Act on Building Unit Ownership

建物の区分所有等に関する法律（たてもののくぶんしょゆうとうにかんするほうりつ）

How a building split into separately owned units — homes, shops, offices, storerooms and the like — is owned and run: what each owner owns alone and what the owners share, how they decide together, and how they can rebuild, renew, sell or demolish the building.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 134
Amendments on the way: 0

Read the text Open on e-Gov

What this law does

A unit (専有部分) is a structurally separate part of a building that can be used on its own as a home, shop, office, storeroom or the like, and can be owned by itself, unless the rules (規約) make it a common area; corridors, stairwells and other parts that by their structure serve all or some of the owners in common are common areas (共用部分), which unless the rules provide otherwise are co-owned by all the unit owners (or only by those they serve), each owner's share following their unit's floor area unless the rules say otherwise. A share in the common areas follows the unit and cannot be disposed of apart from it, except where this Act provides. Where the right to the land that goes with a unit (敷地利用権, site-use right) is held by several people, the unit cannot be disposed of apart from its site-use right either, unless the rules allow it.(Art. 1(1), Art. 2(1), Art. 2(3), Art. 2(4), Art. 2(6), Art. 4(1), Art. 4(2), Art. 11(1), Art. 11(2), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(4), Art. 15(1), Art. 15(2), Art. 22(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

All the unit owners together make up an association (団体) to manage the building, its land and its attached facilities, and may hold meetings (集会), make rules (規約) and appoint a manager (管理者); unless the rules provide otherwise, a meeting resolution appoints or removes the manager, who must call a meeting at least once a year. The association becomes a corporation, called a management association corporation (管理組合法人), by resolving so, with its name and office, by three-quarters of the owners present and of their votes at a meeting attended by a majority of the owners holding a majority of the votes (or a higher proportion the rules set), and by registering at its main office. The rules and the meeting's resolutions also bind anyone who later acquires a unit.(Art. 3(1), Art. 25(1), Art. 34(2), Art. 47(1), Art. 47(2), Art. 46(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
At a meeting, a matter is decided by a majority of the unit owners present and of their votes, unless this Act or the rules (規約) say otherwise; each owner's votes follow their share of the floor area unless the rules differ, and a vote cast in writing or through a proxy counts as present. Making, changing or abolishing the rules, and changing the common areas in a way that significantly alters their shape or function, need three-quarters of the owners present and of their votes, at a meeting attended by a majority of the owners holding a majority of the votes (or a higher proportion the rules set); for a change to the common areas the rules may set a lower figure above one-half, and the figure is two-thirds for work to remove a defect that harms or threatens others' rights or to ease getting about for older and disabled people. A change of the rules that specially affects some owners' rights needs their consent, and so does a change to the common areas that specially affects the use of a unit.(Art. 39(1), Art. 38(1), Art. 14(1), Art. 39(2), Art. 31(1), Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2), Art. 17(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
A meeting may resolve to demolish the building and build a new one on its land (建替え決議, resolution to reconstruct) by four-fifths of the unit owners and of the votes — three-quarters where the building fails standards the Minister of Justice sets on earthquake or fire safety or on access for older and disabled people, or meets the Minister's standards for exterior walls that may fall or for pipes that are very hard to repair and whose deterioration may seriously harm hygiene. Notice must go out at least two months before the meeting, with the reasons for rebuilding, what keeping the building would cost, any repair plan and the money saved for repairs, and a briefing session must be held at least a month before it; the resolution must set out the new building's design, the costs and how they are shared, and who will own its units. Owners who did not vote for it are asked in writing whether they will take part; from one who says no, or does not answer within two months of being asked, those in favour or taking part, or a buyer they all designate, may within the following two months demand the sale of their unit ownership and site-use right at market value (時価).(Art. 62(1), Art. 62(2), Art. 62(4), Art. 62(6), Art. 62(7), Art. 62(8), Art. 63(1), Art. 63(3), Art. 63(4), Art. 63(5)) (the provisions it rests on)
By the same four-fifths, or three-quarters for a building that fails or meets those standards, a meeting may also resolve to renew the building — altering the common areas to keep up or restore its main structure, with a change to the shape, size or position of every unit (建物更新決議) — or to demolish it (取壊し決議). Where the site-use right is held by several people, it may also resolve to sell the building with its land (建物敷地売却決議), or to demolish the building and sell the land (建物取壊し敷地売却決議); these two also need the same four-fifths, or three-quarters, of the value of the site-use-right shares, leaving out those of owners without a vote. Each follows the same notice, briefing and forced-sale steps as rebuilding.(Art. 64-5(1), Art. 64-5(3), Art. 64-6(1), Art. 64-6(3), Art. 64-7(1), Art. 64-7(3), Art. 64-8(1), Art. 64-8(3), Art. 62(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
Once any of these resolutions is passed, the owners taking part (or someone they designate), or the unit's own owner, may request that the lease () of a unit end, and it ends six months after the request. The unit's owner must pay the tenant, or subtenant, compensation for the loss the ending normally causes, and whoever else made the request is jointly liable for it; the tenant may refuse to hand the unit over until it is offered. A free loan of a unit (使用貸借) can be ended the same way but without compensation, and a spouse's right of residence (配偶者居住権) the same way with compensation, except in cases the Civil Code (民法), a separate Act, sets out.(Art. 64-2(1), Art. 64-2(2), Art. 64-2(3), Art. 64-2(4), Art. 64-2(5), Art. 64-3(1), Art. 64-4(1), Art. 64-5(3), Art. 64-6(3), Art. 64-7(3), Art. 64-8(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where no more than half the building's value is destroyed, each owner may restore their own unit and the destroyed common areas — the common areas only if no restoration, rebuilding or similar resolution has been passed before the work starts — and claim the cost of restoring the common areas from the other owners by their shares; the rules (規約) may provide otherwise. Where more is destroyed, a meeting may resolve to restore the common areas by two-thirds of the owners present and of their votes, at a meeting attended by a majority of the owners holding a majority of the votes (or a higher proportion the rules set); two weeks after it, owners who did not vote for it may demand that those who did buy their rights in the building and land at market value — or only a buyer those in favour all designate, if that buyer tells them so in writing within the two weeks — and the demand is lost if not made within a period of at least four months that the meeting's caller or that buyer sets in a written request for an answer. If in that case no restoration, rebuilding or similar resolution is passed within six months of the destruction, any owner may demand that the others buy their rights at market value.(Art. 61(1), Art. 61(2), Art. 61(3), Art. 61(4), Art. 61(5), Art. 61(7), Art. 61(8), Art. 61(11), Art. 61(13), Art. 61(14)) (the provisions it rests on)

