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2026-10-08

The flat your late parent was renting ― ending the lease, clearing the belongings, and how it relates to renouncing the inheritance

When a parent living alone dies in a rented flat, the landlord presses for the lease to be ended and the flat vacated. The right to rent is inherited, so the lease does not end automatically on death. This article sets out how ending the lease or disposing of belongings may be treated as simple acceptance if you are considering renouncing the inheritance, the duty of preservation that remains even after renouncing, the scope of a joint and several guarantor's liability, the 2021 model contract clauses, and the breakdown of the net 237,000 yen this family spent on rent, clearing and restoration.

About this translation ― This page is an English translation of an article originally written in Japanese by KuraLab's operator, a licensed real-estate transaction specialist (宅地建物取引士) and administrative scrivener (行政書士) in Japan. The Japanese original is the authoritative text; where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. The article explains Japanese law and procedure in general terms as of the date shown. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice for your situation ― please confirm with a licensed professional in Japan. Japanese terms are kept in parentheses so you can search for them. Read the Japanese original

"The landlord has asked me to clear the flat by the end of this month, and to pay the rent until then. Should I just do as I'm told?" The person who came for advice was a 52-year-old eldest son. His 78-year-old mother, who lived alone, had died in the flat she was renting. It was a one-room flat with a dining kitchen (1DK) at 52,000 yen a month. The son lived in another prefecture, and his mother's belongings were still in the flat as they were. What worried him was that his mother might have had debts.

First, a lease does not end automatically when the tenant dies. The right to rent (賃借権) and the obligation to pay rent pass to the heirs, just like other property and debts (Civil Code Article 896). From the landlord's side, the other party to the contract has simply changed from the late mother to her heirs. So ending the lease and moving out the belongings become the heirs' job.

What you need to be careful about here is the relationship with renunciation of inheritance (相続放棄). If someone who wants to renounce because the debts turn out to be large first ends the lease, or sells or throws away belongings, they may be treated as having "disposed of" the estate and so as having accepted the inheritance (simple acceptance, 単純承認) (Article 921). Then they can no longer renounce afterwards. The statement of renunciation to the family court must be made within three months of learning of the death.

Does that mean you can do nothing until you decide whether to renounce? No. Acts that maintain the value of the property (acts of preservation, 保存行為), such as throwing away food that will spoil, locking up, and checking the post, are considered acceptable. The acts to be careful about are selling valuable belongings, taking things home as keepsakes, asking a contractor to dispose of everything, and receiving the return of the deposit. Judgements on what counts as an act of preservation differ by situation, so leave any act you are unsure about until the statement of renunciation has been accepted.

While you are considering renunciation, separate what you "may do" in the flat from what you should "wait on." Until it is decided whether to renounce, limit yourself to acts of preservation such as throwing away food that will spoil, locking up and managing the keys, and checking the post to look into assets and debts. Ending the lease, selling or disposing of household goods in bulk, distributing keepsakes and receiving the deposit should wait until the statement of renunciation is accepted, or until you decide to inherit. Judgements differ by situation on what counts as an act of preservation. Leave any act you are unsure about until the statement of renunciation is accepted, or until you decide to inherit.

Be careful too about how you pay. If the landlord asks for rent while you have not yet decided whether to renounce, it is safer to pay it from your own money for now than from the deceased's savings. Whether using the deceased's property to pay debts counts as "disposal" depends on the situation. For electricity, gas and water, rather than cutting them off, limit yourself to telling the suppliers that the account holder has died and asking how to settle. Decide how far to use things to keep the flat in condition, such as whether to keep the fridge running, on the same principle. Money you advance can be settled from the estate if you decide to inherit, and even if you renounce, the receipts will be material for later discussions.

Renouncing does not remove all responsibility. Under the April 2023 amendment, a person who was actually managing the estate at the time of renouncing has a duty to preserve it with the same care as their own property until they hand it over to other heirs or an estate liquidator (相続財産清算人) (Article 940). If you are holding the keys to the flat, you need to look after the keys and the state of the flat even after renouncing.

