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Renewal Fees (Koshin-ryo) and the Regional Variation

The Japan renewal fee rental tenants meet at the end of a two-year lease is the 更新料 (koshin-ryo, "renewal fee"), a payment to the landlord for continuing the contract.1 Where it applies it usually equals one month of rent, but large parts of the country never charge it at all.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). This article is general information, not legal advice; for a dispute over a renewal-fee clause, consult a licensed lawyer (bengoshi).

Overview​

This article covers the landlord-side renewal fee on an ordinary lease: what it costs, where in Japan it is customary, how the Supreme Court ruled on it in 2011, and what a renter can do at renewal time.12 It applies to tenants holding an ordinary building lease for residential use, Japanese nationals and foreign residents alike.

The fee follows regional custom, not national law. A Tokyo renter should budget for it as the default, while an Osaka renter will more often never see one.1

What a Renewal Fee Is and When It Falls Due​

The typical structure​

Where a renewal fee is charged, the market norm is one month of rent, paid to the landlord each time an ordinary lease is renewed.1 Among surveyed properties that charge the fee, 80% set it at one month of rent and 13.2% set it below one month, so over 90% cap it at one month (as of the FY2021 housing market survey, published 2022-03).13

The renewal notice normally arrives one to three months before the contract expires.1 The tenant signs and returns the renewal documents and transfers the fee by the stated deadline.

The Supreme Court describes the fee as a composite: part rent top-up or prepayment, part consideration for the continued lease, and part of the landlord's rental-business revenue.2 That characterisation is why the fee counts as something the parties agree in the contract, not as a tax-like levy.

Renewal fee vs nearby charges​

Key money is paid once at signing, while the renewal fee recurs at each renewal.1 They are separate customs with separate lines in the contract.

The guarantor bill arrives on the same schedule

The guarantor company's own renewal charge, around ¥10,000 or 10 to 30% of rent (as of 2025-06), comes from a separate contract even though it often falls due at the same renewal timing.1 Fire insurance on a two-year cycle is commonly renewed then too, at around ¥10,000 to 20,000 (as of 2025-06).1

Regional Variation: Where It Applies and Where It Does Not​

Whether a renewal fee exists at all is a regional custom. Across the three major metro areas combined, surveyed properties split almost evenly: 42.1% charge the fee and 44% do not (as of the FY2021 housing market survey, published 2022-03; confirm current figures with MLIT's periodic housing market survey).13

Kanto: commonly charged​

In the Tokyo metro area, 57.8% of surveyed properties charge a renewal fee and 28.7% do not (as of the FY2021 survey, published 2022-03).13 Practitioner sources describe the fee as standard practice across Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama.1

A renter moving within Kanto should treat the fee as the default assumption. The exact property still governs, so the clause check described below applies here too.

Kansai and Kyoto: the split​

In the Kinki metro area, only 21.9% of surveyed properties charge the fee while 68.4% do not (as of the FY2021 survey, published 2022-03).13 Practitioner consensus describes Osaka and Hyogo as markets where the fee is uncommon.1

Kyoto is the documented exception inside Kansai. Renewal-fee clauses are customary there, and the Kyoto cases litigated before 2011 involved two-month-rent fees, showing the custom in active use (as of the 2009 case record).4 Practitioner sources describe Kyoto fees as commonly smaller than Kanto levels, though no surveyed prefecture-level figure was available to confirm the sizing.

Hokkaido and the rest of the country​

In the Chukyo (Nagoya) metro area, 17.4% of surveyed properties charge the fee and 59.3% do not (as of the FY2021 survey, published 2022-03).13 A Nagoya practitioner describes no-renewal-fee as the local norm, adding that landlords there are advised against introducing one because tenants will not choose such units.5

Hokkaido is described in practitioner consensus as a market where the fee is rare (limitation: no Hokkaido-scoped source was available in this run; treat the characterisation as customary guidance, not surveyed fact). A renter moving between regions should recheck the clause at each move rather than carrying assumptions across prefectures.1

What the Court held​

On July 15, 2011, the Supreme Court decided three renewal-fee cases together and upheld the clause in every one.2 The three cases covered a ¥45,000-rent one-year lease with a ¥100,000 fee, a ¥52,000-rent two-year lease with a two-month fee, and a ¥38,000-rent one-year lease with a two-month fee.2

The holding sets a two-part test. A renewal-fee clause stated clearly and specifically in the lease is enforceable unless its amount is excessively high relative to the rent and the renewal period.2 The Court weighed the clause's nature, how the contract was formed, and information and bargaining gaps across all the circumstances, noting that the custom's known regional existence counted against invalidity.2

The statute behind the test is Article 10 of the Consumer Contract Act, which voids a consumer-contract term that increases consumer duties beyond default rules where it one-sidedly harms consumer interests against good faith.62 A one-month fee on a two-year renewal sits well inside the range the Court has already upheld, so fees of this magnitude are generally enforceable (as of the 2011 ruling; confirm current case law with a licensed lawyer for a live dispute).2

What the ruling did not settle​

The ruling leaves a proportionality escape hatch. A fee that is excessively high against the rent and renewal period on its specific facts can still fail the test.2

It also protects only clearly agreed clauses. A vague clause, or a fee the lease never states specifically, does not get the ruling's cover.2

Statutory renewal without a signed agreement is a grey zone

If the term passes with no signed renewal, the lease continues automatically as a statutory renewal, and the professional view treats a one-month clause as presumptively still binding absent a special arrangement limiting it to agreed renewals.27 Lower courts are split on this point, so a tenant counting on either answer should confirm rather than assume.2

Negotiation at Renewal and Budgeting for It​

Asking for a waiver or reduction​

A renewal-fee clause in a signed contract is in principle binding, and a tenant cannot unilaterally refuse to pay it.12 Negotiation still happens around that baseline.

