Before You Buy a ¥100 Million Condo in Japan: Documents to Request

Guide

Before you make an offer on a resale condominium in Japan, ask your agent for four documents: the management company's disclosure report, the building bylaws, the long-term repair plan, and the minutes of recent owners' meetings. As of October 5, 2026, these papers give you a first view of how a building's finances are being managed, which a viewing and the asking price cannot show.

Why the building matters as much as the unit

In a condominium you own your unit but share the cost of the building. The owners as a group form the management association (管理組合, kanri kumiai), which usually hires a management company (管理会社) to run the building day to day. In most condominiums, owners pay a monthly management fee for the day-to-day running of the building, and a separate monthly repair reserve (修繕積立金, shūzen tsumitatekin) that is saved up for large repairs such as exterior walls, roofs, elevators and pipes in the shared areas. If the reserve is too small, the gap can be covered later through higher monthly contributions, a loan, or one-time charges to owners.

A government survey shows this is not a rare problem. In the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) condominium survey for fiscal 2023, 36.6% of the buildings that answered had collected less than their own long-term plan called for, small shortfalls included, and in 11.7% the shortfall was more than 20%.^[1] In the same survey, 62.1% of the buildings reported no arrears of three months or more in management fees or repair reserves.^[1]

Those are survey figures, not a forecast for one building. The four documents below show where a specific building stands.

The management disclosure report (重要事項調査報告書)

What it is. A report issued by the building's management company that summarizes the financial and management status of your unit and of the building. The Japan Condominium Management Association publishes a standard form.^[2] The figures for the unit and for the association may refer to different dates, so ask for the issue date and the reference date of each item.

What it tells you. The monthly management fee and repair reserve for the unit and any unpaid amounts on it. The building-wide total of unpaid fees and the outstanding loan balance. Whether private lodging (住宅宿泊事業, minpaku) is allowed and whether pets are restricted. A plan for large repairs and any seismic diagnosis.^[2]

What it does not tell you. It is not a survey of the building's condition and does not replace a visit or an inspection.

Whom to ask. Your agent. Ask what the management company charges for it; the association does not set a standard fee.^[2] If the report is in Japanese, have the key figures translated and checked by someone who reads the language.

The building bylaws (管理規約) and house rules

What it is. The document that sets out the rules for using and managing the building: how units may be used, noise, pets, renovation, short-term rental. MLIT publishes model bylaws, revised on October 17, 2025, which individual buildings adapt.^[3]

What it tells you. What the bylaws say about private lodging. The model offers two alternative clauses, one that allows it and one that prohibits it, so buildings differ.^[3] It also shows how renovation works. The model asks an owner to apply to the board chair (理事長) and receive approval, in writing or by electronic means, before carrying out renovations that could affect shared areas or other units.^[3]

What it does not tell you. How strictly the rules are enforced in daily life, or what else applies to short-term rental beyond the bylaws.

Whom to ask. Your agent. If you plan to renovate or to rent the unit short-term, ask for the exact clause, not a summary, and ask how it applies to your plan.

The long-term repair plan (長期修繕計画)

What it is. A schedule of future repairs with cost estimates, and the plan for paying for them from the reserve fund.

What to look for. MLIT's guideline asks for a plan period of at least 30 years that includes at least two large-scale repairs, and for a review about every five years, with the monthly contribution reviewed at the same time.^[4] Ask when the plan was last reviewed. A plan that has gone unreviewed for much longer than that is a reason to ask more questions.

The benchmark range. MLIT's reserve-fund guideline gives a range per m² of exclusive floor area (専有面積) per month, averaged over the whole plan period and excluding mechanical parking. The range depends on the building's total floor area and number of floors. For a building under 20 floors with a total floor area of 5,000 m² or more and under 10,000 m², it is ¥170–320 (average ¥252). For buildings of 20 floors or more it is ¥240–410 (average ¥338). Other size classes have other ranges, so check the guideline's table for the building in question. Each range covers about two-thirds of the cases surveyed.^[5] The guideline's figure is an average over the whole plan period, so a unit's current monthly contribution is not directly comparable with it. Check whether the plan states its own average per m² per month over the plan period; if it does not, ask your agent or the management company to work it out, and do not judge a building from today's monthly amount alone. Below the range, ask how the plan covers the gap; above it, ask what the extra money is for. These are benchmarks, not a standard that every building meets.

