On July 23, the Kyoto District Court reached a verdict in a landlord-tenant dispute that found contract renewal fees common in rental agreements to be illegal. Kyodo News called it "a landmark ruling" with far-reaching implications.
Then, on Aug. 27, in an appeal of a verdict handed down in Kyoto District Court last year, the Osaka High Court found in favor of a man who was suing his landlord for the return of contract renewal fees he had paid when he rented a Kyoto apartment for ¥45,000 a month from 2000 to 2006. Though the ruling indicates that the earlier decision had set an important precedent, it received much less media coverage.
Kyoto landlords are infamous for gouging tenants, often demanding two or even three times the usual amounts charged for reikin (gift money) and shikikin (deposits). The tenant in the second case didn't understand why he had to pay ¥100,000 to renew his rental agreement every year. Koshinryo (contract renewal fees) are standard practice in metropolitan areas but not throughout Japan. They seem to be nonexistent in the Tohoku region. If they are a "custom," as many landlords insist, they are also arbitrary in that the amounts and contract periods change greatly from place to place. The land ministry, which oversees real estate matters, has no position on koshinryo.