Act on Land and Building Leases

借地借家法（しゃくちしゃくやほう）

Special rules for rights to use land in order to own a building on it — by superficies () or by lease — and for leases of buildings: how long they last, how they are renewed and what effect they have, with the court procedure for changing the conditions of a land lease.

Text in force since
Promulgated
Articles: 61
Amendments on the way: 1

Read the text Open on e-Gov

What this law does

If a building lease has a fixed term and neither side tells the other, between one year and six months before it ends, that it will not renew — or will not renew unless the terms change — the lease is renewed on the same terms, but with no fixed term. The same happens, even after such a notice, if the tenant goes on using the building after the term ends and the landlord does not object without delay; where the building is sublet, the subtenant's use counts as the tenant's. A building lease set for less than one year is treated as one with no fixed term, and Article 604 of the Civil Code (民法), a separate Act, does not apply to building leases.(Art. 26(1), Art. 26(2), Art. 26(3), Art. 29(1), Art. 29(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

Read the full overview

A landlord can refuse to renew a building lease, or give notice to end it, only where there are justifiable grounds (正当の事由), judged from how far the landlord and the tenant (including a subtenant) each need the building, the history of the lease, how the building is used and its condition, and any money or other benefit the landlord offers in exchange for the tenant leaving. Where the landlord gives notice to end a building lease, it ends six months after the notice — unless the tenant goes on using the building after that and the landlord does not object without delay, in which case the lease is treated as renewed. A term in the lease that departs from these rules on renewal and ending to the tenant's disadvantage is void.(Art. 28(1), Art. 27(1), Art. 27(2), Art. 30(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A landlord and tenant can agree that a fixed-term building lease will not be renewed (定期建物賃貸借) only in a written contract, such as a notarial deed (), or an electronic one, and such a lease may be for less than a year. Before the contract, the landlord must give the tenant a document saying that the lease will not be renewed and will end when its term expires, and explain it; with the tenant's consent, and in the way a Cabinet Order (政令) sets, the landlord may send the document's contents electronically instead of handing over the paper, but must still explain it, and without the explanation the no-renewal term is void. Where the term is a year or more, the landlord must tell the tenant, between one year and six months before the end, that the lease will end then, or cannot hold the tenant to the end until six months after a later notice.(Art. 38(1), Art. 38(2), Art. 38(3), Art. 38(4), Art. 38(5), Art. 38(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
In a fixed-term lease of a home with a floor area under 200 square metres (counting only the part leased, where the lease is of part of a building), a tenant for whom it has become difficult to use the home as the base of their life, because of unavoidable circumstances such as a job transfer, medical treatment or caring for a relative, may give notice to end the lease, and it ends one month after the notice. A term that departs from this rule, or from the landlord's duty to give notice of the end, to the tenant's disadvantage is void.(Art. 38(7), Art. 38(8)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where land rent (地代) or building rent (借賃) has become unreasonable — through a change in the taxes or other charges on the land or building, a rise or fall in its price or other economic change, or compared with similar property nearby — either party may ask for it to be raised or lowered from then on, whatever the contract says; only a term not to raise it for a set period is followed. If the parties cannot agree, then until a court decision on the amount becomes final, the party asked to pay more need pay only what it considers reasonable, and the party asked to accept less may claim what it considers reasonable. Once the decision is final, a shortfall is paid, or an excess refunded, with interest at 10% a year.(Art. 32(1), Art. 32(2), Art. 32(3), Art. 11(1), Art. 11(2), Art. 11(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Once a building has been handed over to the tenant, the lease holds against anyone who later acquires a property right (物権) in the building, even if the lease is not registered. A land lease for owning a building holds against third parties, even if not itself registered, while the leaseholder owns a registered building on the land; if that building is lost, it goes on holding while the leaseholder displays on the land, where it is easy to see, what identifies the building, the day it was lost and that a new one will be built — but after two years only if a new building has been built and registered by then. A term against the tenant or leaseholder that departs from these rules is void.(Art. 31(1), Art. 37(1), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 16(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A land lease for owning a building (借地権) lasts 30 years, or longer if the contract says so; once renewed, it lasts 20 years from the first renewal and 10 years from each later one, unless the parties set longer. When the term ends and a building still stands, the lease is treated as renewed on the same terms if the leaseholder asks for renewal or keeps using the land, unless the landlord objects without delay — which the landlord may do only with justifiable grounds (正当の事由), judged from both sides' need for the land (a subleaseholder's included), the history of the lease, how the land is used, and any money or other benefit offered for it being vacated; a term that departs from these rules to the leaseholder's disadvantage is void. For a land lease set before this Act came into force (施行), renewal still follows the earlier rules (なお従前の例による) — those of the Land Lease Act (借地法, Act No. 49 of 1921), a separate Act that this Act repealed.(Art. 3(1), Art. 4(1), Art. 5(1), Art. 5(2), Art. 6(1), Art. 9(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)(ii), Suppl. Prov. Art. 6(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a building is sublet and the head lease ends at the end of its term or on notice, the landlord cannot hold the subtenant to that end without notifying them, and the sublease ends six months after the notice. Where a building stands on leased land and its tenant must leave because the land lease has run out, a court may, at the tenant's request, give them up to one year from when they learned of it to leave — but only if they did not know, one year before, that the land lease would end — and the building lease ends when that time runs out. A term against the tenant or subtenant that departs from either rule is void.(Art. 34(1), Art. 34(2), Art. 35(1), Art. 35(2), Art. 37(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