Check on the joint and several guarantor (連帯保証人) too. It is common for a child to be the joint and several guarantor for a parent's flat. A guarantor's liability is the guarantor's own promise, so it does not disappear even if they renounce the inheritance. However, for an individual's guarantee (revolving guarantee, 根保証) made on or after April 2020, the principal guaranteed is fixed at the moment the tenant dies (Article 465-4). That means rent arising after the death falls outside the guarantee. Look at the date of the contract and the upper limit of the guarantee (maximum amount, 極度額).

In 2021, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Ministry of Justice published the "model contract clauses on handling left-behind belongings" (残置物の処理等に関するモデル契約条項). These are clauses that allow the termination of the lease and the handling of household goods left in the flat, when an elderly tenant living alone dies, to be entrusted to a person decided in advance (the agent, 受任者). If the parent's lease has these clauses and an agent has been appointed, that person proceeds with ending the lease and clearing the flat. Including these clauses when a parent rents or renews a flat while still well is one way to prepare. Whether the parent's lease includes them can be seen in the special terms section. If it does not, the heirs proceed with the procedures as before.

In this family, the first week was spent looking into the mother's assets and debts from her passbooks and post, in the order set out in the article on how to look into an estate. Savings came to about 1,800,000 yen, no debts were found, and a disclosure request to the credit information agencies showed no loans or card borrowing. Having confirmed this, the son decided to accept the inheritance and gave notice to end the lease. Until then, all he had done was throw away the contents of the fridge and lock up.

Here is what it cost. Rent from the notice of termination until the flat was vacated: two months, 104,000 yen. Asking a contractor to clear the household goods: 165,000 yen (including tax, for a 1DK). Restoration costs (原状回復) of 72,000 yen were deducted from the deposit of 104,000 yen (two months' rent), and the rest of the deposit, 32,000 yen, came back. The costs totalled 341,000 yen. The 72,000 yen of restoration was deducted from the deposit and the remaining 32,000 yen of deposit came back, so the net cash paid out was 237,000 yen (104,000 yen + 165,000 yen − 32,000 yen). All of it was paid from the mother's savings.

The money spent until this family vacated the flat (a 1DK at a rent of 52,000 yen a month). Rent until vacating (two months): 104,000 yen, from the mother's savings. Clearing the household goods (contractor, tax included): 165,000 yen, from the mother's savings. Restoration (cigarette staining in one room): 72,000 yen, deducted from the deposit. Return of the rest of the deposit: minus 32,000 yen (deposit of 104,000 yen − 72,000 yen). Net cash paid out: 237,000 yen (104,000 yen + 165,000 yen − 32,000 yen).

The restoration estimate at first included replacing the wallpaper throughout. The son and I read the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's guidelines together and confirmed that sun-fading and wear from age, which happen normally when someone lives in a place, are in principle the landlord's responsibility. When he spoke to the management company, the charge was corrected to just the one room stained by cigarette tar, 72,000 yen. On the day the flat was vacated, he took dated photos of the rooms.

The landlord's "by the end of this month" is understandable from the landlord's point of view. An empty flat bringing in no rent is a problem. But heirs have three months to think, and during that time they need to find out whether there are debts. In this family too, when the son told the landlord, "I'm looking into whether there are debts, so please wait about two weeks. I'll pay the rent for that period," the landlord agreed.

What I helped with went as far as the order for looking into assets and debts and checking the documents to submit to the management company. If you want a statement of renunciation prepared, ask a judicial scrivener or lawyer; if there is a dispute between heirs, it is the territory of a lawyer. Finally, the son returned the keys to his mother's flat to the management company and signed the confirmation of vacating. If he had been rushed into ending the lease straight away and debts had then been found, he might not have been able to renounce. Asking for two weeks' patience was the most important step in this family's procedures.

Written by: 長澤 湊（licensed real-estate transaction specialist, administrative scrivener, assistant surveyor）　Content checked on: 2026-10-24

This article is a general explanation of Japanese rules and procedures, not advice on an individual case. Figures and rules are as of the date shown. For your own situation, consult a lawyer, judicial scrivener, tax accountant or administrative scrivener in Japan.

Official sources

The rules and figures in this article can be checked against the following official pages (in Japanese).

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