The email to send a Tokyo operator before booking

Send this email before you book any furnished mid-term Tokyo apartment. One message, six questions, plain English. The operator who replies with a clean numbered answer is the operator you want. The operator who answers four of six and ignores the rest is showing you the contract you would have signed unread.

The six questions cover the only six things that move the total cost of your stay. Cleaning, utilities, deposit, signing fees, who collects commission, and the cancellation grid. They are the same six lines a Tier 1 operator already publishes on the listing page (see the operator transparency tiers for what Tier 1 looks like). Asking them in writing forces the rest of the market to answer in writing too.

This guide gives you the email, the six questions verbatim, and what to do with each answer when it lands.

The six questions, in this order

Copy this into an email. Fill in the unit reference and your dates. Send.

Hello, I am considering booking [unit reference] for [start date] to [end date]. Before I confirm, please answer the following in writing:

What is the total cleaning fee, when is it charged, and is any portion refundable?

How are utilities handled: flat-fee with the monthly amount, or metered with a typical winter and summer bill on this unit?

Is any refundable deposit required, what conditions trigger withholding, and how long does the refund take after move-out?

Are there any non-refundable signing fees, including key money or initial-charge equivalents, and what is the contract type?

Am I booking direct or through an agent, and is any commission charged to me?

What is the cancellation policy as a grid by days-out, and is the cleaning fee refundable on cancellation?

Thank you.

That is the email. Send it to every operator on your shortlist. Send it before you ask about availability, before you pay any deposit, before you book a viewing call.

The order matters. Cleaning first, because it is the fee operators most often hide. Cancellation last, because the answer changes how seriously you read the rest. An operator that quotes a punitive cancellation grid (no refund inside 30 days) is telling you the deposit numbers had better be exactly right before you wire the money.

What each answer means

The answer you want is a number with a yen sign and a refund condition. Anything softer is a tell. Below: the green-light answer per question, the yellow-light variant, and the red flag.

Question 1: Cleaning

Green: "¥24,000 flat, charged at booking, non-refundable after move-in."

Yellow: "¥24,000 to ¥35,000 depending on stay length, confirmed at booking." Acceptable. Ask for the exact amount on your dates.

Red: "Cleaning is included in the rent" with no breakdown, or "we will discuss cleaning at signing." Operators who bury cleaning in the rent are the same operators who later add a "departure cleaning surcharge" on the move-out invoice. See the departure cleaning fee guide for the full math.

The Tokyo range for a furnished studio is ¥18,000 to ¥35,000. Outside that range in either direction needs an explanation.

Question 2: Utilities

Green: "Flat-fee, ¥9,000/month, no overage." Or: "Metered. Last winter average ¥7,500, last summer average ¥6,200 on this unit."

Yellow: "Flat-fee, ¥9,000, with an overage clause above 300 kWh." Acceptable. Ask what the overage rate is and what triggered it last year.

Red: "Utilities are billed separately by the building" with no number, or "all-inclusive" with no breakdown. The kōnetsuhi (光熱費 — "light-and-heat fee," the bundled utility line) is where the all-inclusive headline price goes to die. An operator who cannot quote a winter and summer bill on the unit has not run it long enough to know.

Question 3: Refundable deposit

Green: "Zero deposit." Or: "One month's rent, refundable within 30 days of move-out, withheld only against unpaid charges and damages assessed by photo."

Yellow: "One month's rent, refundable within 60 days." Sixty days is about as long as you'd want to wait. Ask whether you receive an itemised damage assessment.

Red: "Deposit refundable subject to cleaning checklist," with no defined checklist. Or any answer that talks about 敷金 (shikikin — security deposit) without naming a refund window. The legal ceiling on cleaning deductions from shikikin is set by Tokyo Metropolitan Government guidelines, not by the operator. An operator who does not know that ceiling has not been audited on it.

Question 4: Signing fees and contract type

Green: "Zero non-refundable signing fees. Contract is a 短期賃貸借契約 (tanki chintai shakka keiyaku — short-term lease agreement) under a 定期借家 (teiki shakka — fixed-term lease)."

Yellow: "Initial-charge ¥30,000, covers contract drafting." Acceptable on serviced-apartment products. Ask whether it is itemised on the invoice.

Red: "Reikin one month." Or: "Contract is a standard residential lease." Either answer means you have stumbled into long-term-lease territory by accident. 礼金 (reikin — "gratitude money," non-refundable payment to the landlord) should not exist on a true mid-term furnished stay. A standard residential lease drags you into the whole 2-year lease system that midterm furnished is supposed to skip. Walk.

