Corporate Housing in Tokyo: Apartments for Relocating Teams

What is corporate housing?

Corporate housing is a fully furnished apartment that a company rents for its employees on flexible terms, usually one to twelve months. The company signs the contract and receives the invoice. The employee just moves in and starts working.

Why a regular Tokyo lease won't work for your team

The guarantor requirement in Japan

Most Japanese landlords require a guarantor, and that guarantor must be a Japanese national living in Japan. Your relocating employee has no such person. The workaround is a guarantor company, which charges 30 to 100 percent of one month's rent for the first year on top of everything else.

Even with a guarantor company, screening is not a formality. Landlords reject foreign applicants over language, contract length or employment status, and some listings still refuse foreign tenants outright. Each rejection costs your team another week. We cover the full process in how to rent an apartment in Japan as a foreigner.

Key money

Key money (reikin) is a non-refundable payment to the landlord, typically one to three months of rent. It is a gift. You never see it again. Our guide to key money in Japan explains where the custom comes from.

Two-year contracts requirements

The standard lease term in Japan is two years, with penalty fees for early termination. A six-month assignment does not fit a two-year contract. Breaking it costs money, and renewing it costs another month of rent.

The apartment also arrives empty. Most Japanese rentals are unfurnished, because tenants are expected to remove everything when they leave. No fridge, no washing machine, sometimes no light fixtures. Your employee would furnish an entire apartment, then sell it all a few months later.

What you get with Cove corporate housing

Built for every kind of assignment

Employee relocation

A new hire's first months decide how the move feels. A furnished Cove apartment works as a landing pad while they learn the city, or as their home for the whole posting.

Project teams and consultants

A delivery team needs four units near the client, not four scattered short-term bookings. Cove can place a team in the same building where availability allows, under one contract.

Business trips of a few weeks

Past the two-week mark, a hotel room starts to wear on people. A serviced apartment with a kitchen and laundry keeps longer trips livable.

Long assignments of 3 to 12 months

Too long for a hotel, too short for a lease. This is the exact stay corporate housing was built for, on a contract that ends when the assignment does.

Where your team can live in Tokyo

Cove operates apartment buildings across central Tokyo, priced from ¥65,000 to over ¥400,000 per month depending on home type. Three that suit corporate stays:

FABRIC Nishi-Shinjuku

Minutes from Shinjuku’s business district. Studios and apartments up to a 2-bedroom for pairs who share.

¥210,000–¥505,000 / month

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BluRock Kagurazaka

3 minutes from Iidabashi Station and its five train lines. Studios and 1-bedrooms with dedicated work setups.

¥294,500–¥417,000 / month

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Porust Yoyogi Hachiman

A quiet Shibuya-ku pocket, 8 minutes from Yoyogi-Hachiman Station. Studio apartments.

From ¥290,000 / month

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Photos by Cove Japan

How corporate housing with Cove works

1. Tell us what you need. Headcount, preferred areas, budget and dates.
2. Get matched options. Cove comes back with available homes that fit, not a listings dump.
3. Your team moves in. Furnished, connected, done. One contract and one invoice behind it.

Move your team to Japan with Cove

We'll prepare the contract and handle the paperwork so your team can move in