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Getting Your Security Deposit Back in Japan

You are moving out — maybe the lease is up, maybe you are leaving Japan for good — and now there is a settlement statement (seisansho 精算書) listing cleaning fees, wallpaper replacement, and "restoration" charges that add up to most or all of your shikikin (敷金), the security deposit you paid when you moved in. Is that normal? Are you required to pay it? This guide explains, in general terms, how Japanese law and the government's own guideline treat this situation, so you know what a landlord can reasonably ask for and where to push back if a bill looks inflated.

Shikikin vs. reikin: two deposits that work very differently

Two Japanese-only terms trip up almost every newcomer at move-in, and the confusion follows them straight to move-out:

The rest of this guide is about shikikin — what a landlord can legitimately deduct before returning the balance.

The legal starting point: you do not have to return the apartment "like new"

The core misunderstanding at the heart of most deposit disputes is the assumption that "restoration to original condition" (genjo kaifuku 原状回復) means returning the apartment to exactly the state it was in on move-in day. That is not what Japanese law says.

Japan's Civil Code (Minpō 民法), Article 621, sets out the tenant's restoration obligation and explicitly carves out two categories of wear that are not the tenant's responsibility:

This carve-out was written directly into the Civil Code in the 2020 reform of the law of obligations. Before that, the same principle existed mainly through court precedent and government guidance; landlords and tenants sometimes disputed whether a lease clause could override it. The 2020 amendment made the default rule explicit in the statute itself: ordinary wear and tear and aging are part of the cost of renting out property — already priced into the rent — not an extra bill for the tenant at move-out.

The same article of the Civil Code also confirms the practical counterpart: a tenant does owe restoration for damage beyond ordinary wear, unless that damage was not the tenant's fault. In plain terms, both directions of the rule matter — landlords cannot bill you for normal aging, and tenants are still on the hook for damage caused by negligence or misuse.

The MLIT guideline: how the wear-and-tear line gets drawn

Because "ordinary wear and tear" versus "tenant-caused damage" is a judgment call, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) — Japan's national housing ministry — publishes a detailed reference document, "Genjō Kaifuku o Meguru Toraburu to Gaidorain" (原状回復をめぐるトラブルとガイドライン, "Guideline on Disputes Concerning Restoration to Original Condition"). First issued in 1998 and most recently substantially revised in 2011, it exists specifically to prevent move-out disputes by giving landlords and tenants a shared, government-vetted reference for who typically pays for what.

The guideline sorts wear and damage into rough categories:

The guideline also builds in the idea of depreciation by years of residence: even where a tenant is responsible for damage to something like wallpaper or flooring, the amount they owe is generally expected to shrink the longer they lived there, since those fittings have a limited service life regardless of who is using them — the guideline sets out indicative service lives for common interior fittings for exactly this purpose. A bill charging full replacement cost for wallpaper after years in the unit, with no allowance for age, is exactly what this guideline was written to push back on.

One important caveat: the guideline is a reference standard for interpreting the general rule, not a binding price list. Its main practical use for a tenant is as a source you can point to when a landlord's or management company's move-out bill looks inconsistent with normal practice. How it interacts with the wording of your own lease is covered next.

Cleaning fees and lease "special clauses" (tokuyaku 特約)

The most common single line on a Japanese move-out bill is a professional cleaning fee. Many residential leases contain a special clause (tokuyaku 特約) obliging the tenant to pay a fixed house-cleaning charge at move-out, regardless of how clean the unit is. This is not the same as a restoration charge for wear and tear: cleaning can be a separate contractual obligation you took on when you signed, and such clauses are routine in the rental market rather than an automatic red flag.

That said, the Civil Code rules described above are default rules — a lease can shift costs such as ordinary-wear restoration or cleaning onto the tenant, but not without limits. Japan's Supreme Court held in a December 16, 2005 judgment that a clause making the tenant pay for ordinary wear and tear is effective only if it was clearly agreed to: the scope of what the tenant will pay for must be spelled out concretely in the contract itself, or clearly explained so that the tenant knowingly accepted the extra obligation. The MLIT guideline's official Q&A applies the same framework, adding that a clause unfavorable to the tenant needs an objective, reasonable basis and must not be exploitative — and, for cleaning clauses specifically, that whether the scope and amount were made explicit and whether the fee is reasonable are key factors. A vague clause you first discover on your settlement statement stands on much weaker ground than a specific one you knowingly signed.

Whether the clause in your own lease is valid is a case-by-case legal judgment this guide cannot make. If a cleaning or restoration clause is the sticking point in your settlement, that is exactly what the consultation windows below exist to help with.

What happens at move-out, step by step

1. The walkthrough (tachiai 立会い). Many landlords or management companies inspect the unit with you present shortly after you hand back the keys, noting existing damage. If offered a walkthrough, attend: it is your chance to see and discuss any damage in person rather than receive a bill after the fact.

2. The itemized statement. You are entitled to ask for an itemized breakdown (uchiwake 内訳) of any deductions from your deposit — a line-by-line list of what is being charged and why — rather than a single lump-sum "restoration fee." If you receive only a total figure, it is reasonable to request the itemization in writing before you agree to anything.

3. Deposit return. Under Civil Code Article 622-2, the tenant's right to have the deposit returned arises once the tenancy has ended and the unit has been handed back to the landlord, with any outstanding debts (unpaid rent, legitimate restoration charges) deducted first. The Civil Code does not fix a number of days for the refund; in practice, tenants commonly report the balance being returned within roughly a month of move-out, but treat that as a general pattern rather than a guaranteed timeline — ask your landlord or management company what their process is.

If a bill looks too high

None of this requires a lawsuit to resolve. A reasonable sequence:

What this guide will not do is tell you whether a specific charge on your specific bill is valid, or help you draft a formal demand or small-claims filing — that crosses into individual legal advice and representation, which is the domain of a lawyer (bengoshi 弁護士) or judicial scrivener (shihō shoshi 司法書士), not a general information site.

Where to get help

Japan has free, public channels built for exactly this kind of dispute:

What this guide does not cover

This is a general explanation of how the shikikin and restoration system is supposed to work, based on the Civil Code and the MLIT guideline — it is not legal advice, and it does not represent you in a dispute with a landlord. It also does not cover commercial leases, deposit customs outside the standard residential market, or disputes already in litigation. See our disclaimer for the general terms that apply to every guide on this site.

Related guides

If a guarantor company or guarantor was part of your original lease, our guide to rental guarantor companies in Japan covers how that system works and what it costs. And if you are leaving Japan for good after this move-out, do not leave money on the table — our guide to the pension lump-sum withdrawal payment explains how to claim back part of the pension contributions taken from your paychecks.

Sources

All sources below were checked on 2026-07-15.

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