A landlord who fears a vacancy may agree to waive or reduce the fee if asked, so raising the question before signing the renewal papers is worthwhile (as of practitioner guidance; no success-rate survey was available in this run).5 The Nagoya market shows the underlying incentive from the landlord side: where tenants can choose, landlords drop the fee rather than lose them.5 A tenant who cannot pay at all should consult the landlord or management company promptly, since instalment payment may be accepted depending on circumstances.1

Raise the question before signing the renewal papers

Once the renewal documents are signed, leverage is gone. Ask about a waiver, reduction, or instalment plan as soon as the renewal notice arrives, and get any agreement in writing before the payment deadline.1

Budgeting the renewal year​

The practical budgeting expectation for a renewal year is one month of rent for the landlord-side fee, plus the separately billed guarantor-company renewal and fire-insurance renewal where applicable (as of the FY2021 survey for the fee level and the 2025-06 update for the ancillary bands; confirm current figures with the management company).13

ItemAmountAs ofNotes
Landlord-side renewal fee (where charged)1 month of rentFY2021 survey, published 2022-03Over 90% of charging properties at or below 1 month13
Guarantor-company renewalAround ¥10,000, or 10–30% of rent2025-06Separate contract, same timing1
Fire-insurance renewalAround ¥10,000–20,0002025-06Two-year cycle, same timing1

The renewal bill arrives with the one-to-three-months-before-expiry notice.1 The stay-or-go decision therefore belongs before that notice period, since a late move-out decision risks paying the fee anyway.

Good to know​

The guarantor company may bill its own renewal fee separately​

Even in a fee-free property or region, a guarantor-company renewal charge of around ¥10,000 or 10 to 30% of rent can still fall due at the same timing under its own contract (as of 2025-06).15 Regional research that says "no renewal fee" means the landlord-side custom; it never covers the guarantor side.

No clause in the contract means no renewal fee​

The fee is only due where the lease states it clearly and specifically.2 A tenant who assumes the regional custom applies without checking the clause may budget for, or even pay, a fee that was never agreed.1

Statutory renewal without a signed agreement raises a different fee question​

If the term passes without a signed renewal, the lease continues automatically on the same terms under Article 26 of the Act on Land and Building Leases, while the landlord's refusal is constrained by the just-cause requirement of Article 28.72 The professional view treats a one-month clause as presumptively still binding in that situation, but lower courts are split, so neither side should treat its reading as certain.2

Moving out instead of renewing has its own notice deadline​

A tenant who will not renew must give the move-out notice by the contract's stated deadline, commonly one month before the moving date.1 A late notice risks the renewal fee falling due despite the intent to leave, so the decision date and the notice deadline should be entered together at the start of the final lease year.1

See also​

References​

Footnotes​

  1. LIFULL HOME'S. 三輪歩己 (real-estate appraiser, licensed broker). 「賃貸物件の契約更新ルールを解説! 更新料の相場や手続きの流れも押さえておこう」. Published 2018-10-04, updated 2025-06-12. https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/rent/rent_00222/ ↩ ↩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

  2. 公益財団法人不動産流通推進センター (RETPC). 賃貸事例 1404-R-0133「平成23年の更新料裁判における最高裁の判決の趣旨と法定更新の場合の更新料請求との関係」. Published 2014-04. https://www.retpc.jp/archives/14953/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16

  3. 国土交通省住宅局. 「令和3年度 住宅市場動向調査報告書」(FY2021 housing market survey, published 2022-03). PDF at https://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/content/001477550.pdf (linked from 1; PDF body not directly parseable in this run, see Open issues) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. Stippy. "How to reclaim your apartment 'renewal fee' (Koshinryo)." Published 2009-07-29. https://www.stippy.com/japan-life/tenant-rights-kyoto-koshinryo-case/ (limitation: single-author expat blog, tier 5; used only for pre-2011 Kyoto case history) ↩

  5. LIFULL HOME'S編集部. 「東京では当たり前な更新料が無い!?名古屋の賃貸住み替え事情」(interview with Style Estate, Nagoya). Published 2016-12-22, updated 2021-10-22. https://www.homes.co.jp/cont/rent/rent_00084/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. e-Gov法令検索. 「消費者契約法」(平成12年法律第61号, Consumer Contract Act)第10条. https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/412AC0000000061 ↩

  7. e-Gov法令検索. 「借地借家法」(平成3年法律第90号, Act on Land and Building Leases). https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/403AC0000000090 ↩ ↩2