Charged for replacing all the wallpaper in the room: should you pay?
When only part of a wall is damaged but you're billed to re-paper the whole room 'to match colors', how much is really the tenant's burden under Japan's MLIT restoration guideline.
Updated: 2026-06-13
At move-out in Japan, tenants are sometimes billed to re-paper an entire room "so the colors match", even when only part of one wall was damaged. This guide explains, based on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) restoration guideline, how much of that charge is actually yours.
Bottom line: partial damage means partial liability
When damage affects only part of the wallpaper, the tenant's burden is, as a rule, limited to the damaged area. Replacing the whole room to match colors is done for appearance — a landlord-side preference — so that extra scope is normally the landlord's cost, not yours.
When full replacement can be the tenant's burden
The exception is when damage genuinely covers the whole room, such as cigarette stains and odor soaked into all the walls. Even then, wallpaper has a useful life of 6 years, and the tenant's share is (6 − years occupied) ÷ 6 — about 17% after 5 years, and effectively 0% after 6 years or more.
Use the checker below to estimate whether your case leans toward "damaged area only" or full-room liability.