Renting Commercial and Residential Space: Process, Guarantors and Discrimination

Finding an office for a legal entity in Japan can take several months and involve many rejections, even when the applicant holds a long-term legal visa — this should be budgeted into a business launch plan well in advance, since finding a landlord willing to lease to a foreign-owned company often takes far longer than expected. Almost all rentals or purchases of real estate in Japan now require a guarantor — either a relative or a specialized guarantor company charging an additional monthly fee; requirements for foreigners have tightened considerably compared with a decade ago, and this extra guarantor-company cost should be factored into the budget in advance. Bank or realtor assessors may decline to rent 'good' property to someone with a low official salary despite real income, since dividends are not counted as income; it is recommended to set an official director's salary not only for visa purposes but also with the rule 'rent should be under 30% of salary' in mind, which meaningfully improves the odds of rental approval. Finding housing is objectively harder for a foreigner than for a Japanese national — many listings and platforms exclude foreign tenants — though having a corporate guarantor (an employer) sometimes removes these restrictions; UR (Urban Renaissance), a government housing program with no nationality discrimination, is frequently recommended by the business community as an alternative to ordinary rentals for foreigners. Subletting one's own personal property to one's own company is not technically prohibited under Japanese law; however, if the property is itself rented rather than owned, the landlord must explicitly permit subletting, since doing so without permission can violate the terms of the original lease. Source: https://www.ur-net.go.jp/chintai/sp/counter/ — official UR (Urban Renaissance) website — housing rental programs with no nationality discrimination.