Article 1 sets out what this Act covers (趣旨)

Renewing a building leaseJustifiable grounds for ending a leaseFixed-term building leaseRent increases and decreasesA building lease against later acquirersTerm of a land leaseFixed-term land leaseTransferring a land lease

61 166 16 9 9

Amendments

A Japanese law is changed by another law or order that rewrites it — an . This law has 1 amendment on the way — , but . 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.

By 13 June 2028

at the latest, in 2 years

Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Civil Procedures, etc.

民事関係手続等における情報通信技術の活用等の推進を図るための関係法律の整備に関する法律

The whole text as it will read, on e-Gov

On a day set by , no later than 13 June 2028 — the amending law allows up to five years from . The exact day is not fixed yet.

See what it changes (56 provisions)

9 amendments already in force

21 May 2026
The text on this site
Act Partially Amending the Code of Civil Procedure, etc.
民事訴訟法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
14 June 2023
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts to Promote the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Civil Procedures, etc.
民事関係手続等における情報通信技術の活用等の推進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
20 February 2023
Act Partially Amending the Code of Civil Procedure, etc.
民事訴訟法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
25 May 2022
Act Partially Amending the Code of Civil Procedure, etc.
民事訴訟法等の一部を改正する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
18 May 2022
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
1 April 2020
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code
民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律
The text after this amendment, on e-Gov
2 June 2017
Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Civil Code
民法の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整備等に関する法律
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

Anyone holding a right to use land in order to own a building on it (借地権) — a superficies () or a lease of the land — and the person who grants it (借地権設定者); and, where a leaseholder sublets the land for a building, the subleaseholder (転借地権者).(Art. 2(1)(i), Art. 2(1)(ii), Art. 2(1)(iii), Art. 2(1)(iv), Art. 2(1)(v)) (the provisions it rests on)
Landlords () and tenants () under a lease of a building, homes included, and subtenants () where the building has been sublet.(Art. 26(1), Art. 26(3), Art. 34(1), Art. 36(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

1 more

Someone who lived with the tenant of a home as their spouse or as parent and child without the marriage or adoption being registered (届出): if the tenant dies with no heir, they take over the tenant's rights and duties under the lease, unless they tell the landlord otherwise within one month of learning that the tenant died with no heir.(Art. 36(1), Art. 36(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

Special rules and exceptions (8)

