Rents were normally settled on a day-to-day basis in the middle Meiji period, but by the end of this period (around 1910), the number of tenants Paying daily rents had dropped to 20 per cent while those paying by the month had risen to 60 per cent. Thus, the proportion of permanent lower-class nagaya residents increased, displacing a transient population which often defaulted on or deferred rent payments.