Negotiating with landlord when asked to leave

[Gareth]

Hi

We’ve been asked to leave the house we rent. The owners moved away in 2016 and we started renting it then on an indefinite basis. About six months ago, they asked if we would mind moving out by April 2024 because they want to move back in. They asked us very nicely and we are happy to move out. There is no problem there.

We have now bought a place of our own and will move in there in July 2022. We are about to inform the owners of this via the lettings agent we rent it through.

Does anyone have any experience of negotiating in this situation? The lettings agent hinted previously that we could ask the owners to pay for our moving costs. Has anyone ever done this? By moving costs, we are thinking of the cost of the removal company, cleaning of the place we bought (it’s second hand), the cost of moving the air conditioner we installed here. We are also thinking of asking for our full deposit to be returned, ie we don’t pay for the current house to be cleaned, and asking for no rent for the final month we are here. Are we being far too cheeky?

Thanks for any thoughts you have on this.

[hana]

A very long time ago, when we were asked to move out by the landlord for similar reasons, we thoroughly cleaned the place ourselves, thus avoiding the cleaning fee, and also were repaid the deposit in full.

To me, asking them to pay for cleaning of the place you've bought is excessive, especially as they have given you two years' notice. They're probably regretting the possibility of their house being unoccupied for two years. But if you also paid 礼金 (thank-you money), you could aim to have that repaid.

My general view is that leaving on good terms has real non-financial value; bitter feelings last a long time!

[TJKansai]

Renters in Japan have a lot of rights, but an owner who wants to make the place their primary residence may trump them. Six months' lead time is pretty generous.

Getting your deposit back should be possible, but I think it boils down to expectations (which can differ by prefecture). I wouldn't push for more than that myself.

[RetireJapan]

Hi

We’ve been asked to leave the house we rent. The owners moved away in 2016 and we started renting it then on an indefinite basis. About six months ago, they asked if we would mind moving out by April 2024 because they want to move back in. They asked us very nicely and we are happy to move out. There is no problem there.

We have now bought a place of our own and will move in there in July 2022. We are about to inform the owners of this via the lettings agent we rent it through.

Does anyone have any experience of negotiating in this situation? The lettings agent hinted previously that we could ask the owners to pay for our moving costs. Has anyone ever done this? By moving costs, we are thinking of the cost of the removal company, cleaning of the place we bought (it’s second hand), the cost of moving the air conditioner we installed here. We are also thinking of asking for our full deposit to be returned, ie we don’t pay for the current house to be cleaned, and asking for no rent for the final month we are here. Are we being far too cheeky?

Thanks for any thoughts you have on this.

My understanding is that if tenants want to stay in a lease, barring exceptional circumstances it is very difficult for landlords to force them out. Accordingly, if landlords really need someone to leave, their only option is to pay them off (or get the large gentlemen with missing digits involved).

They are not obligated to pay tenants, they choose to do so in order to get the desired result.

It sounds like in your case they don't need you to move out now, so there isn't much reason for them to pay/refund/waive anything. On the contrary, you moving out two years early probably isn't ideal for them, although it might allow them to move back a bit sooner.

Assuming you have had a good relationship so far, I wouldn't be inclined to try to profit from this, especially as you have already bought your place and cannot realistically play the only card in the renter negotiation handbook, which is to refuse to move.

Anyone else?

[Tony]

I'm with Ben. They are giving you a huge lead time for when they want you to move out, and you are planning to move anyway, don't try and squeeze money from them. Sure it's an option available to you, but morally, I'd say it's a low move.

[tokyojoe]

If you have a direct line of communication with the owners then you could maybe ask them
politely if they would consider giving you your full deposit back if you cleaned it reasonably thoroughly
yourself on leaving, that is about as far as I would think about asking them (since they are moving back in
to live there themselves it is likely that they will re-decorate / clean by themselves anyway).

Requesting anything else seems a little over the top unless they have someone been bad landlords ...