Question 5: Commission

Green: "Direct booking, no commission to you."

Yellow: "Through our partner agent, half-month commission." Acceptable when a broker is involved. Ask whether the agent can be removed from the chain.

Red: "One month plus tax, charged separately at signing." That is a 仲介手数料 (chūkai tesūryō — agent commission) at the top end of what's legal. Combined with reikin in question 4, it signals you are being routed onto a long-term lease product. Midterm furnished operators usually cover this fee themselves.

Question 6: Cancellation grid

Green: "30+ days out, full refund minus cleaning fee. 14 to 29 days, 50%. Under 14 days, no refund."

Yellow: A grid that starts the no-refund window at 21 or 30 days out. Acceptable on unique inventory or peak season. Ask whether the cleaning fee is refundable inside the no-refund window.

Red: "Cancellation per agreement." Or: "Subject to operator discretion." This is the most common dodge you'll see. It is also the most expensive one to accept. The full grid is documented in the cancellation policies guide. An operator who refuses to commit to one is holding the grid back so they can use it against you after you've paid.

Reading the reply

A complete reply answers all six in order, with yen amounts, refund conditions, and a contract-type name. It comes back within 1 to 2 business days. The operator confirms in writing that the answers will be honoured at signing.

Two patterns to watch for.

The phone-call redirect. "These are easier to discuss on a call. Can we schedule one?" No. The point of the email is the paper trail. Reply: "I would like to confirm the answers in writing first." A Tier 1 operator answers the email. A Tier 2 operator answers after one nudge. Tier 3 and Tier 4 try to move the conversation off paper.

The partial reply. Four answers are clean; two are vague. The two that are vague are usually cleaning and cancellation, in that order. Re-send: "Thank you for points 1, 3, 4, and 5. Could you also confirm point 2 (utilities) and point 6 (cancellation grid by days-out)?" An operator who answers the second time has a careless email writer. An operator who ducks again has decided you are not worth being clear with. That is the warning sign.

Comparison: how each tier responds

Question	Tier 1 reply	Tier 2 reply	Tier 3 reply	Tier 4 reply
1. Cleaning	Yen amount, refund rule	Yen amount, refund rule after one nudge	"Included in rent"	"Per agreement"
2. Utilities	Flat or metered with bills	Flat amount, no overage detail	"All-inclusive" with carve-outs	"Billed by building"
3. Deposit	Amount, refund window	Amount, refund window	Amount, "subject to checklist"	"Subject to inspection"
4. Signing fees	Zero, contract type named	Zero, contract type named	"Initial charge ¥X"	Reikin, residential lease
5. Commission	Direct, zero	Direct, zero, or partner with rate	Partner, half-month	One month plus tax
6. Cancellation	Full grid by days	Full grid by days	"Cancellation policy applies"	"Per agreement"

A reply that lands in the Tier 1 column on all six is the operator you want. A reply with any Tier 4 answer means the deal is going to cost more than the sticker. Assume the worst-case interpretation of that answer is what you'll pay at signing.

HalfKey publishes Tier 1 fee tables on every unit and sends the same six answers in writing on inquiry. The point of the email is not to test HalfKey. The point is to have a benchmark you can use against any operator in Tokyo.

If you have already sent it, do this today

Once the replies start landing, work through them in order:

Open a spreadsheet with seven columns: operator, then one column per question. Paste each operator's answer into its cell. Vague answers go in red.
For any red cell, send the partial-reply nudge above. Wait 1 business day.
For any operator with a still-vague answer after the nudge, drop them from the shortlist. The signal is real.
For the remaining operators, total cleaning, utility flat-fee, deposit, signing fees, and commission. Compare totals against rent. The lowest rent rarely produces the lowest total.
For the top two by total cost, check the cancellation grid against your dates. A 50% window starting 30 days out is fine if you booked 60 days ahead. It is not fine if you booked 25 days ahead.
Pick one and ask for the contract draft in English. Reply within 48 hours of receipt to hold your dates.
If you'd like HalfKey to run the same six answers across a furnished shortlist, reply to this article's contact form with your dates.

The email takes about 4 minutes to write. The replies come back in 24 to 48 hours. The deal it saves you from is the one you would have spent the next 90 days inside.

— HalfKey sends the same six answers in writing on every inquiry. Use them as a benchmark when reading replies from other operators.