Let's ease your worries about the initial costs of living in a shared house.
Average initial costs for general rental properties
When renting a regular property, there are various initial costs involved.Basic initial costs typically include a deposit, key money, advance rent, agency fee, guarantee fee, fire insurance fee, and key replacement fee.
The guarantee fee is one of the fees paid when renting a property. It is paid to a guarantor company to cover the costs associated with the rental contract in the unlikely event that you are unable to pay the rent.
If we look at specific estimates of initial costs based on the average rent and common area charges in the three major metropolitan areas, the average price for a general rental property is around 400,000 yen.
The market price is merely an average, and may vary depending on the property conditions and the contents of the contract. In particular, security deposits and key money vary greatly depending on the property and the owner's policies, and some properties do not require them.
Estimated initial costs based on average rent and common area fees in the three major metropolitan areas
item | cost | remarks |
Deposit | 78,069 yen | Average: 1 to 2 months' rent |
key money | 78,069 yen | Average: 1 to 2 months' rent |
Advance rent | 78,069 yen | Average: 1 month's rent + daily rate |
Brokerage fee | 85,875 yen | Average: 1 month's rent |
Guarantee charge | 41,453 yen |
|
Fire insurance premiums | 15,000 yen |
|
Key replacement cost | 15,000 yen |
|
total | 391,535 yen |
|
Average initial costs for a share house
The average initial cost for a share house is generally around 100,000 yen. This is significantly lower than the average initial cost for a regular rental property (around 400,000 yen).In typical shared houses, there is often no need to pay a deposit, key money, agency fees, guarantee fees, fire insurance fees, or key replacement fees, which greatly reduces the burden of moving in.
However, a share house is a lifestyle that assumes the use of shared spaces. Therefore, there are some areas of privacy and living environment that are shared with other residents. It is important to choose the best residence that suits your individual lifestyle and needs.
item | cost | remarks |
Deposit key money | none |
|
Administrative fee | 30,000 yen | Required when signing a share house contract |
Advance rent | 50,000 yen | 1 month's rent |
Brokerage fee | none |
|
Guarantee charge | none |
|
Fire insurance premiums | none |
|
Key replacement cost | none |
|
Common service fee | 12,000 yen | Water, electricity, and internet charges |
total | 92,000 yen |
|
Breakdown of initial costs for a share house
The initial costs incurred when moving into a share house mainly consist of the following four items.- Contract Fee
- Common service fee
- Advance rent
- Guarantee charge
Contract Fee
The contract fee is the fee paid to the management company that handles the contract procedures for the property.
When signing a contract for a regular rental property, you pay a brokerage fee to the real estate agent, but when signing a contract for a shared house, you pay a contract fee instead.
The average brokerage fee is between 0.5 and 1 month's rent, while the average contract fee is around 15,000 to 30,000 yen.
Therefore, it can be said that the contract fee for a shared house is set very low compared to the brokerage fee.
Common service fee
Common area fees mainly include utility bills, daily necessities, and internet connection fees.
In a shared house, the management company pays all utilities and internet charges in one lump sum, and these charges are collected as common area fees from tenants.
The average common area fee is around 10,000 to 15,000 yen.
Since common area fees are collected at a flat rate to cover the costs of living, your expenses will not change even if you use a lot of water or gas in a given month.
Advance rent
Advance rent is rent paid before moving in to prevent non-payment of rent.
Generally, one to two months' rent is paid in advance.
If a tenant moves in mid-month, rent will be paid on a pro-rata basis from the day they move in, so there is no disadvantage to the tenant.
Furthermore, the cost of advance rent is proportional to the rent, so the cheaper the rent, the lower the initial costs.
Guarantee charge
The guarantee fee is the fee charged when joining a guarantee company.
The reason for joining a guarantor company is to guarantee the management company's income by having the guarantor company pay the rent in advance even if the tenant falls behind on their rent.
The average guarantee fee is around 10,000 to 50,000 yen, but depending on the share house management company, the guarantee fee may not be included in the initial costs.
How to keep the initial costs of living in a shared house low
We have seen that the initial costs of a shared house are much cheaper than regular rent. However, some people may want to keep the initial costs of a shared house even lower. From here, we will introduce two ways to reduce the initial costs of a shared house.Method 1: Choose a non-private bedroom
You can further reduce initial costs by changing the bedroom type in your shared house from a private room to a dormitory or semi-private room.Share houses have shared rooms called dormitories, and semi-private shared bedrooms separated by partitions. These types of bedrooms tend to have lower rent than private rooms because the space occupied by each resident is smaller.
However, some disadvantages to dormitories and semi-private accommodation include being bothered by noise from your roommates and having to share bedroom lighting and air conditioning.
Therefore, when choosing a bedroom type other than a private room, we recommend that you consider not only the cost but also whether or not you are suited to sharing a room.
Method 2: Use the campaign
One way to reduce the initial costs of a shared house is to sign a lease on a property during a campaign.Some share house management companies are running campaigns where they waive some of the initial costs and contract fees.
However, be aware that in order to receive the campaign discount, there may be conditions such as "living in the property for three months or more."
Costs you can save by living in a share house other than the initial costs
From here, we will introduce three costs you can save by living in a share house, in addition to the initial costs.Purchase costs for furniture and appliances
Most share houses come equipped with furniture and appliances, so there is no need to purchase a new refrigerator or bed.The average cost of purchasing furniture and appliances when starting to live alone is around 200,000 to 300,000 yen, so living in a shared house can lead to significant savings.
In addition, since the amount of luggage you have to carry is reduced, the costs of moving in and out can also be reduced.
Expenses for purchasing daily necessities
Some shared houses come with cooking utensils and seasonings already provided, which can save you the cost of purchasing them.In addition, shared houses are structured so that the management company uses the common area fees collected from tenants to purchase and deliver daily necessities such as toilet paper and detergent in bulk.
Therefore, even in months when you use a lot of daily necessities, your expenses will not increase and you will be able to keep your living expenses low.
Utility fees, internet usage fees
In most share houses, monthly utility bills and internet fees are included in the rent. Also, many share houses have an internet environment, so you don't have to go through the trouble of signing a new contract or having it installed.The low initial costs of living in a shared house are very attractive!
We explained the average initial costs for a shared house and how to keep them low.Share houses are very attractive because initial costs such as security deposit, key money, agent fees, and guarantee fees are significantly lower than those for regular rental properties.
The average initial cost of a shared house is about 100,000 yen, making it an affordable price that makes it easy to start living in a shared house. Wouldn't you like to take a look at a good shared house right away, without worrying about using a shared house? At Cross House, the initial cost of a shared house is set at just a flat guarantee fee of 30,000 yen.
We are also running a campaign where the initial costs are waived, so if you are considering moving into a share house, be sure to check out our website.
