Minpaku Law For The Better?

Due to the recent rise of Airbnb, the Japanese government introduced a law to regulate minpaku. Minpaku is when owners use their private residence and rent it out as short-term lodges. The law was introduced in June 15th, 2018 and it confused a lot of investors that wanted to rent their properties for revenue. This article will go over the law, and the limits to hosting a minpaku.  

Before this law was introduced, Japan had a similar system called the minshuku. Very similar to minpaku where rooms in private residences are offered for rent. The main problem with minshuku was in order to rent out the rooms, the owner of the unit must apply for a license. The license requires the room to be a specific size and the property must have a management type person on duty at all times. This led to illegal rentals as the law was never strictly enforced, and led to the rise of Airbnb in Japan. 

These minshuku that can conduct private lodging business must be equipped with a kitchen, a bathroom, a restroom (toilet), and a washstand facility. In addition, the house shall be currently used as the main home of a person, a house which is advertised to a new dweller after the period of lease with a former dweller has expired, as per the residence requirements"

“In addition, a document that proves that the lodging meets the residence requirements, such as an advertisement for rent, along with an attachment of the housing plan are required upon notification."

"The Private Lodging Operator must report the following details of each of the previous 2 months for each notified housing by the 15th day of February, April, June, August, October and December each year to the prefectural governor:

1. The number of days having lodgers at the notified housing

2. The number of lodgers

3. The total number of lodgers

4. A breakdown of the number of lodgers per nationality"

The new minpaku law will allow the owners to rent out their property without any size regulations and no management type person.  The only condition for owners to rent out their property is to register with the Land Ministry. 

Along with the law there are some other things to keep in mind such as,

-How. many days per year can I rent out my unit?

The new rental length is 180 days per year which means it can be hard to make profit. 

-Are all apartments okay to do Airbnb? 

Need to get in contact with homeowner association and get approval

-What happens if I do Airbnb without permission? 

Depends on the homeowner association, paying a fine, 6 months sentence in jail, or up to 1,000,000 JPY charge. 

Along with this, if you rent out a unit in a mansion or apartment, you should keep in mind about the other people in that building. Lot of locals are scared about different people entering the building on a weekly or monthly basis because they are using it as a short-term lodge. 

Even with all these restrictions, the new law is meant to be safer for both the owner and tenant. With the rugby world cup and Tokyo Olympics 2020 just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to invest in Tokyo as long as you follow these simple steps!

Inquire more at Sekai Property for Airbnb procedures 

References: Japan Tourism Agency