For a land lease (借地権) set before this Act came into force (施行), renewal, extension of the term by rebuilding after the building is lost, and the lease ending when the building decays with age (朽廃) still follow the earlier rules (なお従前の例による) — those of the Land Lease Act (借地法, Act No. 49 of 1921), a separate Act that this Act repealed. Articles 8, 13(2) and 18 do not apply to such a lease, nor Article 13(3) to a land sublease set before then. The Act otherwise applies to what arose before it came into force, but leaves in place effects already produced under the Acts it repealed.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)(i), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)(ii), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)(iii), Suppl. Prov. Art. 4(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 5(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 6(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 7(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 7(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 9(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 9(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 11(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
A land lease of 50 years or more may provide that it will not be renewed or extended by rebuilding, and that the leaseholder will not require the landlord to buy the building (定期借地権), overriding the rules that void such terms; that agreement must be in writing, such as a notarial deed (), or an electronic record.(Art. 22(1), Art. 22(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
For a building used only for business, not as a home: a land lease of 30 to under 50 years may exclude renewal, extension and the landlord's purchase of the building, and in one of 10 to under 30 years the rules on term, renewal, rebuilding and purchase (Articles 3 to 8, 13 and 18) do not apply. Either contract must be made by notarial deed (公正証書). A land lease, or a land sublease, set before 1 January 2008, when Act No. 132 of 2007 came into force, still follows this Act as it read before then (なお従前の例による), where the business land lease (事業用借地権) was provided for by the former Article 24.(Art. 23(1), Art. 23(2), Art. 23(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Except for a business land lease of 10 to under 30 years, a land lease may provide that, to end it, the building will pass to the landlord for a reasonable price on a day 30 years or more after the lease began. If it ends that way and the leaseholder, or a tenant of the building, still using the building asks, a lease of the building from the landlord is treated as made, with no fixed term (or for the rest of the land lease's term, where the leaseholder asks and some remains), at a rent the court sets if a party asks. If they have instead made a fixed-term building lease (Article 38) for the building with the landlord, that lease governs.(Art. 24(1), Art. 24(2), Art. 24(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a lease was plainly made for temporary use, much of the Act does not apply: for land, such as for putting up a temporary structure, the rules on term, renewal, rebuilding, purchase of the building, changing conditions and the special land leases (Articles 3 to 8, 13, 17, 18 and 22 to 24); for a building, all of Chapter 3 on building leases.(Art. 25(1), Art. 40(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a law or a contract makes it clear that a building is to be demolished after a set time, a lease of it may provide that it ends when the building is demolished, overriding the rule that voids terms against the tenant (Article 30); the term must be in a document, or an electronic record, stating the reason the building is to be demolished.(Art. 39(1), Art. 39(2), Art. 39(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
In a fixed-term building lease that has a term on revising the rent, the right of either party to ask for the rent to be raised or lowered (Article 32) does not apply.(Art. 38(9)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where the landlord and tenant of a home under a lease made before 1 March 2000 end it by agreement and go on to make a new lease of the same building, the fixed-term building lease of Article 38 cannot be used, for the time being (当分の間). That does not hold where the earlier lease was made under Article 38(1) as it read before that day: a lease without renewal, agreed in writing, for a term set as a period during which a job transfer, medical treatment, caring for a relative or another unavoidable reason made it hard for the landlord to live in the home, and after which the landlord would clearly live there.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 3(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(2)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it is enforced (7)