Units and common areasSite-use rightOwners' associationRules (bylaws)Owners' meetings and votingManagement association corporationOwners who break the common interestRebuilding

134 459 149 18 102

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . No amendment to this law is waiting to come into force. Its amendment history is below. The amendments this site has read the changes of are on this law's amendments page, provision by provision, in Japanese and English.

9 amendments already in force

1 April 2026
The text on this site
Act Partially Amending the Act on Building Unit Ownership, etc. to Facilitate Management and Revitalization of Aging Condominiums, etc.
老朽化マンション等の管理及び再生の円滑化等を図るための建物の区分所有等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
30 May 2025
Act Partially Amending the Act on Building Unit Ownership, etc. to Facilitate Management and Revitalization of Aging Condominiums, etc.
老朽化マンション等の管理及び再生の円滑化等を図るための建物の区分所有等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
Read the law as it stood until 31 March 2026
1 April 2023
Act Partially Amending the Civil Code, etc.
民法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2022
Act Partially Amending the Income Tax Act, etc.
所得税法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 September 2021
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts for the Formation of a Digital Society
デジタル社会の形成を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
19 May 2021
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts for the Formation of a Digital Society
デジタル社会の形成を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
28 April 2021
Act Partially Amending the Civil Code, etc.
民法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 April 2020
Act Partially Amending the Income Tax Act, etc.
所得税法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
1 January 2013
e-Gov gives no title for this amendment
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

Who it applies to

It applies to

Unit owners (区分所有者) — anyone who holds ownership of a unit — who, as members of the owners' association, must cooperate so that the building, its land and attached facilities are managed properly and smoothly. As far as needed to preserve or improve their own unit or the common areas, an owner may ask to use another owner's unit, or common areas they do not own, or to carry out preservation work on them themselves, paying compensation for any loss the other owner suffers.(Art. 2(1), Art. 2(2), Art. 5-2(1), Art. 6(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
People who occupy a unit without owning it (占有者): they must not act against the owners' common interest, must keep the same duties on how the building, land and facilities are used as the owners bear under the rules (規約) and meeting resolutions, and, if they occupy with an owner's consent, may attend a meeting and speak on a matter in which they have an interest.(Art. 6(3), Art. 46(2), Art. 44(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

