New law changes voting rights in damaged buildings
In order to facilitate the demolition or reconstruction of buildings that are severely damaged in a disaster, the members of the Upper House have voted unanimously to revise the law which will reduce the voting rights required by apartment owners before a building can be demolished. Read more
Man sued for smoking on his balcony
A 74-year old woman has sued her 61-year old neighbour for damages after cigarette smoke from his balcony drifted into her apartment upstairs and aggravated her health conditions.
Although the initial claim was for 1.5 million Yen in damages, the Nagoya District Court ordered the man to pay her 50,000 Yen (570 USD). It is quite unusual to see a case like this end up in court, and rare to see a plaintiff win a case for passive-smoking.Read more
Changes underway that will no longer require 100% of condo owners to agree on demolition
The Ministry of Justice announced plans on November 5 that would affect the the number of condo owners that need to agree before a building can be demolished, or its land sold.
Currently, if a condominium is severely damaged in a disaster and needs to be demolished, 100% of apartment owners must agree to the plan. If one person was against demolition, they could not proceed. However, for restoration or emergency repair work, the ratio of agreement required is 3:4, and for tearing down and rebuilding, the ratio is 4:5.Read more
Cheats and tricks in real estate advertising
Japan has rules that regulate real estate advertising to consumers, but they are self regulated by nine organizations across the country. One of those organizations is the Real Estate Fair Trade Council of greater Tokyo. According to the Council, the number of illegal advertising tricks by real estate companies is increasing online. The most common of these tricks is bait-and-switch and misleading advertisements.Read more