Move-In Cost Breakdown: What 4-6 Months Actually Buys

Japan move-in costs turn one month of rent into a lump sum several times larger before a tenant receives the key.¹ SUUMO, a major portal run by Recruit, puts the typical band at 4.5 to 5 months of rent, with each line item dated and sourced below so a first-time renter can budget the move without surprises.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).

Overview

This guide breaks down the private-sector rental move-in stack for first-time renters: what each line item buys, which ones come back, and what the total reaches (as of 2025-09-28; confirm current figures with a local real estate agency).¹ It covers Japanese-national and foreign renters alike, since none of these charges is gated by visa status as a legal rule.¹²

A companion overview of the rental market as a whole, How Renting Works in Japan, covers the search process, the two-year contract cycle, and the guarantor system in depth; this article stays on the arithmetic.

The Full Stack at a Glance

The stack builds from one month of rent to a lump sum in layers, as the diagram shows.¹

Item	Amount	As of	Notes
敷金 (shikikin, security deposit)	1 month guide; Kanto practice 1-3 months	2025-09-281	Refundable in principle, minus restoration and arrears1
礼金 (reikin, key money)	1 month guide; Kanto practice 1-2 months	2025-09-281	Non-refundable gratuity to the landlord12
仲介手数料 (agency brokerage fee)	0.5-1 month + tax; 1 month typical	2025-09-281	Statutory cap of 1 month + tax in total3
前家賃 (advance rent)	1 month	2025-09-281	First month prepaid at signing1
保証会社利用料 (guarantor-company fee)	0.5 month of rent + common fee, or 50-100% of total rent	2025-09-281	Plus an annual renewal charge4
火災保険料 (fire insurance)	10,000-20,000 JPY per 2 years	2025-09-281	Band varies by household size12
鍵交換費用 (key-exchange fee)	15,000-20,000 JPY + tax	2025-09-281	Varies by lock type2

The table above reflects agency guides current in late 2025 (as of 2025-09-28; confirm current figures with a local real estate agency).¹ SUUMO's worked example from national averages totals 389,534 JPY on a 77,677 JPY rent, and payment is typically due as a lump sum 7 to 14 days after application.¹

Have the full lump sum liquid before touring units

Move-in costs are due at signing, not spread over time. Holding four to six months of rent in cash before applying avoids a scramble once a unit worth taking turns up.¹

How the total reaches four to six months

The rule of thumb is simple: total move-in cost equals monthly rent times 4.5 to 5 (as of 2025-09-28).¹ That multiple assumes deposit, key money, agency fee, and advance rent at one month each, plus the guarantor and insurance charges.

Listings with zero deposit, zero key money, or zero agency fee still land well above zero. Surcharges under other names, such as contract processing fees, can offset the advertised saving, so every line still needs checking before signing.¹

Shikikin and Reikin: Deposit Versus Key Money

These two confuse first-time renters most, because both are quoted in months of rent yet behave oppositely. One is a refundable deposit; the other is a one-way gift.

Shikikin: the refundable deposit

The 敷金 (shikikin, "security deposit") is money held against end-of-tenancy restoration costs and unpaid rent, with the balance returned in principle after deductions.¹ The planning guide is about 1 month of rent, while Kanto-area practice spans roughly 1 to 3 months (as of 2025-09-28; confirm current figures with a local real estate agency).¹²

Only damage beyond normal use can be charged against it. Under MLIT's restoration guideline, aging and ordinary wear are covered by rent itself; the tenant pays only for fault, negligence, or beyond-ordinary damage.⁵ A zero-deposit listing does not remove this settlement, since separate cleaning fees can still be billed at exit.¹

Reikin: the non-refundable gift

The 礼金 (reikin, "key money") is a gratuity paid to the landlord for letting the room, and unlike shikikin it is never returned.¹² The guide is about 1 month of rent, with Kanto practice spanning roughly 1 to 2 months (as of 2025-09-28).¹²

Zero-reikin listings are increasing as landlords compete for tenants. Reikin practice also concentrates in the Kanto area, while Kansai listings more often use shikibiki conventions that bundle non-refundable portions differently.¹²

Agency Fee, Guarantor Fee, and Advance Rent

These three are the largest remaining cash items after deposit and key money. Two of them have statutory or contractual ceilings worth knowing before signing.

