UR Rentals: No Key Money, No Guarantor, No Agency Fee

UR rental Japan searches lead to public housing managed directly by the Urban Renaissance Agency, not to private landlords.¹ For a foreign renter, that single difference removes the two steepest private-market hurdles: finding a guarantor and paying key money plus agency fees on top of a deposit.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Urban Renaissance Agency rental housing site.

Overview

This guide covers UR rental housing (UR賃貸住宅, yū-āru chintai jūtaku, "UR rental housing") as a search-stage option for renters open to public stock.¹ It explains what the agency is, which fees disappear, the income test that replaces guarantor screening, the real move-in math, what the property pool looks like, the search-to-signing workflow, and how renewal and resident rules work once you live there.

It applies equally to Japanese and foreign applicants at the pre-search or early-search stage. UR publishes one national application standard, so no ward-level variation applies; what varies is availability by region.²³

What UR Is: The Danchi Successor Turned Default Option

The current agency is the independent administrative agency (独立行政法人, dokuritsu gyōsei hōjin, "independent administrative agency") Urban Renaissance Agency (都市再生機構, toshi saisei kikō, "Urban Renaissance Agency"), established on July 1, 2004 through a merger and managing rental housing inherited from the Urban Development Corporation.⁴ UR itself traces its rental-housing work to 1955, when it began as a public institution answering each era's housing needs, which makes today's stock the institutional successor to the public danchi (団地, danchi, "housing complex") stock built from that era onward.⁵

The stock runs to roughly 700,000 units nationwide, concentrated in the Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya metropolitan areas (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Urban Renaissance Agency).⁶⁷

The stock spans two distinct types. Danchi complexes offer spacious green grounds with nearby kindergartens, schools, parks, and community rooms, and UR keeps rebuilding and renewing their layouts.⁸ Tower stock (タワーマンション, tawā manshon, "tower condominium building") targets urban life instead, with strong train access, often multiple usable lines, high-grade fittings and refined design, and upper-floor views as an explicit selling point.⁸

Most UR buildings use reinforced-concrete or steel-framed reinforced-concrete construction, and UR states that it pursues seismic diagnosis and retrofitting.¹ Because applications go to UR shops rather than private brokers, the process reads more like dealing with a public counter than negotiating with a landlord.¹

The Four Zeros: What You Do Not Pay

UR removes four standard private-market charges, and the removal is the whole pitch (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Urban Renaissance Agency).¹

Removed charge	Japanese term	Private-market equivalent
Key money	礼金 (reikin, "key money")	Charged on private leases9
Brokerage fee	仲介手数料 (chūkai tesūryō, "brokerage fee")	Charged on private leases9
Renewal fee	更新料 (kōshinryō, "renewal fee")	Charged by many private landlords9
Guarantor	保証人 (hoshōnin, "guarantor")	Guarantor-company fee charged on private leases9

No brokerage fee applies because UR sales centers, shops, and on-site offices handle applications directly (as of 2026-09).¹ No renewal fee applies because the contract renews automatically with no renewal procedure (as of 2026-09).¹ No guarantor applies because UR checks only the applicant's own identity and eligibility documents (as of 2026-09).¹

The Guarantor Company System covers the mechanics behind guarantor-free renting, and what private guarantor companies screen for instead, in depth.

The Income Threshold: What UR Checks Instead of a Guarantor

UR replaces the guarantor with an income test. The applicant's average monthly income must meet UR's standard monthly income for the unit's rent band (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Urban Renaissance Agency).² Average monthly income means continuing, taxable, provable income such as salary, business, real-estate, or pension income, divided by 12 from roughly the past year.²

Screening is rule-based and published in advance, so applicants can check qualification before visiting a UR shop rather than discovering hidden conditions at the counter.⁶ The qualification routes relate to each other like this:

Household and Single-Person Income Tables

UR runs two tables depending on who applies. Figures below are UR's published standards (as of 2026-09).²

