I wondered if anyone had any information about the change in law regarding tenants and deposits? A friend on the JET scheme in Oita is leaving and is being asked to pay for the replacement of tatami, fusuma etc. I thought that the law had changed and departing tenants could not be charged for general wear and tear.

www.japanvisitor.com

John, did you ever get to the bottom of this?...would be interested to know what the answer was if you did!!

According to news reports, the law was changed last year (probably because of the increased media attention and growing number of court cases):
- Tenants can expect to receive their full deposit back when they leave.
- Landlords are not permitted to charge for replacement of tatami, fusama, etc.
- Landlords are not permitted to charge for repairs for normal wear-and-tear.
- However, if the tenant signed anything accepting responsibility for such "damage," the tenant may be responsible (or held partially liable), I believe.
- The tenant legally need not pay a cleaning fee, but this may be moot if a cleaning fee is expressly stated in the rental contract.

Recently, I heard of one case where a landlord placed a special clause in the rental agreement stating that the landlord is responsible for repairs and maintenance of the property for only the first three months of the contract and that the rentor is responsible for repairs after that date. Apparently, that clause was reviewed by the local ward office, and the staffer there said it was suspicious and advised the potential rentor to ask that the clause be removed. You can probably guess at the legal ramifications of accepting such a clause.

My local ward office has a consumer affairs section devoted to handling these kind of problems, so I wouldn't be surprised if other ward offices were offering similar services.