What is UR賃貸住宅

• UR → Urban Renaissance
  • Renaissance: a revival of or renewed interest in something
  • Renaissance period in Europe: the revival of European art and literature under the influence of classical models in the 14th–16th centuries
• UR賃貸住宅 is a public rental housing in Japan managed by an independent administrative agency
• UR Housing units are well-maintained and reasonably priced – ideal for long-term foreign residents of Japan

Advantages

• 礼金 ナシ ・ No key-money
• 仲介手数料 ナシ ・ No brokerage fee
• 更新料 ナシ ・ No renewal fee
• 保証人ナシ ・ No guarantor

Above advantages are life saver for foreigners in some cases. I am living in UR and I was struggling to rent properties that I liked (I got reply “no foreigners” for all the properties i liked)

Disadvantages

• Might be relatively high rent if location is near station
• Cheap UR building are normally far away from stations

History

• Urban Renaissance Agency was formed by the Japanese national government
• UR Agency was established in 1955 as the Nihon Jyutaku Kodan (Japan Public Housing)
• The agency maintains over 770,000 housing units across Japan including 450,000 units in the Tokyo area

Terminology

• UR Shop: UR賃貸ショップ XYZ
  • Deals with inquiries
  • Deals with apllication
• UR Sales Senter: XYZ 営業センター
  • Deals with signing up contracts
  • You can go there for inquiries also
• Management office: 管理サービス事務所
  • Building management office
  • Deals property related matters i.e. handover keys, repairs etc.

問い合わせ・Inquiry

• Go to UR site and select target UR
  • For Kanto: https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/kanto/tokyo/map/
  • Click on a marker
  • Click on UR name
  • Scroll below and there will be inquiry form
  • Fillup and submit inquiry form
• After submitting inquiry
  • The UR Shop in the area will call you if there is match of your inquiry (converstaion in Japanese)
  • You can ask questions about the available empty properties in your target UR
  • You can ask for property Inspection (内見)

内見・Property Viewing

• 内見 (Naiken) / 内覧 (Nairan) : Preview / Inspection
• After submitting inquiry if there is empty property in your target UR, then you can ask for 内見 (Naiken) or Inspection
• The inspection date can be scheduled over phone or by visiting nearby UR Shop
• Things to be checked during 内見 visit
  • コンセント・Outlet
    • For AC
    • For Washlet (toilet)
  • Washing Machine space
    • Width and height of Washing Machine space
    • Water draining hole
• You can measure the floor to plan for where to put which furniture after moving-in

申し込み・Apllication

• After inspection, if you like the property, apply for it
• You will go to nearby UR Shop to apply for the property (apartment / mansion)
  • Once applied, they will give you ‘x’ days to think
  • Property is locked for you for next ‘x’ days (they would not introduce it to others)
  • In this time you can visit the property again if you want
  • You can cancel apllication if you want
  • Within this time you have to sign the contract
  • If ‘x’ days is passed and you did not sign the contract, your apllication will be cancelled automatically
• UR Sales office
  • To sign the contract, you need to go to (nearby) sales office
  • For Shinjuku office, you don’t have to call to schedule time but for other offices you might have to call to schedule
  • “Signing Contact” details is below

書類一覧・Required papers to submit for signing contract

• 源泉徴収票・withholding tax certificate
• 課税証明書・Residence Tax Certificate → collect it from city office or if you have my number card, you can print it from any comvinient store printer
• 住民票・Residence Certificate → collect it from city office or if you have my number card, you can print it from any comvinient store printer
• Pledge form
  • 反社会的勢力に対する…
  • You have to sign (name + hanko) a paper that says you are not involved in any anti-social group i.e. Yakuza

契約・Signing contract

• You need to go to nearby Sales office for siging the contract
• Prepare the required documents and go to Sales office
• Don’t forget to bring you Residence card and hanko
• 敷金 (Shikikin)・Security deposit
  • Nomally 2 months of deposit money
  • Check if any campaign is going on, in my case there was a campaign that allowed to sign contract with only one month deposit money
• Fillup the forms provided and submit papers
• After checking papers and other information, they will finaliz the contract
• They will give you few papers
  • 契約書・Contact document
  • A document to receive key (you will receive key on specified date from Management office・管理サービス事務所)
  • Few papers related to rules and regulations, informations and about how to apply for Utilities

Starting utility services

• See: Utility services in Japan
• Note: a person will come to start gas, so the date you requested to start gas, you have to be present at home on that date

入居・Move In

• On specified date and time, go to your UR Management office・管理サービス事務所
• Receive key
• Tip: call or go to Management office one day before the move-in and inform them that you will receive key tommorrow

Next

• life-in-japan/Utility Services (ユーティリティーサービス)
• life-in-japan/Internet connection (インターネット接続)