This is a distinctively Japanese landlord-tenant issue: genjō kaifuku (原状回復, restoration to original condition). Every rental market has some version of the move-out settlement conversation, but Japan runs it on a government guideline rather than a simple security-deposit clause, and a landlord cannot just keep the deposit and call it settled. Every yen billed has to be justified against a national standard, and getting that split wrong is one of the most common sources of friction between Japanese landlords and departing tenants. In our own portfolio, the question we hear most often from owners — including overseas owners who bought a Tokyo or Osaka unit as an investment — is simple: where does my responsibility end, and where does the tenant’s begin? This guide sets out how genjō kaifuku works, what it typically costs, and the habits that keep the process fair and dispute-free, drawn from our own property-management practice.
What Is Genjō Kaifuku (原状回復)? The Definition Every Owner Needs
Genjō kaifuku means restoring only the damage a tenant caused through intent, negligence, breach of the duty of care, or use beyond what counts as normal living — not returning the unit to its exact move-in condition. That distinction trips up almost every first-time landlord. Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通省, MLIT) publishes the guideline that defines this standard, “Disputes over Restoration to Original Condition and Guidelines” (原状回復をめぐるトラブルとガイドライン), and it frames the duty strictly around tenant fault or misuse, not the natural passage of time.
In practice, ordinary aging and everyday wear are, in principle, the owner’s cost to bear, not the tenant’s. This runs opposite to how many overseas landlords instinctively treat a security deposit — in parts of the US, for example, the cultural default is closer to “the tenant pays to fix whatever changed,” even though aggressive deductions carry real legal risk there too. Japan flips that assumption: whether a cost is billable at all depends on a fault-and-normal-use test applied item by item, and understanding that line is what keeps owners out of move-out disputes.
Keinen Rekka (経年劣化) and Tsūjō Mamō (通常摩耗): Natural Deterioration vs. Normal Wear
Keinen rekka (経年劣化) is quality that degrades simply because time has passed — sun-faded walls, or rubber gaskets that harden with age. Tsūjō mamō (通常摩耗) is the minor marks of ordinary living — an electrical scorch mark behind a long-used refrigerator, or the faint dents furniture leaves in carpet. Both are the landlord’s cost, framed by the guideline as routine reinvestment ahead of the next tenant — comparable to how a US or UK landlord budgets for repainting and carpet turnover rather than billing the outgoing resident.
Cases Where the Tenant Is Responsible
Damage from how the unit was used is different, and here the tenant pays as a rule: flooring discoloration from a spilled drink left to soak, mold that spread because cleaning was neglected, or wallpaper yellowed and smelling from indoor smoking. The test property managers apply is whether the damage exceeds normal use — not whether any mark exists at all, since some wear is expected in any lived-in home.
How Cost-Sharing Is Actually Decided: Japan’s Depreciation Approach
Unlike a flat deposit clawback common in many Western leases, being at fault in Japan does not mean the tenant owes the full repair bill — this is the detail owners miss most often. The guideline applies a depreciation (耐用年数, taiyō nensū, useful-life) framework to items like wallpaper: the tenant’s share shrinks the longer they lived in the unit, since the item’s residual value has already fallen with age regardless of conduct.
Wallpaper (クロス, kurosu) is the clearest example: it loses value on a fixed depreciation curve, so even a tenant at fault for damage after many years owes only the wallpaper’s remaining residual value, not the cost of a fresh replacement. An owner used to deducting full repair invoices from a deposit needs to unlearn that instinct here — it is one of the most common triggers for a dispute that ends up before a Japanese court or local housing consultation office.
| Item | How Cost-Sharing Is Determined | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Wallpaper / cloth cladding (クロス) | Prorated to residual value based on useful-life depreciation | Smoking stains, graffiti, etc. are tenant-billable, but never at full replacement cost |
| Flooring | Spot repairs sometimes ignore the depreciation curve entirely | Full-room replacement does factor in value loss over time |
| Tatami (畳) and fusuma (襖, sliding paper doors) | Treated as consumable items; judged case by case | Owners should know the typical cost of re-surfacing (表替え) in advance |
| Professional house cleaning | Routine cleaning cost is, in principle, the landlord’s responsibility | Special clauses (特約) in the lease can shift this — see below |
Typical Restoration Costs in Japan and Who Pays for What
Before finalizing a settlement, it helps to know rough cost ranges and how responsibility is usually assigned. Figures below are benchmarks only — actual costs vary by region, condition, and contractor — converted to approximate USD at 155 JPY/USD so an overseas owner can sanity-check a quote at a glance. Never hand a tenant a bare number: always pair it with the contractor’s itemized rationale.
Floor Scratches and Replacement
Scuff marks from moving furniture, or a deep gouge from a dropped object, are tenant-billable as a rule; a spot repair typically starts around ¥10,000 (approx. $65 at 155 JPY/USD), depending on the flooring material. A shallow, natural dent left by furniture’s steady weight, by contrast, is normal wear and falls to the landlord.
Wallpaper and Ceiling Replacement
Nicotine staining and odor, pet damage, graffiti, and neglect-driven mold are tenant-billable, typically starting around ¥30,000 (approx. $194 at 155 JPY/USD). Flag to tenants in advance that even a localized stain often forces a full re-papering of the room, since patch-matching rarely looks acceptable — though as above, the bill is still reduced by depreciation, not charged at full replacement cost.
