Finding your apartment is hard but moving from your current place can be just as difficult. Our article will go into some of the steps that you should take before trying to move.

Living in a new country is a great experience and it gives you a great sense of how the world works outside of your own country. You have finally gotten used to your new surroundings, but now you have found a new place for less money, or you have found a new job. Now you will need to get all of your things together and get ready to move. There a few steps you need to take before you can settle into your new place.

Notify Your Landlord

Before you can think about how to move all your belongings you have to notify all of the people involved with your apartment. The first person is the landlord and you will need to check your contract to see how far in advance you will need to do it. Most places need at least a minimum of 30 days, but some will extend to 35 and if you miss the deadline you will be charged extra fees. Some fees can be up to 30,000 yen and can be a massive hindrance. If your company helped you with the apartment and acted as the guarantor you will need to let them know as well. They need to get their records together and since they are also on the lease, they must make sure everything is good. This is the same for your utilities, but they are more lenient on when you need to notify them. As long as you tell them within a weeks’ time, they will cut off the utility, but you should make sure when the billing period begins and ends. If you go one day over you may get charged extra, and that goes for your rent as well. One day past the end of the month or your billing period will result in extra payment. Try to be as thorough as possible when checking for this.

Change of Address

You will need to go to the city hall in your area and let them know you will be changing your address. You will have to file some paperwork that will need your new address and your hanko stamp to make in a complete document. If you don’t do this, you will not be able to register in your new area’s city hall. It is extremely important to get this done as it can impact you negatively on your living status and even your ability to get a working visa or visa renewal.

Prepping Your Apartment

Before leaving your old apartment for the new one, you’ll need to clean your current pace. Check all the small areas of the apartment to ensure that there is no major damage to the walls and floors. Any small scratches and scuffs will be noted by the landlord when you leave. If you are renting any appliances form the landlord, you will need to make sure they are in the same working condition as you had received them. If they have taken any damage or aren’t cleaned, you will be billed for the cleanup and repair. This bill will be higher than it actually costs to clean them, and they may even charge you for a complete replacement if the items are too damaged.

Even if you try to clean your apartment from top to bottom with a fine-toothed comb you will end up having to pay a cleaning fee. All buildings must ensure the apartment is thoroughly cleaned and they hire cleaning teams to do it. It is a fee that ranges from 20,000 to 30,000 yen and you will likely have to pay for it no matter what. You can possibly reduce the amount by trying to be as clean as possible before leaving, but it may not matter in the end.

Moving Your Stuff

Moving between different cities is relatively easy to do, but it will cost you to get your things from one place to the other. There is a large selection of moving companies to choose from and they all offer prices that can fit most needs. Some have special moving packages that allow you to load all your belongings on a cart and it will ship for a flat fee. Others will give discounts depending on the distance the things need to travel.

There are some other options you can try when moving such as taking small boxes with you on public transport, but it won’t allow you to move anything large and traveling so many times on the train or bus will be costly. You can rent a van or car and use it for the day. If you have a driver’s license this is a great way to save some money as rental costs are relatively cheap in Japan. You can get some friends to help you move too.

Getting Rid of Appliances

If you aren’t renting your appliances, but you don’t want to take them with you, you’ll need to dispose of the. There is a pick-up time you will have to notify the city to have them pick up the items for disposal. You will have to pay a disposal fee when you do this so make sure you want to get rid of them.

The next thing you could do is try to sell them to others or bring them to a recycle shop. If the appliances are in working condition, they will buy them from you. They even take broken machines as they can be sold as spare parts. There are online groups that will buy used appliances, and there are other giveaway groups for simply getting rid of things you don’t want. You can find many groups on social media that will have people who come to your place to pick up the items.

It can be a little troublesome when you want to simply move in as quickly as possible, but you need to make sure all your paperwork is in order. Once you finish it all it is easy living. Just try to follow all the proper steps when doing the process and it will all be fine.