10 tips to let your property to Japanese tenants

If you could describe the perfect tenant attributes, landlords and property owners would most likely put reliability, honesty and cleanliness very high on the list. One culture that also holds these qualities dear is the Japanese, and therefore, unsurprisingly, tenants from Japan are viewed as ideal renters.

As a landlord, the key to letting your home is to ensure your property appeals to its prospective audience from the moment they approach the entrance, and every culture has specific things they will look for in a property. Here’s our guide to attracting Japanese tenants.

Ample storage

With their desire to keep everything neat and tidy, Japanese tenants usually like ample amounts of storage in their homes to ensure the living space is kept as clutter-free as possible. We highly recommend landlords consider installing space-saving storage units throughout the property in order to satisfy this tenant requirement.

Read our guide to getting your furnishing right

Best foot forward

As Japanese tenants tend to remove their shoes indoors, good, hard-wearing floors are essential. It’s also a good idea to have a cupboard or storage space by the front door to store outdoor shoes, a touch your prospective Japanese tenants will no doubt appreciate.

While new-build, modern developments tend to have quality flooring, wooden laminate or tiled floors in period conversions may need some TLC in order to appeal.

See our top tips to maximising your rental return on a period conversion

My home is my kingdom

Japanese people value their privacy extremely highly, and usually achieve this by having walls surrounding their property. Now, while this may be a tall order in London, you can ensure that any walls and fences surrounding the building and garden are in prime condition and provide as much protection and seclusion as possible

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The Great Outdoors

Contact with the outdoors is paramount to living within Japan, and the garden is seen as an integral aspect of the house. Therefore, ensuring visibility onto the garden from inside the property by using large windows, as well as making sure the garden is well kept and aesthetically pleasing will go a long way.

Whose responsibility is the garden – landlord or tenant? Read our guide here

Let there be light

With the UK’s dark, long nights, sometimes natural light can feel a privilege, especially at wintertime! However, within Japanese culture, natural light is considered a human right. As a result, having south-facing living areas to ensure a steady stream of sunlight will be advantageous when trying to attract Japanese tenants.

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Everything including the kitchen sink

For many of us, the dishwasher is the hero kitchen, so much so that we can often leave rinsing the dishes and rely on the machine to work its magic. However, this is not the case in Japanese culture, where people like to clean their plates and crockery by hand even if still using a dishwasher, and so require a sink big enough to fit in a large amount of kitchenware. Therefore, having a larger than average kitchen sink would be greatly appreciated by your prospective Japanese tenants.

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Space is everything

In Japanese culture, the bedding (futon) is stored in a cupboard until needed for sleep, thus providing much more space within rooms to accommodate for families. Consequently, having light and movable furniture will allow your Japanese tenants to make the most of the space within their property. Furthermore, to promote the spaciousness of your property, organise furniture so that as much floor space is visible as possible.

How to maximise space in your rental property

Easy wash, easy go

Having a washlet toilet is now considered standard within Japan, with every household having this utility installed. Whilst this may be considered unusual in the UK at this moment in time, it would go a long way with your prospective Japanese tenants to put this in place, as it is viewed as a much more hygenic and efficient way to spend a penny!

Read our guide to the smart homes of the future

Keeping with tradition

Ofuro, a type of soaking tub in Japanese culture, is less about bathing and more a spiritual ritual which cleanses, rejuvenates and heals the mind, body and soul. Consequently, having a large bathtub within the bathroom will enable your Japanese tenants to keep this ofuro tradition and give them a little taste of home. Also, because of this tradition, Japanese tenants view unlimited access to hot water as an absolute necessity, with many turning down properties which have a hot water tank system installed, due to the amount of time the tank takes to reheat.

Therefore, ensuring constant access to hot water would be integral to ensuring a successful deal with a Japanese tenant.

Read what makes the perfect rental home

Safety first

Japanese people are, by nature, very security conscious with home security systems high on homeowners’ wish lists. While alarm systems may not be mandatory, it may be something you wish to invest in, in order to attract a Japanese tenant.

See our Top 10 checklist for Landlords

Since 2017, we have provided the services of our dedicated Japan Desk which helps our corporate Japanese clients find their perfect home in London. Headed by Yoshi Tsuji, it includes not just a property finding service, but help with paperwork, tenancy agreements and check-in.

Our clients really value this personal service and we hope we can be of assistance to you also when looking to attract Japanese tenants. Yoshi can be contacted by email at yoshi@brlets.co.uk

If you are looking for a place to live in London, please contact our Japan Desk