The Act has no penalties, and no government office enforces it. It works by stating what holds between the parties: a lease is treated as renewed, a landlord cannot refuse renewal without justifiable grounds, and a contract term that departs from its protective rules to the leaseholder's or tenant's disadvantage is void. Disputes over the conditions of a land lease go to the courts, as the claims below set out.(Art. 5(1), Art. 26(1), Art. 28(1), Art. 9(1), Art. 16(1), Art. 21(1), Art. 30(1), Art. 37(1), Art. 38(8), Art. 41(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Applications to the court about a land lease — to change its conditions, to permit building work or a rebuild in place of the landlord's consent, or to permit a transfer or sublease the landlord refuses — are heard by the district court (地方裁判所) for the place where the land is, or by the summary court (簡易裁判所) there if the parties agree. Before deciding, the court must hear the opinion of a committee of experts (鑑定委員会), unless it finds no particular need.(Art. 41(1), Art. 17(6), Art. 18(3), Art. 19(6)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a land-lease condition limits the kind, structure, size or use of building, changed circumstances now make a different building appropriate and the parties cannot agree, the court may change the condition on a party's application; where a condition limits enlarging or rebuilding and the parties cannot agree on works suited to ordinary use of the land, the court may, on the leaseholder's application, permit them in place of the landlord's consent. After a renewal, where the leaseholder has unavoidable reasons to build a building that will outlast the remaining term and the landlord will not consent, the court may likewise permit it and may set a different extended term — unless the parties have agreed that the landlord may not end the lease over such building work, and not for a land lease set before this Act came into force. In each case the court weighs all the circumstances, and may change other conditions or order a payment to keep things fair between the parties.(Art. 17(1), Art. 17(2), Art. 17(3), Art. 17(4), Art. 18(1), Art. 18(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 11(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
Where a leaseholder wants to transfer the building on leased land and the landlord refuses to consent to the land lease passing with it, or being sublet, although that would not put the landlord at a disadvantage, the court, on the leaseholder's application, may give permission in place of the landlord's consent, and may make it subject to a payment or to changed conditions. Someone who bought the building at auction (競売) or public sale (公売) may apply the same way, within two months of paying for it. In either case the landlord may instead apply, within a period the court sets, to take the building and the lease itself, and the court may order that at a price and on terms it sets.(Art. 19(1), Art. 19(3), Art. 20(1), Art. 20(2), Art. 20(3)) (the provisions it rests on)
Until the change takes effect, 13 June 2028 at the latest: A court decision on these applications is served on the parties as a written decision (裁判書) and takes effect only once it is final (確定); one ordering a payment can be enforced (強制執行) as if it were a court settlement (裁判上の和解). A permission to transfer the land lease or sublet the land lapses if the leaseholder does not transfer the building within six months after it takes effect, unless the decision sets a longer or shorter period.(Art. 55(1), Art. 55(2), Art. 58(1), Art. 59(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
From a day still to be set, 13 June 2028 at the latest: A court decision on these applications is served on the parties as an electronic record of the decision (電子裁判書) and takes effect only once it is final (確定); one ordering a payment can be enforced (強制執行) as if it were a court settlement (裁判上の和解). A permission to transfer the land lease or sublet the land lapses if the leaseholder does not transfer the building within six months after it takes effect, unless the decision sets a longer or shorter period.(Art. 58(1), Art. 58(2), Art. 61(1), Art. 62(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
When a land lease ends at the end of its term without renewal, the leaseholder can require the landlord to buy the building, and anything else the leaseholder attached to the land by right, at market value (時価); so can someone who acquired the building when the landlord refuses consent to the land lease passing to them or being sublet. When a building lease ends at the end of its term or on notice, the tenant can require the landlord to buy, at market value, fixtures (造作) such as tatami and fittings that were added with the landlord's consent or bought from the landlord. That right over fixtures is not among the rules Article 37 protects from contract terms against the tenant.(Art. 13(1), Art. 14(1), Art. 16(1), Art. 33(1), Art. 37(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

How it connects to other laws

It does not cite, and is not cited by, any other law held here.

It also names 10 laws not yet held here.

Where the translation comes from

193
77
9not translated

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)借地借家法 — the text in force from 2026-05-21Original
e-Gov (Digital Agency)借地借家法 — revision historyOriginal
Japanese Law Translation, Ministry of JusticeAct on Land and Building Leases — 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
Worked out by this site from e-Gov's text

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