The Standard 2-Year Rental Contract

The standard 2-year rental contract in Japan is an ordinary building lease that renews when the term ends instead of forcing the tenant out.¹² Knowing how that renewal works, and how lopsided the exit rules are in the tenant's favor, turns signing day from a gamble into a checklist.

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 covers private residential leases structured as ordinary building leases: the 2-year convention, how renewal works, how each side can end the contract, and the clause set to read before signing.¹³ These rules come from national statute, so they apply the same in every prefecture; only market customs such as renewal fees vary by region.

It does not cover fixed-term leases, UR public housing, corporate leases, or share houses, which follow different rules.¹²

Who this covers and what it does not

This article is for any renter signing, renewing, or leaving a private residential ordinary lease, Japanese or foreign, at any residency stage.¹ Ordinary leases dominate the market, with one industry summary citing 94.7% of rental properties in the three major metropolitan areas (as of 2026-01; confirm current figures with MLIT's housing market survey).³

The Ordinary Lease: Why Two Years Is the Default

The default residential lease in Japan is the 普通借家契約 (futsū shakuya keiyaku, "ordinary building lease"), governed by Chapter III of the 借地借家法 (shakuchi shakka hō, "Act on Land and Building Leases").¹ Two years is the customary term written into most such contracts, long enough for stability without locking either side in for too long (as of 2026-01; confirm current figures with a local real estate agency).³

That length is market convention, not a statutory command. What the statute does fix is the floor below it.

Term	Meaning
借地借家法 (shakuchi shakka hō, "Act on Land and Building Leases")	The national statute governing land and building leases1
普通借家契約 (futsū shakuya keiyaku, "ordinary building lease")	The default renewable residential lease13
定期借家契約 (teiki shakuya keiyaku, "fixed-term building lease")	A lease that ends at expiry with no renewal right12

The two-year convention and the sub-one-year rule

A building lease with a term under one year is deemed by statute to have no fixed term at all.¹ That strips out the term-linked conditions landlords and agencies rely on, such as fixed notice periods, so ordinary leases under one year are effectively never offered.¹³

Short stays are served by fixed-term structures instead. A renter who wants stability should therefore look for an ordinary lease, where the two-year figure is the norm but one- or three-year terms exist.³

How it differs from a fixed-term lease

A fixed-term lease ends when its period expires and has no statutory renewal; staying on requires signing a brand-new contract.¹² It must be in writing, and the landlord must hand over a separate written explanation, apart from the lease itself, stating that the lease ends without renewal.²⁴

Check for the separate no-renewal notice before signing

A fixed-term lease can look identical to an ordinary one on the surface. Ask directly whether the lease is futsū or teiki, and look for the standalone written explanation that only a fixed-term lease requires.²⁴

How Renewal Actually Works

Renewal under an ordinary lease is the norm, not a favor the landlord grants. If neither side sends a non-renewal notice (or a conditional-renewal notice) inside the window from one year to six months before expiry, the contract is deemed renewed on identical conditions, except that the renewed lease has no fixed period.¹

In practice renewals take two shapes: automatic renewal, where nothing is signed and the lease simply continues, and agreed renewal, where the parties sign renewal paperwork near expiry. Automatic-renewal forms are reported as increasingly common (as of 2026-01; confirm current figures with the handling management company).³

The renewal cycle looks like this:

Contracts commonly operationalize the statutory window as landlord notice around six months before expiry and tenant notice around one month before, though exact deadlines differ per contract (as of 2026-01).³ A tenant who keeps living in the unit after expiry without a prompt lessor objection also gets the deemed renewal.¹

The notice window and what silence means

Silence from both sides inside the one-year-to-six-month window means renewal on the same conditions.¹ Where renewal paperwork is signed, that is an agreed renewal; where nothing happens at all, the statute still deems the lease renewed, now with no fixed period (statutory renewal).¹²

A renewed lease with no fixed period does not become terminable at will. The landlord still needs just cause plus a six-month notice to end it.¹

The renewal fee clause in this context

The 更新料 (kōshinryō, "renewal fee") is a contractual term, not a statutory duty. Whether one is owed, including after an automatic renewal, depends on what the contract actually states.³⁵

Item	Amount	As of	Notes
Renewal fee	Typically 1 month of rent	2026-013	Contractual term; regional custom varies
Fire-insurance renewal	Commonly 10,000–20,000 yen for 2 years	2026-013	Policy usually matches the lease term
Guarantor-company renewal	Commonly around 10,000 yen or 10–30% of monthly rent	2026-013	Usually cheaper than the initial fee

The figures above reflect market reporting (as of 2026-01; confirm current figures with the handling management company or insurer).³ Renewal fees are normal in the Tokyo and Osaka metropolitan areas but uncommon in regions such as Chugoku and Kyushu (as of 2026-01).³

A clearly and specifically stated renewal-fee clause is enforceable and not void under Consumer Contract Act Article 10 unless the amount is excessively high relative to the rent and the renewal period.⁵ Professional analysis reads the Supreme Court's July 15, 2011 rulings to cover statutory renewal as well, absent a special agreement limiting the fee to agreed renewals only.⁵ The full regional comparison and courtroom history belong in a dedicated article on renewal fees.