4 more

The manager (管理者) the owners appoint, and a management association corporation (管理組合法人) with its directors (理事) and auditors (監事): the manager preserves the common areas, carries out resolutions, keeps the rules and shows them to interested people unless there is good reason not to, and reports on their work at a meeting once a year. Where a manager has acted dishonestly or is otherwise unfit for the job, any unit owner may ask a court to remove them, and the same holds for the corporation's directors and auditors.(Art. 26(1), Art. 33(1), Art. 33(2), Art. 43(1), Art. 47(1), Art. 49(1), Art. 50(1), Art. 25(2), Art. 49(8), Art. 50(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
Owners of several buildings on one estate (団地, housing complex) whose land or attached facilities they co-own: together they make up an association to manage the estate's land and facilities, and buildings with units, with its own meetings, rules and manager. The co-owners of the land a building stands on may approve its rebuilding, or that of several at once, once that building's own rebuilding resolution, or all its owners' consent, is in place: by three-quarters of the votes present (two-thirds where the buildings fail or meet the rebuilding standards), at a meeting attended by a majority of the votes (or more if the rules say so), with votes counted by share of the land's value, and, where it specially affects another building's rebuilding, only if that building's owners holding three-quarters of its votes, or its owner, vote for it. Where every building has units, the land is co-owned by their owners and the estate association's rules cover every building, a meeting may resolve to rebuild or sell all the buildings at once by four-fifths of the owners and of the votes counted by land-value share (three-quarters where every building fails or meets those standards), but not if more than one-third of the owners or votes of any one building oppose.(Art. 65(1), Art. 66(1), Art. 68(1), Art. 69(1), Art. 69(2), Art. 69(5), Art. 69(6), Art. 69(8), Art. 70(1), Art. 70(2), Art. 70(3), Art. 71(1), Art. 71(2), Art. 71(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
After a building with units is destroyed, those who shared its site-use right or co-owned its attached facilities (敷地共有者等): for five years from the destruction they may hold meetings, make rules and appoint a manager, and where the site-use right was shared they may resolve by four-fifths of their votes to rebuild or to sell the land.(Art. 72(1), Art. 75(1), Art. 76(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A unit owner who has, or is about to have, no address or residence in Japan (for a corporation, no head office or main office there), who may appoint a person or corporation with an address, residence or main office in Japan as a domestic administrator (国内管理人) to look after their unit and the common areas, receive meeting notices and vote for them; where there is a manager or corporation, the owner must tell it, without delay, of the appointment and the administrator's name and address.(Art. 6-2(1), Art. 6-2(2), Art. 6-2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (6)

A meeting whose calling began before 1 April 2026 follows the Act as it read before that day, when Act No. 47 of 2025 (令和7年法律第47号) amended it. Under that wording, making, changing or abolishing the rules (規約) and a significant change to the common areas needed three-quarters of the unit owners and of the votes (for the common areas the rules could lower the number of owners to a majority), and other matters a majority of each, unless the Act or the rules said otherwise — where today's wording counts only the owners present, and for the rules and common-area changes only at a meeting attended by a majority of the owners holding a majority of the votes (or a higher proportion the rules set).(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(2), Art. 17(1) until 31 March 2026, Art. 31(1) until 31 March 2026, Art. 39(1) until 31 March 2026, Art. 17(1), Art. 31(1), Art. 39(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Anything in the rules (規約) in force on 1 April 2026 that conflicts with the Act as amended that day lost its effect on that day.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Chapter 3, on what the holders of the site-use right may do after a building is destroyed, does not apply to a building destroyed before 1 April 2026, unless it was destroyed by a disaster named in a Cabinet Order (政令) under Article 2 of the Act on special measures for rebuilding unit-owned buildings damaged by disasters (被災区分所有建物の再建等に関する特別措置法), a separate Act, where that Order comes into force on or after that day.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(4), Chapter 3) (the provisions it rests on)
For units that already existed on 1 January 1984, the ban on disposing of a unit apart from its site-use right (Articles 22 to 24) applied only from a day a Cabinet Order set, within five years, or from an earlier day the Minister of Justice designated for the building; the units of a building not so designated were treated as if the rules (規約) allowed them to be disposed of separately.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 5(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 6(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 8(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Act's section on the manager does not apply to a management association corporation (管理組合法人), and its directors (理事) take the manager's place in keeping the rules, calling meetings and reporting each year. For corporation tax it is treated as a public-interest corporation (公益法人等) under the Corporation Tax Act, with that Act's Articles 37 and 66 read with adjustments for it, and for consumption tax as a body in Appended Table 3 of the Consumption Tax Act, both separate Acts.(Art. 47(11), Art. 47(12), Art. 47(13), Art. 47(14)) (the provisions it rests on)
An owner required to sell after a rebuilding, renewal, sale or demolition resolution may ask a court for time to move out, which the court may grant up to one year from payment or offer of the price, where moving would cause them serious hardship and the delay would not seriously hinder the project. If the work does not start within two years of the resolution (for a sale of the building with its land, if the rights have not passed), a seller may within the next six months buy the rights back by offering the price paid to whoever now holds them, unless there was good reason for the delay, in which case a later deadline applies.(Art. 63(6), Art. 63(7), Art. 63(8), Art. 64-5(3), Art. 64-6(3), Art. 64-7(3), Art. 64-8(3)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (8)