Applicant type	Rent band	Standard monthly income	As of
Household	Under ¥82,500	4x rent (¥60,000 rent needs ¥240,000)	2026-092
Household	¥82,500 to under ¥200,000	¥330,000 fixed	2026-092
Household	¥200,000 and above	¥400,000 fixed	2026-092
Single	Under ¥62,500	4x rent (¥50,000 rent needs ¥200,000)	2026-092
Single	¥62,500 to under ¥200,000	¥250,000 fixed	2026-092
Single	¥200,000 and above	¥400,000 fixed	2026-092

Salaried applicants prove income with the prior-year withholding slip plus the current tax certificate or residence-tax decision notice (as of 2026-09).¹⁰ Self-employed applicants use the tax-payment certificate, and pensioners use the pension certificate or transfer notice.¹⁰

Check the savings route before abandoning a unit

Applicants whose income falls short but who hold substantial bank savings can still qualify through the savings standard below. Running both numbers before giving up on a unit saves a wasted search.²

If You Miss the Threshold: Savings and Lump-Sum Routes

The savings standard lets bank savings of 100 times monthly rent or more substitute for the income requirement, proven by a balance certificate for yen deposits issued within 7 days (as of 2026-09).²¹⁰ A ¥60,000 unit needs ¥6,000,000 in savings under this route (as of 2026-09).²

The lump-sum advance system (家賃等の一時払い制度, yachin-tō no ichiji-barai seido, "lump-sum advance payment system for rent and related charges") prepays rent plus common-area fees (共益費, kyōekihi, "common-area fee") for 1 to 10 years in one-year units, starting the month after the month of the permitted move-in date, at a discount rate UR sets by period length (as of 2026-09).² It removes the income requirement entirely, making the one-year minimum the pay-up-front alternative for applicants without qualifying income, although some properties and programs exclude the system (as of 2026-09).²

The advance contract sits separate from the lease and generally cannot be cancelled mid-term except for unavoidable circumstances, so it suits settlers rather than anyone expecting relocation (as of 2026-09).² After the advance period ends, the tenant resumes monthly payments or signs a new advance contract.² Lump-sum users can be exempt from submitting income documentation.¹⁰

Partial-threshold applicants holding at least half the income or savings standard can combine a cohabiting relative's income or savings, draw a rent supplement from a non-cohabiting relative or employer, or count savings of at least half the savings standard (as of 2026-09).² Elderly, disabled, and single-parent households and students aged 18 or over can apply even below half the standard, provided a supporting relative whose average income meets the standard jointly undertakes the rent obligation (as of 2026-09).²

Foreign nationals must fully understand the Japanese lease content and hold one of three statuses: permanent, diplomatic, or official status; special permanent resident; or mid- to long-term resident under the Immigration Control Act (as of 2026-09).² Cohabitants are limited to the applicant or relatives living together or planning to: a spouse including de facto partners and fiances within 6 months, blood relatives within the sixth degree, and in-laws within the third degree.² Friends cannot co-apply.²

All household members must be able to move in within one month of UR's set move-in date and live communally without trouble.² Applicants with unpaid amounts owed to UR, or past UR-housing violations such as rent arrears or false statements, can be refused.²

Upfront Costs: The Two-Month Deposit Trade-Off

Move-in payment is the deposit (敷金, shikikin, "security deposit") of two months' rent plus prorated first-month rent and common-area fees, with no key money, agency fee, or guarantor-company fee added (as of 2026-09; confirm current figures with the Urban Renaissance Agency).¹ Campaign periods can lighten the deposit burden (as of 2026-09).¹

Item	Amount	As of	Notes
敷金 (shikikin, deposit)	2 months' rent	2026-09	Campaign reductions possible1
Prorated rent and common fee	Day-counted first month	2026-09	Paid via UR slips before signing103
Key money, agency fee, guarantor fee	¥0	2026-09	The UR policy zeros1

Secondary reporting adds that UR charges no lock-change fee and treats property insurance as optional, against private leases where both are standard add-ons.⁹

Pay the deposit before the contract date, not at key handover

The deposit plus prorated rent and common fee must already be paid through UR-issued slips at a financial institution before signing. Arriving at the contract appointment with payment still pending stalls the signing.¹⁰³

Secondary reporting from 2021 puts typical UR move-in at about 3 months' rent against 5 to 6 months for private rentals; the official line items confirm the deposit-plus-first-month shape without stating a total.⁹ Move-In Cost Breakdown: What 4-6 Months Actually Buys itemizes the full private-market line-item stack for readers running the comparison.