Chukai tesuryo: the agency brokerage fee

The 仲介手数料 (chūkai tesūryō, "brokerage fee") pays the agency that showed the unit and handled the contract paperwork. The market norm is 1 month of rent plus tax, with half-month and zero-fee promotional cases (as of 2025-09-28; confirm current figures with a local real estate agency).¹²

The law caps the total both sides pay at 1.1 times one month of rent including tax. For residential leases, each side pays at most 0.55 times one month of rent including tax unless that party consented in advance with disclosure of the cap rule.³⁶ The base is pure rent only, excluding common-area and management fees.³⁶

Confirm agency-fee consent before the brokerage request is accepted

Consent to pay more than 0.5 month plus tax must come before the brokerage request is accepted, with the cap rule disclosed. A figure presented mid-process is harder to refuse, and any over-cap portion is void.³⁶

A zero- or half-fee promotion does not always apply to every listing, so confirm the fee per property rather than per agency.¹

Hoshō-gaisha fee: the guarantor-company charge

The 保証会社 (hoshō gaisha, "rent guarantor company") advances missed rent to the landlord, then bills the tenant; the tenant's duty to pay does not disappear.⁴ The standard plan charges an initial fee of 50 to 100 percent of total rent or a flat 20,000 JPY, plus an annual renewal of 10,000 to 20,000 JPY or about 10 percent of total rent (as of 2025-10-09).⁴

A second planning figure in wide use is 0.5 month of rent plus the common-area fee (as of 2025-09-28).¹ The tenant generally cannot choose the company, since the landlord or manager designates it.⁴ MLIT runs a voluntary registration system for these businesses, created in October 2017, but registration is optional rather than a license to operate.⁷

Zen-yachin: the first month up front

The 前家賃 (zen-yachin, "advance rent") is simply the first month of occupancy prepaid at signing, not an extra fee. Contracting in February for a March move-in means prepaying March rent, with mid-month move-ins adding pro-rated daily rent.¹ Budget 1 month of rent for this line (as of 2025-09-28).¹

Fire Insurance and Key Exchange

These two are fixed-yen charges rather than months of rent. Both are small next to deposit and key money, yet both are effectively mandatory.

Kasai hoken: fire and renter's insurance

The 火災保険 (kasai hoken, "fire insurance") policy covers fire and water-leak trouble, and nearly all leases require joining one; the premium goes to the insurer.¹² Two-year renewal is the standard, with two years of premium paid at each renewal (as of 2026-09-06; the agency guide page is undated, verified on fetch).²

Singles pay about 10,000 to 15,000 JPY and couples or families about 20,000 JPY, against an Apamanshop agency guide band of 15,000 to 20,000 JPY (as of 2025-09-28; confirm current figures with a local real estate agency).¹² A tenant may substitute a self-chosen policy, but proof of coverage is commonly demanded.¹

Kagi-kokan-dai: the key-exchange fee

The 鍵交換代 (kagi-kōkan-dai, "key-exchange fee") pays for replacing the cylinder used by the previous tenant. It varies by lock type and commonly runs 15,000 to 20,000 JPY plus tax (as of 2026-09-06; the agency guide page is undated, verified on fetch).²¹

Budgeting as a Foreign Renter

Foreign renters face the same price list, with one structural difference: the personal guarantor the system once assumed is often unavailable, so guarantor-company use becomes effectively a lease condition.²⁴ Budget the guarantor line as unavoidable rather than optional, and expect a second screening by the guarantor company itself.⁴

MLIT publishes a facilitation guideline for landlords and agencies with multilingual contract templates and checklists in 14 languages, plus a list of registered guarantor companies offering foreign-language support.⁸ The Ministry of Justice names apartment refusal because the tenant is foreign as a real pattern, and answers it with counseling and awareness activity rather than adjudication.⁹

