The Japanese countryside is dotted with old, rambling shacks and farmhouses that look empty and abandoned. They can even be found in urban settings. You may think it’s a simple process of just pulling the title with the owner’s name on it, giving them a call and offering a few Yen to take the old home off their hands. And voila, you now have a charming fixer-upper of your own?
Nope. It's not that easy.
There are currently no legal obligations to keep a property title up to date or record any changes in ownership. It is entirely optional. For old family homes in the countryside, very few families bother with recording the change in owners as previous generations pass away. Many legal heirs have no idea they are the rightful owners to a house owned by a distant ancestor over 100 years ago.