At signing, applicants bring a registered seal (実印, jitsuin, "registered seal") plus a seal certificate from within 3 months; foreign nationals without seal customs bring a consular signature certificate instead.¹⁰ Applicants who appear in person with photo ID skip the seal certificate.¹⁰

The Property Pool: Bigger Units, Older Buildings, Suburban Sites

Searchable UR regions span Hokkaido and Miyagi, the Kanto prefectures, Tokai, Kansai, Chugoku, and Fukuoka.³ Secondary reporting describes complex-based units as usually large layouts of 2LDK and above, suiting families with children, while noting that some five-story buildings have no elevator.⁹ Older units carry further practical caveats: interiors and building facilities can be plain, and fiber-optic internet may not be available, which matters for remote workers.⁹

Within those regions, secondary reporting from 2021 and 2026 characterizes much of the stock as older concrete buildings, some renovated at higher rent, often 10 to 20 minutes by bus from the station or on outer lines.⁹⁷ Reported construction eras vary by source (one 2026 guide gives the 1970s to 1990s), and no UR page states the age distribution directly.⁷

UR's own framing points the same way by emphasis. Danchi pages sell green spacious grounds and child-rearing amenities rather than centrality, while centrality is framed as the tower stock's selling point.⁸ A renter prioritizing a short station walk should therefore filter for tower stock or station-proximate complexes from the start rather than browsing the whole pool.

Secondary reporting names UR a weaker fit for renters needing a central location, brand-new interiors, a move within two weeks, or English-language support.⁷ Renters with no qualifying income, savings, lump-sum budget, or relative-backed combination route cannot meet the eligibility test.²

How to Search, View, and Sign

The official flow runs search, eligibility check, provisional application, viewing, document submission, contract, and move-in.³ UR allows one provisional application per household, filed at a UR shop.³ The sequence looks like this:

The Search Workflow: Website, Phone, and Sales Offices

The UR website supports vacancy search by area, train line, layout, and rent.³ House hunters can follow up favorite rooms by phone or mail, and housing advisors at UR shops assist with condition-based searches.³

No agent guides the process, so applicants research and apply themselves.⁷

Most stock is first-come-first-served when a vacancy exists, so a decided applicant applies rather than waiting.¹ Because each household holds only one provisional application at a time, applicants cannot hold multiple units in parallel while deciding.³

New builds and senior-oriented housing are partly lottery-based instead.¹ Secondary reporting from 2021 adds that popular properties can run lotteries on unpredictable timing.⁹

The Signing Timeline: One Week for Documents, Ten Days to Contract

Documents are due within one week counting from the day after the provisional application, and the contract date falls within ten days counting from the day after the application, at the same shop where documents were submitted (as of 2026-09; confirm current timing with the UR shop handling the application).³

A viewing is possible after application, and even before application for units whose repairs are complete.³ Viewings run normally once, through a key-loan slip (鍵貸出票, kagi kashidashi-hyō, "key-loan slip for viewings") at the management office with photo ID (as of 2026-09).³

Application documents comprise the UR-designated application form, residence certificates for all occupants showing relationship and issued within 3 months without My Number, and income proof by income type.¹⁰ Foreign residents must request the nationality and visa fields on their residence certificate.¹⁰ Submitted documents are not returned, and false statements void the contract.¹⁰

Line up income proof before filing the provisional application

The one-week document window starts the day after filing, and salaried applicants need two separate papers: the prior-year withholding slip and the current tax certificate. Requesting the tax certificate from the municipality after filing leaves almost no slack.¹⁰³

UR shops can explain contract content online on request.³ Rent accrues from the permitted occupancy date set at contract, and keys are collected at the property's management office on or after that date.³