Adjacent law sits near the issue without resolving it. The 2016 Act on the Promotion of Efforts to Eliminate Unfair Discriminatory Speech and Behavior provides consultation, education, and awareness measures and carries no penalty provisions.¹⁰ The government answer to refusal cases so far is therefore guidance, counseling, and awareness rather than prohibition.⁸⁹¹⁰

Good to know

Zero-deposit, zero-key-money listings still cost money

Zero-fee labels remove at most two lines of the stack. Advance rent, the agency fee, the guarantor charge, insurance, and key exchange still apply, and renamed surcharges can quietly offset the advertised saving.¹ Read every line of the cost estimate before signing, and ask the agency to explain any unfamiliar item by name.¹

Negotiate before signing the application form

Negotiation happens after committing to a unit through a formal application, and it follows a practical order: pro-rated rent or a free-rent period first, then reikin, then rent itself.¹ Reikin, the agency fee, and key-exchange charges are the items an agency can sometimes reduce, so raise them with the agency before applying rather than after signing.¹²

Agreed rent cuts run small, commonly a few thousand yen rather than tens of thousands (as of 2025-09-28).¹ Starting the conversation after the contract is signed leaves no room at all.

The spring rush is the worst time to negotiate

Late March brings the school-year and job-transfer moving peak, and movers' rates spike in that window and around holidays; weekday off-peak moves price lower.¹² That timing squeeze compounds the move-in budget even where rent itself does not visibly change.

Plan the move date, the agency-fee confirmation, and the application as one sequence. A renter negotiating every line during the calmest available week keeps more leverage than one racing a March deadline.

See also

• How Renting Works in Japan
• Foreigner-Rejection Patterns and How to Navigate Them
• Move-Out Procedures: Closing Utility Accounts
• Reading a Japanese Rental Listing
• Negotiation in the Japanese Rental Market
• Cost of Living in Japan: A Starter Budget

References

Footnotes

1. SUUMO (Recruit Co., Ltd.). 「賃貸契約に必要な初期費用（敷金礼金など）の相場はどのくらい？」. Last updated 2025-09-28. https://suumo.jp/article/oyakudachi/oyaku/chintai/fr_money/chintai_shokihiyou/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹

2. Apamanshop (Apaman Co., Ltd.). 「アパート借りる際のかかる初期費用」. https://www.apamanshop.com/info/column/00073.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. Satochin Co., Ltd. (Satochin real-estate column). 「賃貸の仲介手数料の上限は？宅建業法46条の『原則0.5ヶ月』と例外ルール」. https://www.satochin.jp/knowledge/upper-commision ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. MoneyForward Cloud (supervised by Hiroki Nakata, Real Estate Securitization Association certified master). 「保証会社とは？種類から審査基準、メリット・デメリット、選び方まで徹底解説」. Published 2025-10-09. https://biz.moneyforward.com/realestate/basic/417/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). 「『原状回復をめぐるトラブルとガイドライン』について」. https://www.mlit.go.jp/jutakukentiku/house/jutakukentiku_house_tk3_000020.html ↩

6. Fumi no Kaze Tokyo Law Office (attorney Kotaro Iwasaki). 「不動産仲介手数料【賃貸】の法律規制とは？報酬告示を解説します」. Published 2024-12-06, updated 2025-04-04. https://ik-law.jp/rent-cyukai-housyu/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. MLIT. 「家賃債務保証業者登録制度」. https://www.mlit.go.jp/jutakukentiku/house/jutakukentiku_house_fr7_000024.html ↩

8. MLIT. 「外国人の民間賃貸住宅への円滑な入居について」. https://www.mlit.go.jp/jutakukentiku/house/jutakukentiku_house_tk3_000017.html ↩ ↩²

9. Ministry of Justice, Human Rights Bureau. 「外国人の人権を尊重しましょう」. https://www.moj.go.jp/JINKEN/jinken04_00101.html ↩ ↩²

10. Japanese Law Translation Database System (Ministry of Justice). Act on the Promotion of Efforts to Eliminate Unfair Discriminatory Speech and Behavior against Persons with Countries of Origin other than Japan (Act No. 68 of 2016). https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/ja/laws/view/4081 ↩ ↩²