TL;DR: Can our landlord sell our unit & not let us renew our lease?
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We’ve lived in the same Tokyo (Shinjuku-ku) apartment since 2006, on a 2-yr lease that gets renewed pretty much automatically every time (w/ the aggravating renewal fee, but that’s another gripe/story). It’s a mixed-type apartment building, some people own their own units, others (like ours) are rented out.
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So recently I got a call from my landlord/unit owner that he was “maybe possibly thinking about considering” selling our unit (he hadn’t set a price or anything). Our current contract is up in September, so the idea was he’d just let our lease expire, we’d move, & the new owner(s) would move in (after some remodeling, no doubt). One of the possibilities would be to just sell it to us, but tbh we would not want to buy it- a 2LDK was fine before, but with work-from-home and a small child, it’s just not big enough for a permanent solution.
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Now, I’ve heard there needs to be 6 months’ written notice before eviction, but does this apply even if the lease was set to expire before that? Are they allowed to just not let us renew (even though we have for the last 7 times over 15 years)? And, not least, is there a link to a law somewhere I can show my worried wife? I’ve tried asking at the kuyakusho (at her behest), but that’s been its own problem (first time I went on a Tuesday when they’re open til 7pm, but the relevant dept had still closed at 5; next time I went back in the morning & they told me that kind of consultation stuff is only on Thu/Fri afternoons & by appointment…. ugh)…
11 comments
They can choose not to renew, but the lead time if they decide that unilaterally should be written on your contract. I think it’s like 6 months’ notice minimum.
It is generally very difficult for a landlord to make a tenant who does not want to leave do so. Legally they have few options if you haven’t done anything wrong and the building is safe to inhabit. This is why landlords often end up paying all moving costs + x months rent in settlement to convince tenants to leave.
(So while they probably can’t force you to leave, it would be the polite/reasonable thing to do to accept a reasonable offer to relocate if it would not somehow overly burden you to do so.)
They need your consent or a “valid reason” (such as being late on rent… wanting to sell does not count) and 6 months notice to not renew the lease, or else it is renewed automatically with the same terms. Practically they should offer to pay to make you leave.
They can’t legally evict you to sell – the new owner simply takes over the lease. They also can’t refuse to renew your lease for that reason, especially when it has been renewed previously.
The standard, if they really want you out, is that they buy you out – market rate for that is generally 6 months’ rent plus basic moving expenses (move + deposits on new place) and return of all deposits.
[https://mitomi-estate.com/system_real-estate-industry/land_house-leasehold/contract-renewal_eviction/](https://mitomi-estate.com/system_real-estate-industry/land_house-leasehold/contract-renewal_eviction/)
They have to tell you 6months to a year before.
If they want to evict you, they also have to pay you an eviction fee equal to 6months of rent (basically, they are paying your agent fee + shikikin + reikin + first month of rent of the new place you will be living at after the eviction).
Any move out fee that was in your original contract also gets canceled (cleaning fee, repairs due to normal usage, etc)
They also have to pay any fee incurred to you (moving company, cancellation of contracts, etc)
If you have a rental contract then the new owners MUST honor it. There is no rule in Japan whereby a property purchase invalidates a rental contract, a rule that the Germans call Kauf bricht Miete. In Japan Kauf bricht nicht Miete.
Now if you had a fixed term lease of less than a year they might let that run out, and if you had a fixed term lease of a year or more they could give you a six months notice, but you have a regular lease that has been renewed, so you can stay as long as you pay the rent and follow the rules.
The new owner can offer you a few months rent and moving expenses to convince you to move, but it is up to you to take that offer or not.
Just to say that your landlord most likely wants you to stay because he can get a higher price for a rental property that has a tenant bringing in a stable return. Of course the new buyer may want to buy it and live in the unit, but most likely used rental units with a lease trade hands between investors. People who want to buy a unit to live usually will buy a empty unit for the very reasons you talked about.
Unless he has explicitly said the new owner wants to move in your probably safe. I would be more worried about the new owner trying to raise rents to justify his new high price asset.
Get professional advice from a tenant Representitive / tenant advocate. Japanese leases provide very strong rights to occupancy to tenants. Most Japanese do not even understand/know this and landlords will try to “walk” you out of the lease with what will seem like reasonable conditions.
Something similar happened to me. I got a lawyer and negotiated a figure higher than 6 months. It is really hard to evict someone if they don’t want to leave.
Tell them that your grandmother was secretly living with you and killed herself there, and you were too ashamed to admit it. Give them exactly four coupons to Hotto Motto as repentance
A coworker of mine was going through a similar situation. They had a house they’ve been renting for many years from a, I believe private, landowner. Landowner sold land to a corporation. Corporation has been trying to get coworker to move. Based on what my coworker said, the corporation has to find them a house that’s pretty much identical to their current house regarding size, pets, rent, etc.
Someone correct this if my coworker (and subsequently me) are incorrect