They agree to answer the phone, not to pay your rent. If a form asks your friend to sign anything, read the wording with them; the no-guarantor guide explains the difference and covers other routes, including UR housing.

A guarantee company is also not insurance for you. If it pays your landlord, you owe the company that money. The 60-day guarantor guide explains what the agreement says about repayment.

Route 3: housing the school arranges itself

If you apply for a dormitory, ask the university or local government that runs it whether it requires a guarantor; that is their own rule, not a landlord's. JASSO lists no deposit, no key money and no renewal fee among the advantages, and notes that rooms are limited and about 70 percent of international students live in private housing.

The school can also point you to the right agency or guarantee company. Keio's Housing Coordinator Office introduces management companies and real estate companies and says you can search and sign from abroad; the agency still decides whether you need a guarantee company. Some university co-ops offer a rent guarantee service for students. The University of Tokyo now directs students to its co-op's service.

If a friend in Japan offers to sign

Since 1 April 2020, the Civil Code requires a lease guarantee by an individual to state a maximum amount, the 極度額 (kyokudogaku), and MLIT's standard lease has a box for it. Your friend should see that number before signing, and the agent will still ask them for a seal certificate and proof of income. JEES's note to agents points out that the cap applies only when the guarantor is not a corporation, so a school signing in its own name doesn't need one.

When you graduate or change status

The school's guarantee is tied to your enrolment and your Student residence status. UTokyo's page states that if you graduate, withdraw or change status, you fall outside the guarantee, and the JEES insurance expires with it. You then need to buy fire insurance and find a new guarantor; in most cases the agent introduces a guarantee company. Put the end date of your course next to the end date of your lease, and tell the agent when they differ.

HalfKey's furnished Tokyo homes don't need a guarantor, so they can cover the weeks while the school paperwork goes through. You can browse the current homes or send us your dates and what you need.