Living There: Renewal, Restoration, and Resident Rules

Because the contract renews automatically with no renewal fee, long stays avoid the repeating renewal charge that many private landlords impose, which is where the zero-fee savings accumulate (as of 2026-09; confirm current terms with the Urban Renaissance Agency).¹⁹

UR bears the cost of restoring normal wear and tear at move-out (as of 2026-09).¹ UR's English resident guide serves as the post-signing rulebook, covering contract commitments, rent payment method and timing, repair cost splits, move-out and deposit-reimbursement procedures, and complex restrictions including the pet-keeping and subletting prohibitions.⁵

Good to know

Central Units Fill Fast Under First-Come-First-Served

Most UR stock goes to whoever applies first while a vacancy stands.¹ Secondary reporting from 2021 describes Tokyo stock as usually fully occupied, with new vacancies filling immediately.⁹ A renter set on a central unit should therefore search, view, and file quickly rather than shortlisting for weeks.

Compare Total Tenancy Cost, Not Monthly Rent Alone

UR's savings arrive through absence: no key money at entry, no agency fee at entry, no renewal fee at any renewal.¹ Over a multi-year stay those zeros outweigh a monthly rent that merely matches nearby private units. For a one-year stay, the two-month deposit dominates instead, and the advantage narrows.

The Document Window Is One Week, Not Open-Ended

Full documents land within one week of the day after provisional application, and the contract follows within ten days at the same shop.³ Treat the provisional filing as starting a clock, not reserving a unit indefinitely. Gathering the withholding slip, tax certificate, and residence certificates beforehand keeps the clock comfortable.

Foreign Applicants Must Read the Japanese Contract

Foreign eligibility turns on two gates: the ability to fully understand the Japanese lease, plus one of three status categories covering permanent, diplomatic, official, special permanent, and mid- to long-term residents.² Short-term stays outside those categories are excluded. No separate municipal lottery or nationality quota applies; the UR status categories are the entire nationality-related test.²

The Deposit Is Two Months, So Move-In Still Costs About Three

Two months' deposit plus prorated first-month rent and common fee still totals roughly three months' rent at signing (as of 2026-09).¹ Campaign periods can reduce the deposit load (as of 2026-09).¹ Budget three months' rent as the planning figure and treat any campaign reduction as a bonus.

See also

• How Renting Works in Japan
• The Guarantor Company System
• Move-In Cost Breakdown: What 4-6 Months Actually Buys
• Property-Search Portals: SUUMO, HOME'S, athome and Their Quirks
• Foreigner-Rejection Patterns and How to Navigate Them
• Viewings (Naiken): What to Ask and What to Watch For

References

Footnotes

1. UR都市機構 (Urban Renaissance Agency). 「メリット・特徴｜UR賃貸住宅」. https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/whats/merit/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

2. UR都市機構. 「お申込み資格｜URの借り方｜UR賃貸住宅」. https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/rent/requirements/ ↩ ↩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

3. UR都市機構. 「URの借り方｜UR賃貸住宅」. https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/rent/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

4. UR都市機構. 「企業情報」. https://www.ur-net.go.jp/aboutus/ ↩

5. UR都市機構. "A Guide for Residents (A Housing Guide)". https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai_portal/sumainoshiori/english.html ↩ ↩²

6. Tree Global Partners (Sakurai Yuki). "UR Housing for Foreigners in Japan: No Key Money, No Guarantor." 2026-07-21. https://treeglobalpartners.com/en/articles/ur-housing-foreigners-guide/ ↩ ↩²

7. Kurabeel. "UR Rental Housing: No Key Money, No Agency Fee, No Guarantor." 2026-09-03. https://kurabeel.com/en/guide/ur-housing-japan.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

8. UR都市機構. 「物件の種類｜UR賃貸住宅とは｜UR賃貸住宅」. https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/whats/kinds/ ↩ ↩² ↩³

9. wagaya Japan. "Information about Foreigner-Friendly UR Rental Housing." 2021-05-10. https://wagaya-japan.com/en/journal_detail.php?id=6077 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

10. UR都市機構. 「必要書類について｜URの借り方｜UR賃貸住宅」. https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/rent/documents/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²