Every year, right around late January, my phone starts ringing more than usual, and I know peak moving season has arrived. In Japan, roughly 70 percent of my tenant turnover across all 9 of my rental properties happens in the six weeks before April 1st, when the fiscal year and the school year both flip over at the same time. Last spring I had 4 units empty out within a single five week stretch, and if I hadn’t already had a system running, I would have eaten well over 40 days of lost rent between them.
That kind of compressed turnover used to stress me out. Now I treat it like a predictable annual sprint instead of an emergency, because the planning for it actually starts back in December, not in February when the notices arrive. Over 15 years of self-managing these properties I’ve learned that the landlords who lose money during this window usually don’t have bad units, they just react instead of preparing ahead of time.
Why Late January Through March Hits Landlords Hardest
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Job transfers get announced in Japan mostly in January and February, with the move itself expected before April 1st. New graduates and students hunting for their first apartment near a university or new employer are doing the same thing at the same time. That means every moving company, every flooring contractor, and every appliance recycler I use is booked solid for roughly 8 weeks straight. On a normal month I can get a cleaning crew into a vacant unit within 2 or 3 days of the old tenant leaving. During peak season that same booking can take 10 days or more if I haven’t reserved a slot in advance. Real estate agents feel the same crunch, since they’re juggling dozens of showings a week, so a unit that isn’t camera ready the moment it’s listed tends to get skipped over in favor of one that is.
Start the Move-Out Walkthrough Two Weeks Early
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I stopped waiting until the actual move-out day to inspect a unit. Now I schedule a walkthrough about 2 weeks before the tenant’s final day, while their furniture is still there, so I can see wear patterns on the tatami and flooring and flag anything that falls outside normal use. Japan’s genjo kaifuku, or original-condition restoration, guidelines put ordinary wear and tear on the landlord, not the tenant, so I document everything with dated photos to avoid a deposit dispute later. This one habit alone has cut my average deposit negotiation time from about 3 weeks down to under 5 days.
My Turnaround Checklist for a Fast Reset
Once a unit is empty, speed matters, because every vacant day during peak season is a day I could have filled with a tenant who is actively apartment hunting right now. Here is the checklist I run through on every one of my 9 properties between tenants:
- Full genjo kaifuku assessment logged with photos within 24 hours of key return
- Repaint scuffed walls and touch up baseboards, usually about 15,000 to 25,000 yen in materials per unit
- Inspect and patch tatami mats or flooring, replacing only the sections that show real damage
- Test every fixture: water heater, air conditioner, stove, and all light switches
- Re-key or reprogram the entry lock rather than reusing the old cylinder
- Deep clean the bathroom and kitchen, including range hood grease that builds up over a multi year tenancy
- Photograph the finished unit the same day cleaning wraps up, before dust resettles
Budgeting for Rush Season Contractor Pricing
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Contractors know exactly how busy this window is, and quite a few will quote 15 to 20 percent above their normal rate between February and March. I don’t fight that markup anymore. Instead I lock in a flat rate with my regular painter and cleaning crew back in November, before the rush starts, in exchange for guaranteeing them a set number of jobs across my properties. That single move has probably saved me somewhere around 100,000 yen a year compared to booking each job cold in peak season.
Get the Unit Listed Before It’s Even Empty
Waiting for a unit to be fully clean before listing it costs you real days on the market during a season when good units move fast. I list a unit as soon as I have a confirmed move-out date, using photos from a similar layout in the same building, and I clearly note the actual availability date in the listing. For units clearing out in the first half of March, I’ll sometimes offer a move-in date as early as 10 days after cleaning finishes, which has repeatedly gotten me a signed lease before the paint has even fully dried.
Handling the Paperwork Crunch
With multiple units turning over inside the same few weeks, the guarantor company screening, new lease contracts, and key money collection can all pile up on the same afternoon. I now handle as much of this digitally as the guarantor companies allow, since chasing a physical signature across town eats an entire day I don’t have in March. Even something as small as pre-printing the standard disclosure documents for all 9 properties in early January saves me real time once the season actually hits. I also keep a shared spreadsheet with every unit’s move-out date, expected repair scope, and target relist date, updated weekly starting in January, so I’m never trying to hold 4 or 5 overlapping timelines in my head at once.
None of this is complicated once it’s a routine instead of a scramble every single year. That’s the approach I use across all 9 of my properties every peak season, and it’s the difference between dreading February and just getting through it.
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15 years of landlord experience u00b7 3 apartment buildings u00b7 DIY renovations that saved millions of yen. Browse all articles at diytosan.com