Why a low figure needs a schedule. Some plans start with a low contribution and raise it in steps. For such plans, the guideline's recommended approach is a starting amount of at least 0.6 times, and a final amount within 1.1 times, the monthly amount the same plan would need if contributions were level from the first year to the last.^[5] The final amount is a recommended range rather than an absolute cap, and plans can be revised and raised further. If a unit's current contribution is low, ask for the schedule of increases and what the monthly figure will be in five and ten years.

What it does not tell you. Whether repairs will cost what the plan estimates. Plans are estimates, and the fact that one exists does not show it is realistic.

The minutes of recent owners' meetings (総会議事録)

What it is. The record of the annual and extraordinary general meetings where owners vote on budgets, repairs and rule changes.

What it tells you. Read at least the last three years, plus the meeting that approved the current repair plan. They show fee increases that were proposed or approved, large repairs that were scheduled or postponed, unpaid fees being chased, and disputes between owners or with the management company.

What it does not tell you. What was said outside the meeting, or whether decisions were carried out.

Whom to ask. Your agent. If minutes are not available, treat that as information.

Three more checks before you make an offer

The building-confirmation date. Buildings whose building confirmation (建築確認) was received on or before May 31, 1981 are generally treated as built to the older seismic standard; Tokyo, for example, uses that date as a condition for its condominium retrofit support.^[6] Ask for the confirmation date, not only the year of completion. A building completed shortly after that date may have been approved before it. An older-standard building is not automatically unsafe and some have been retrofitted, and a newer one is not immune to problems, so treat the date as one input among several.

Management plan certification. Since fiscal 2022, local governments have certified condominium management plans under an MLIT system (管理計画認定制度). Its criteria include a plan covering at least 30 years and including at least two large-scale repairs within the remaining period, a plan created or reviewed within seven years, repair-reserve payments overdue by three months or more at the end of the last fiscal year amounting to no more than one-tenth of the total, and a plan with no loan balance in its final year.^[7] Certified buildings whose associations agreed to publication can be searched in a public database.^[8] A building that does not appear there may simply not be certified or listed, and not every well-run building is certified, so a missing certification is a prompt to ask, not a verdict.

A building condition inspection (建物状況調査). MLIT describes an inspection of existing homes carried out under its standard method.^[9] Ask whether one has been done and when. It looks at the actual state of the building rather than the papers, though it is not a judgment that the building is free of defects.

Getting the documents from overseas

Put the request in writing before you make an offer, and ask your agent for all four at the same time. Allow extra time, since the management company issues the report. Ask your agent to explain the key points in English, and keep the Japanese originals so that you can have them checked independently.

Questions to put to your agent

Some points depend on contract and legal rules and on your situation, so get the answers in writing from a licensed agent rather than relying on this guide:

Are there unpaid fees on this unit or in the building, and how are they handled when the unit is sold?
Are any fee increases, special charges or large repairs planned or under discussion?
Which clauses cover renovation and short-term rental, and can I see the exact text?
Has a building condition inspection been done, and when?
Is anything in the building's records, such as disputes or lawsuits, that I should know about?
If the documents are not available before the offer, when can I see them, and can the offer depend on reading them?

What should change your decision

The documents cannot be produced, or are out of date. Ask again or do not proceed.
The reserve contribution is low and the plan shows steep increases. Compare the schedule with the guideline's recommended range for stepped plans, a final amount within 1.1 times the level-payment equivalent, then price the increases into your budget.
A large repair is due soon and the reserve fund looks thin. Expect higher charges. This is a reason to negotiate or to walk away.
Unpaid fees across the building, or an outstanding loan. Ask what is being done about them.
The bylaws restrict what you plan to do. If short-term rental or renovation matters to your plan, a clause that prohibits it may end the idea.

The opposite case is also informative. A current plan, contributions in line with the benchmark range and clean minutes are useful signs, but they do not remove the chance of surprises. Structure, neighbors and the quality of past repairs are better judged from an inspection, a visit, the drawings and the repair records.

See current listings

SORA is a real estate brokerage and our income comes from brokerage fees, so read this guide with that in mind. The checklist applies with any agent, and it helps to have the documents read by someone independent as well.

We list condominiums in major cities including Osaka, Tokyo and Kobe. You can browse all listings, or look at a few examples from our current listings in Osaka, Kobe and Kawasaki: Park Tower Osaka Nakanoshima Front, Bay City Towers Kobe WEST and Gran Este Kawasaki Twin Tower. If you are considering one, ask for the four documents at the start.