Ending the Contract Early: Tenant and Landlord Rights

Exit rules under an ordinary lease are deliberately lopsided. The tenant leaves on short notice; the landlord needs a legally recognized reason plus a long notice. The asymmetry looks like this:

Mid-term cancellation by the tenant typically triggers no penalty; the tenant simply owes rent through the contractual notice period even after moving out early (as of 2026-01; confirm current figures with the handling management company).³

Tenant termination with 1 to 2 months notice

The standard tenant-side notice period is one month before the intended move-out date, with some contracts requiring two months; the exact period is set by each contract (as of 2026-01; confirm current figures with the handling management company).³⁴ A two-year ordinary lease does not obligate the tenant to stay two full years; leaving after six months or a year is fine as long as the notice rule is honored (as of 2026-01).³

Confirm the notice deadline before fixing a move date

Notice runs from the landlord's or manager's receipt of the termination notice, not from the day the tenant decides to move. Read the contract's stated period first, then schedule movers.³⁴

Why landlords effectively cannot terminate

A landlord-side non-renewal or termination notice takes six months to take effect and is invalid without 正当事由 (seitō jiyū, "just cause").¹ Courts weigh the necessity of use for both sides as the primary factor, alongside lease history, building use and condition, and any relocation compensation the landlord offers.¹²

Landlords cannot refuse renewal to chase higher rent

Wanting a higher-paying tenant or a rent bump is not just cause on its own. Courts interpret the bar narrowly, so a compliant tenant's wish to stay normally prevails.²

Even where a tenant breaches the lease and a termination clause triggers, courts may block termination unless the breach is material enough to destroy the trust relationship, weighing the severity, the detriment to the tenant, and how both sides acted afterward.²

Typical Clause Set at Signing

MLIT publishes model standard rental contracts (March 2018 edition, in guarantor-company and joint-guarantor variants, across 14 languages) as the template baseline most agencies work from.⁶ The clauses below are the lines to locate in that paperwork before signing.

Either side may request a future rent increase or decrease when rent becomes unreasonable because of tax changes, price or economic shifts, or neighborhood comparables, regardless of what the contract says, subject only to a fixed-period no-increase agreement.¹ If the sides cannot agree, the tenant pays what it deems reasonable until a final court decision, then settles any shortfall plus 10% annual late interest.¹

Rent, deposit, key money, and renewal fee lines

Monthly rent, deposit, key money, the renewal-fee amount and timing, and guarantor and insurance fees are market terms stated in the contract and its 特約 (tokuyaku, "special provisions") section, not figures the statute sets.³⁶ A rent revision at renewal takes effect only with the tenant's agreement; a "revised rent" line in renewal paperwork is a proposal until signed.¹²

House rules, prohibitions, and restoration clauses

Standard prohibitions on subletting without permission, pet and noise rules, and use limits sit alongside the 原状回復 (genjō kaifuku, "restoration to original condition") clause that governs move-out condition.⁶ Special provisions can add early-termination penalties or fixed restoration terms, but any such term stands or falls on clear written agreement and reasonableness.³⁵ Clause-by-clause negotiation detail belongs in a dedicated article on rental contract clauses.

Good to know

Confirm you are signing an ordinary lease, not a fixed-term one

The two lease types look similar on paper, but only the ordinary lease renews. A fixed-term lease ends even if the tenant wants to stay, with re-contracting as the only path forward.²³ Check for the separate written no-renewal explanation before signing; without it, a purported fixed-term lease fails as one.²⁴

Expiry does not mean move-out under an ordinary lease

Reaching the end of the two-year term does not oblige the tenant to vacate. Absent a valid landlord notice backed by just cause, the lease renews.¹³ First-time renters who read "2-year contract" as "must leave after 2 years" misread the structure; the tenant's wish to stay is normally sufficient.²³

Late termination notice means extra rent

Notice periods run from the landlord's or manager's receipt of the notice, and rent is owed through the end of the notice period even if the tenant vacates earlier (as of 2026-01).³ A tenant who notifies late pays the missing notice-period rent, so confirming the contract's deadline, commonly one month and sometimes two, before setting a move date avoids the charge (as of 2026-01).³⁴

A rent increase at renewal needs your agreement

A landlord can propose a rent increase at renewal but cannot impose it unilaterally. The tenant may contest it under Article 32 of the Act on Land and Building Leases and keep paying the current rent while the dispute is resolved.¹² A revised-rent line in renewal paperwork takes effect only with the tenant's signature, so signing without negotiating treats a proposal as agreed.¹²

See also

• How Renting Works in Japan
• Move-In Cost Breakdown: What 4-6 Months Actually Buys
• The Guarantor Company System
• Negotiation in the Japanese Rental Market
• Fixed-Term Rental Contracts in Japan
• Renewal Fees (Koshin-ryo) and the Regional Variation

References

Footnotes

1. Japanese Law Translation Database System. Act on Land and Building Leases (Act No. 90 of 1991), English. https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3787/en ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

2. Munakata International Law Office (Takasumi Munakata). Japanese Real Estate – Protection of Building Tenants' Rights Under the Act on Land and Building Leases. 2025-03-10. https://milaw-jp.com/en/column/japanese-real-estate-protection-of-building-tenants-rights-under-the-act-on-land-and-building-leases/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. SUUMO (Recruit). 賃貸の契約期間とは？2年更新が多い理由や途中解約時の違約金も解説. Updated 2026-01-15. https://suumo.jp/article/oyakudachi/oyaku/chintai/fr_other/chintai_keiyakukikan/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵

4. PLAZA HOMES. Ordinary Lease Contract vs. Fixed-term Lease Contract. 2023-10-27. https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/news/fixed-term-vs-ordinary-lease-contract ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. 公益財団法人不動産流通推進センター. 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. 2014-04. https://www.retpc.jp/archives/14953/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. 国土交通省 (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 ↩³