Anyone have any good figures for 'typical' charges for moving out damages?  I get the feeling that I am about to get reamed here.

Once again I hear the phrase 'it's always like that'.  I get the itemized breakdown on Tuesday but was wondering if people heard/knew of costs that I could use to compare.

One thing I heard was a rekeying operation cost $200.  I lost a key.
Other damages includes where the thin coating on the floor peeled up in a spot, some nail holes and some damage to the paper on the walls (this one was nasty - I used double sided tape and ended up peeling off 3" spots of the tissue paper the landlord used)

This might be a good recurring topic, actually.

Allan, yes this is a good topic.

I have heard good stories and bad stories.

A friend of mine is about to leave Japan after living here for 3 years. He told me today, he got his FULL DEPOSIT back, 100%.. He said they didnt even check that hard, they just walked around, and that was it... Quick and simple.

I figure you need to get the housing office involved if there are any major differences. They are there to protect you if the housing agents want to be A-HOLES about the deposits.. Thats the 1 thing you have on your side. The housing office. NO AGENT wants to get on the bad list, of not helping the base personnel..

Now, of course, if you had damaged the house or apartment, you should feel NO MERCY! If they have so much proof against you, then you should of course have to pay for damages.

I recommend going to HOMES and picking up some fixer items. I heard from a friend they have a complete section for self home repairs. Everything from holes in the wall, to scratches on your hardwood floors. The more you do that they dont notice the BETTER!!!

I dont know about the rekeying operation.

There is a completely different process for JAPANESE ONLY, and MILITARY SOFA PERSONNEL. They treat people entirely different. Japanese have a company I saw on television who they hire if there are any complaints with the rental agencies. They come in, when they do the walk through, and they protect the client, incase there are any disagreements. You have to understand, there are RULES on both sides of the house. Since you are SOFA, you have the base housing office, so you dont need this private company, but they of course are there to PROTECT the individual, and help return 100% of the deposit amount.

They take a fee of course (which I am not sure how much it is), but its probably pretty hefty...

Anyhow, good luck with your process. let us know how it goes.

Oh yeah - I'll pay for the damage, I was hoping for numbers to know if I'm getting a fair treatment or if I'm going to be subject to a padding in order to prevent a deposit refund.

I'll put the pics and the estimates up online regardless, that way we can start tracking the numbers.

Please share when you get your bill- I am already dreading our move out inspection. We have a few holey paper doors and the first week were in the house my youngest kid found a permanent marker that the packers packed inside a box- and drew over the walls... so we have to repaper them =( And various scratches to window sills from kitties. Hopefully our massive deposit will cover it.

Well, here is my itemized breakdown of damages.  The first thing I want to openly declare is that all categories are valid - it's the numbers involved with the damages that I'm wondering about.

The second thing I want to state is the math. 

   Damages:  Y-86,625
   3 Days of rent into the month (I moved out on the 3rd) : Y-9000
Total owned: Y-95625

   Deposit: 90000Y
   GI Bill Pay 'float' (what they hold on to to deal with currency fluctuations):  Y5810
             ($70*83Yto the dollar)
Total credit: Y95810

Total refund due : Y185 or just under $2.25

While I won't go so far as to call such a near perfect matching of debt and credit t a remarkable coincidence, it certainly is an interesting one.  When I mentioned it to a friend who has been here a while, his comment back was 'it always seems to go that way'.

But here's the breakdown of the damages:  (The camera got packed up with the SD card in it - I'll post the pics later)

Damage to wallpaper/holes in wall : Y51975 or $626
   There was extensive damage to the wallpaper - I used double sided tape to put some pictures up.  Three of them peeled the paper off when pulled down

Removal of kitchen rack : Y5250 or $63
  I left a rack to hang things on up in the kitchen.  I'd actually forgotten it wasn't with the apartment when I moved in.

Replacement of plastic pipe for washing machine area : Y1260 or $15
  Small PVC pipe missing from when I pulled the washing machine out. 

Damage to floor : Y10500 or $126
  2 sections of the floor, one maybe 1 1/2 inch in size, the 2nd being 1/2 inch, has the top layer of laminate (?) missing and you can see the pale white underneath.  Both areas are near each other.

Replacement of key cylinder : Y17640 or $212. 
  My personal favorite.  Of the one lock to the apartment I lost one key.  So they are charging me $212 for 'cylinder' replacement.    I'm asking for the specific receipts on this one to ensure that the landlord doesn't just swap the cylinder with an another apartment and have a 2nd key made.

I had a friend move into an apartment and they told her right off the bat if you put one hole in the wall, we have to repaper the whole section. Meaning the whole wall because thats how they wall paper the units. So that $600+ might be to rewall paper the whole wall.

As for the floor that isnt laminate, thats lacquer its a clear colored varnish. The stuff in my house is so cheap it turns white when you get it wet. For anyone who reads this while they are still living in thier place to get around disovling the lacqure on the floor wax the crap out of the floor.Be very careful about which floor wax you use so again you dont disovle the lacquer.

And Tirani my friends kid came over my house with a crayon and drew all over my tatami doors in my living room. I told my landlord the day it happned he laughed and said the paper was cheap and not to worry.

Do the Japanese account for "normal wear and tear" or do they nickel and dime you for e/thing? I worked in property management in the states, and it was standard practice to expect a normal amount of wear and tear after so many years. We would always give back the full security deposit as long as there wasn't any excessive damage (holes in the wall, burn marks on the countertop, etc). Is it the same here in Japan?

