Revision to voting ratios to make it easier to sell apartment building and land
On December 24, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) announced a revision to the Facilitation of Reconstruction of Condominiums Act which is intended to make it easier to sell off an older apartment building and land in order to speed up redevelopment.
Under the revision, the voting ratio to sell off the building and land will be reduced to 80% for kyu-taishin apartments that do not meet earthquake-resistant codes (the ratio was originally 100%). It is important to note that this revision does not apply to all apartments built before 1981. It only applies to those that failed an earthquake-resistant inspection.
At the end of 2013, there were 6,010,000 apartments across Japan. Of those, approximately 17% are in buildings built to the older earthquake codes (called kyu-taishin). The figures are higher for condominiums, with a third of condominium apartment buildings across Japan built to the older codes.
By April 2014, there were only 196 cases where kyu-taishin apartment buildings were redeveloped, accounting for just 1.4% of the total number of kyu-taishin apartments.Read more
Realtor sued after promising landowners they could sell worthless land to Chinese buyers at inflated prices
114 landowners are seeking damages from an Osaka-based real estate company after claiming that they were encouraged to pay for land survey fees with the premise that they could sell their otherwise worthless forest land to Chinese buyers for high prices.
On November 28, a class-action lawsuit seeking 47 million Yen (390,000 USD) in damages was filed in the Osaka District Court against 13 employees of Mirai Tochi Corporation and two other related companies. According to the complaint, 114 people aged from 35 to 89 from across Japan were approached by the company between 2011 and 2014. They allege that they were encouraged to pay the company as much as 300,000 ~ 700,000 Yen in land survey and maintenance fees with the hope that the land could then be sold to Chinese buyers.
The company is also currently being prosecuted for fraud in the Nara District Court. According to the Nara prefectural police, the case, which also includes their predecessor Toshow Management, involves damages exceeding 1.36 billion Yen (11.3 million USD) and 5,000 victims in 36 prefectures across the country and overseas.Read more
Suginami-ku may soon have powers to forcibly widen roads
The local government in Suginami-ku, Tokyo, is considering amending local regulations which would give them the powers to carry out the road widening and street levelling on privately owned setback land. If the plans are approved, this would be the first local government in Japan to have these legal powers.
Approximately 30% of the roads in Suginami are less than 4 meters wide and pose a hazard to the local community in the event of a disaster, such as an earthquake, as emergency vehicles cannot navigate the narrow roads and lane ways.
Under the Building Standards Act, owners of buildings that front onto a road less than 4m wide are required to shorten their block land in order to widen the road when the building is redeveloped.
Suginami’s local government currently provide financial assistance to help owners with the cost of removing any obstacles such as walls and gates in order to complete the required setback. Although landowners are required to make the setback portion of land level with the road, many owners leave the raised curbing as is with garden beds and other objects still blocking vehicle access.
Japan's hot spring towns could be hit hard by new building safety regulations
Since November 2013, large-scale buildings, such as hotels and hospitals, built to the old earthquake-resistant building codes (called ‘kyu-taishin’) are obligated to carry out building inspections to determine their level of earthquake-resistance.
Inspections must be carried out by the end of 2015, after which the results will be made public.
Owners and operators of hot-spring resorts and inns are worried that these requirements could spell the end for their businesses. Towns in these onsen areas that rely on the tourist trade are also worried that this could have a direct impact on their local economy.Read more
Govt relaxes rules on building demolition voting rights and floor-area-ratios
The Japanese House of Councillors have voted in favour and passed a revision to the apartment redevelopment law which will now allow an apartment building association to sell their building and land with approval from 80% of the apartment owners, rather than the previous requirement of 100%.
In addition, the maximum allowable floor-area-ratio (yosekiritsu) will be relaxed.
These changes will hopefully encourage the redevelopment of ageing and potentially dangerous buildings that do not meet current earthquake-resistant standards.Read more
Briton arrested for running illegal lodgings in Tokyo
A British expat was arrested on May 16 for operating a short-stay hotel without a proper license. The 28-year old wanted to offer cheap accommodation for foreign tourists and rented out rooms and bunk-beds in a share-house in Adachi-ku.Read more