A unit owner must not harm the building's preservation or otherwise act against the owners' common interest in managing or using it. If one does, or is likely to, all the other owners or the management association corporation (管理組合法人) may demand that they stop, undo the result or take steps to prevent it; suing for this needs a meeting resolution, and the manager or an owner the meeting names may sue for the others.(Art. 6(1), Art. 57(1), Art. 57(2), Art. 57(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where such conduct seriously disrupts the owners' life together and a demand to stop cannot fix it, the other owners or the corporation may sue to bar that owner from using their unit for a reasonable period, on a resolution of three-quarters of the owners present and of their votes at a meeting attended by a majority of the owners holding a majority of the votes (or a higher proportion the rules set). The owner must first be given a chance to explain.(Art. 58(1), Art. 58(2), Art. 58(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where the disruption is serious and no other means can remove it, they may sue, on the same resolution and after the same chance to explain, to have the owner's unit ownership and site-use right sold at auction (競売). The auction must be applied for within six months of the judgment becoming final, and the owner may not bid for it, nor may anyone bidding on their behalf.(Art. 59(1), Art. 59(2), Art. 59(3), Art. 59(4)) (the provisions it rests on)
The same duty binds a person occupying a unit who is not its owner (占有者), and the owners can demand that they stop in the same way. Where the disruption is serious and no other means can remove it, the owners or the corporation may sue, on the same three-quarters resolution after giving the occupier a chance to explain, to cancel the contract under which the unit is used and have the unit handed over; whoever receives it must pass it without delay to the person entitled to occupy it.(Art. 6(3), Art. 57(4), Art. 60(1), Art. 60(2), Art. 60(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
A unit owner's claim against another owner about the common areas, the land or the attached facilities, or under the rules (規約) or a meeting resolution, is secured by a statutory lien () on the debtor's unit ownership, with its common-area and site-use rights, and on the movables they have put in the building; so are the manager's or corporation's claims on owners for their work. These claims can also be pursued against someone who later acquires the debtor's unit.(Art. 7(1), Art. 8(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a unit owner cannot be identified or found, a district court may, at another owner's or the manager's request and after public notice of at least one month, rule that the meeting can decide without them; once final, the ruling leaves that owner with no vote, and it is cancelled on request when the owner and their whereabouts come to light. Where it finds it necessary, a court may also, at an interested person's request, put a court-appointed administrator in charge of a unit whose owner is unknown or cannot be found, or of a unit or common area whose poor management harms or threatens others' rights or legally protected interests.(Art. 38-2(1), Art. 38-2(2), Art. 86(1), Art. 86(2), Art. 86(3), Art. 86(5), Art. 46-2(1), Art. 46-8(1), Art. 46-13(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a management association corporation's assets cannot pay its debts, or enforcement against them fails, each unit owner is liable for them in proportion to their floor-area share, or to the cost-sharing ratio the rules (規約) set; where enforcement has failed, an owner escapes this by proving the corporation can pay and enforcement would be easy. Someone who later acquires a unit bears the same liability for debts that arose before. Owners are likewise liable, by the same ratio, for what the manager does with third parties within the manager's duties, and such a claim can also be pursued against a later acquirer.(Art. 53(1), Art. 53(2), Art. 53(3), Art. 54(1), Art. 29(1), Art. 29(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
The Act's only penalties are non-criminal fines (過料) in Chapter 5: up to 200,000 yen for a manager, director, keeper of the rules, meeting chair or liquidator who fails to keep the rules or minutes, refuses without good reason to let them be seen, fails to make proper minutes, to report to the yearly meeting, to register the corporation or to make its inventory of assets, among other failures; and up to 100,000 yen for putting 管理組合法人 (management association corporation) in the name of a body that is not one.(Art. 91(1), Art. 92(1), Art. 48(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

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It also names 12 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

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The Ministry of Justice's translation is shown only where the Japanese it translates matches the law in force today. Everywhere else the English is a machine translation, marked on the paragraph itself.

Only the Japanese is the law, and no lawyer has reviewed the machine translation.

Sources

Everything this page rests on

e-Gov (Digital Agency)建物の区分所有等に関する法律 — the text in force from 2026-04-01Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)建物の区分所有等に関する法律 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeAct on Building Unit Ownership — Ministry of Justice translationOriginal
Machine translation, not official
Written for this site with AIEnglish titles of amending laws, written for this site
Written for this site with AIDescriptions of each law, written for this site
Written for this site with AICorrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of paragraphs
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