賃貸の諸事情

I have finished moving my apartment. Last weekend I had returned the keys to my landlord. But before you can do that they will come and check for damages. This is what the apartment looked like right before I return it. I have cleaned the house exactly like nobody was living there before.

先週部屋を渡した。　オーナーさんと立会いして、　部屋をチェックして、　鍵を渡した。　きれいに使ったし、傷もないし、敷金はそのまま返します。　

渡すまえに、かなり掃除しましたけど、　それにしてもクリーニング代を40000万円くらいチャージしてしまった。　

In Japan you have to pay for restoration fee to restore your rented apartment back to a "new" state. It is such a silly rule that I think is never heard of anywhere else in the world. Anyway, since I have used the apartment carefully and luckily there was no damage. I don't have to pay any restoration fee. But I still have to pay a cleaning fee of about 40000 yen (which was already spilt in half with the landlord). Make you wonders where did your rent actually go. Consider that you have to pay the following already when you moved in the flat:

2 months of rent as deposit (refundable)
2 months of rent as key money (non-refundable)
1 month of rent as commission (to agent)

There is a "renewal" fee of 1 month of rent when they renewal your rent contract (probably for a higher rent) after 2 years.

In case of my new apartment I negotiated the key money down to 1 month of rent and used a half priced agent that only charge 50% of the rent as commission. Think carefully if you want to rent an apartment in Japan.

わざと部屋を傷つけたときに修理代出すのは当然だけど、普通生活に部屋に傷つけることはある程度避けられないと思う。　汚れも同じだと思う。　礼金、家賃も払ったし、　そういう汚れは家賃に含まれてるでしょう。　１００％現状回復は不可能じゃないですか？　外国人にとってよくわからないことですね。　

いったい私払った家賃どこにいっちゃっただろう？