Say for instance, wood floors probably have to get refinished no matter what. Would the landlord charge you for that at move-out here?

Posted By Rea on 07 Sep 2010 09:14 PM
I had a friend move into an apartment and they told her right off the bat if you put one hole in the wall, we have to repaper the whole section. Meaning the whole wall because thats how they wall paper the units. So that $600+ might be to rewall paper the whole wall. 

Possibly - but the lady at housing said that they had an agreement with the local renters that they wouldn't play that game here.

Please note - that it was a 400sq foot apartment, the whole thing maybe half the size of the room I'm staying in here at the Navy Lodge.

Posted By Yoko-girl on 07 Sep 2010 10:02 PM
Do the Japanese account for "normal wear and tear" or do they nickel and dime you for e/thing? I worked in property management in the states, and it was standard practice to expect a normal amount of wear and tear after so many years. We would always give back the full security deposit as long as there wasn't any excessive damage (holes in the wall, burn marks on the countertop, etc). Is it the same here in Japan?

Say for instance, wood floors probably have to get refinished no matter what. Would the landlord charge you for that at move-out here?

It looks like it's either a all-or-nothing thing.  If they start charging you into your damage deposit, it seems that the numbers tend to work out such that you get nothing back.

I've heard stories of people getting everything back and stories of people getting nothing.  Nothing in the middle.

One story I heard, and this was before I saw my bill, was that one guy was charged $200 because he lost his key and all 6 locks in the house had to be re-cylindered.

I'm getting charged $200 for one lock.

But I'm hearing stories - what I'm hoping will happen here on JB is that we can build up a listing of actual damages and costs, so we can figure out any shady patterns (if any).

If any of you guys have lost your apartment damage deposit in the last five years or know anyone who has, or are losing it soon, please message me or call me, 09060736973. I can usually get it all back, even up to five years later. www.japandeposit.com

Posted By AllanS on 09-07-2010 10:35 PM

Posted By Yoko-girl on 07 Sep 2010 10:02 PM
Do the Japanese account for "normal wear and tear" or do they nickel and dime you for e/thing? I worked in property management in the states, and it was standard practice to expect a normal amount of wear and tear after so many years. We would always give back the full security deposit as long as there wasn't any excessive damage (holes in the wall, burn marks on the countertop, etc). Is it the same here in Japan?

Say for instance, wood floors probably have to get refinished no matter what. Would the landlord charge you for that at move-out here?

It looks like it's either a all-or-nothing thing.  If they start charging you into your damage deposit, it seems that the numbers tend to work out such that you get nothing back.

I've heard stories of people getting everything back and stories of people getting nothing.  Nothing in the middle.

One story I heard, and this was before I saw my bill, was that one guy was charged $200 because he lost his key and all 6 locks in the house had to be re-cylindered.

I'm getting charged $200 for one lock.

But I'm hearing stories - what I'm hoping will happen here on JB is that we can build up a listing of actual damages and costs, so we can figure out any shady patterns (if any).

*waves*

I got most of my security depost back the first time I was here.  (200-2005)  Didn't get it all back, but the landlord didn't keep even half. 

I think quite a lot of that depends on the landlord and maybe the agent.  (My house was also spotless when I left and I got my landlord a big old bottle of booze)

We got almost all our security deposit back. I had to pay somewhere around Y20,000 to have the living room completely re-wallpapered (they split the cost with me, as some was normal wear and tear) and around Y10,000 for damage to the wooden floor made by one leg of our couch.

This was in Sasebo, though.

Oh no...now I'm really dreding moving out of here. Luckily, any damage to the tatami mats is okay because they said they were gonna throw away ours because it's old anyway. (Granted it was a verbal deal ...)

Our tatami doors are all messed up. There's a tons of holes. My mom even tried to "fix" it. I also have holes in my walls from push pins. *sigh*

And let's not even talk about the wood floors.

Do you think I should get my packout date a month early so I have time to fix what I can?

Oh! And I lost keys too.

Joy for me!

How do you clean the wood floors. We have a home that is just a few years old and it has wood floors. They were shiny when when first moved in but the wax seems to have come off when my wife cleaned them with the swift jet. In the states they had this orange stuff with a kind of flat cloth mop. I went to homes and they had all and some wax that was around 5,000 yen or a 2 liter bottle. Not sure if this is for the already finished wood or if it is for finishing wood. It was in the cleaning section. $66 seems high for cleaning products. Any help would be appreciated.

We were informed when we moved in that any key lost would cost us $200. I think that's pretty standard.

A good polish or wax for hardwood floors can be very expensive, even in the states. I had to refinish about 500 sq ft of hardwood in my house before moving to Japan and it cost me about $100 just for the product. It also takes a bit of time, and I was trying to move, so I paid someone else to do it for me, which put me out another $80. Unfortunately, that is just one of the many joys of having real wood floors. My granite cleaner in the states also was expensive. But it's worth it to have the quality and durability of the materials. As for how to clean it, make sure that the floor is completely free of dirt and dust as well as furniture. You need to do the entire floor at once. It will usually take 24 hours to set so you can't walk on it for that amount of time. Then you mop it with the cleaner they usually recommend, or one of your choosing. They should have a picture of the "s" pattern that is recommended for you to clean and to put the wax/polish down. It's painstaking, but looks great afterward. Good Luck!