Backing-Board Repair and Water-Area Grime
A hole through the backing board from a screw or nail is tenant-billable, typically several tens of thousands of yen (roughly ¥20,000–¥50,000, or about $129–$323); a small thumbtack hole counts as normal use. In the kitchen and bathroom, grease or mineral scale beyond what routine cleaning would remove becomes tenant-billable, and costs can rise sharply if a fixture must be replaced outright.
Practical Skills That Prevent Disputes Before They Start
The key mindset shift is realizing a move-out dispute starts at move-in, not move-out. We prioritize building a process where conflict has no room to start, not resolving it after it erupts. Unlike jurisdictions where a walkthrough checklist is optional, in Japan a documented, mutually signed move-in record is close to essential evidence if a dispute is ever escalated.
- Record the unit’s condition at move-in with photos and a checklist, reviewed and signed by both owner and tenant
- Clearly explain the scope of genjō kaifuku and any special clauses (特約) in the lease and the pre-contract disclosure document (重要事項説明書)
- Use the MLIT guideline itself as a shared reference for the decision
- Walk through the unit together with the tenant at move-out, resolving any gap in perception on the spot
- Itemize every line of the estimate with a stated reason and show the depreciation math, not just a total
The move-in record is the only objective evidence later for “was this damage already there?” Date-stamp every photo, and take several angles of anything questionable — cheap insurance against a difficult conversation.
What to Watch for When Drafting a Special Clause (特約)
It is legally possible to write a special clause (特約, tokuyaku) shifting costs like professional cleaning onto the tenant beyond the default split. But for it to hold up, the tenant must have concretely understood and agreed to the added obligation — not merely signed a lease that happened to contain the line. A single boilerplate clause signed without discussion risks being ruled unenforceable, including in a Japanese court. Walking the tenant through it verbally and confirming genuine understanding protects the owner far more than the wording alone.
The Security Deposit Settlement Process, Step by Step
Standardizing the path from move-out notice to final settlement reduces both inconsistency and delay. Below is one common sequence in Japanese property management.
| Step | What Happens | Key Point |
|---|---|---|
| Receive move-out notice | Accept the termination notice and confirm the move-out date | Check the required notice period against the lease |
| Move-out walkthrough | Inspect and document the unit with the tenant present | Cross-check against the move-in record |
| Obtain contractor estimate | Get an itemized quote from the restoration contractor | Confirm it is in line with typical market rates |
| Determine cost-sharing | Apply the guideline’s prorating rules | Factor in the elapsed years of tenancy |
| Issue the settlement statement | Present the deposit offset and any refund due | Put the full rationale in writing |
Under Japanese law, the deposit is expected back without undue delay, not on the landlord’s own timeline. Writing the statement at a level of detail the tenant can actually follow, and answering questions candidly, is what builds trust — in Japan or anywhere else.
How INA&Associates Approaches Genjō Kaifuku: A Philosophy of Fairness
We do not treat genjō kaifuku as simply a moment to recover cost. For the tenant leaving, it is the closing chapter of time spent in that home; for the next resident, it is the opening one. That is why the cost-sharing decision has to be fair on its own terms, and why we tell owners the truth even when it is not the answer they hoped for.
Billing a departing tenant more may look like more cash in an owner’s pocket short-term. But an unsupportable claim tends to surface in reviews and disputes, eroding a property’s reputation and occupancy — a risk that matters as much to an overseas owner managing a Japanese asset remotely as to a resident landlord, since the reputational damage moves through the same marketplace. We take the long view because a fair, transparent settlement is what actually protects and grows asset value over time.
Conclusion: Manage Genjō Kaifuku Through Systems, Not Negotiation
Most genjō kaifuku disputes trace back to two causes: not knowing the rules, and not keeping adequate records. Hold the basic principle firmly — natural deterioration and normal wear are the landlord’s cost, fault-driven damage is the tenant’s — then apply depreciation-based proration correctly on top of it. Running three moments carefully — the move-in record, the lease-signing explanation, and the move-out walkthrough — removes most seeds of future conflict. Think of genjō kaifuku not as a matter of negotiating skill in the moment, but as something managed through a repeatable system built in advance. For more on managing a Japanese rental property, our full library of articles for rental-management owners is a useful next stop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the genjō kaifuku guideline carry legal force?
The MLIT guideline itself does not carry direct legal force, but it is frequently referenced in Japanese court rulings and functions as the de facto standard in practice. Treat it as very difficult to unilaterally impose a cost burden on a tenant beyond what the guideline allows.
Can a special clause expand what the tenant is responsible for?
Yes, if the special clause (特約) is written clearly into the lease and the tenant genuinely understood and agreed to it. That agreement must rest on the tenant being told the obligation exceeds standard genjō kaifuku; a one-sided clause that exists only as boilerplate text can later be ruled invalid.
What if the tenant refuses to attend the move-out walkthrough?
Even without the tenant present, document the unit’s condition objectively with photos or video and bill costs using an itemized written statement. Preserving evidence is the priority, so keep every record date-stamped.
How do you recover restoration costs on a unit with a zero deposit?
Even with no deposit on file, the right to claim genjō kaifuku costs still belongs to the owner. In practice this means billing the former tenant directly after move-out, and collection can be difficult. A rent-guarantee company (家賃保証会社) at move-in, plus a thorough explanation at signing, are effective safeguards that reduce this risk.
