Hi all…I signed a new lease on an apartment earlier this year and at that time, the agent and management company did not inform me in the “Important Matters” document that there would be a 6 month long construction here. They constantly berated us on the phone and by email whenever we asked or inquired why this was not included, stating they have no responsbility and it is not their problem.
It is already strange that they did not include this large-scale construction in the document, but on top of that they have been extremely rude and even threatening whenever we asked or inquired. I would like to understand if anyone has any experience reporting these rental management companies to the Tokyo government or any other housing associations? What would be the best way?
I know it is a long shot for any serious action to be taken against them, but I have documented every email interaction, received supporting documents from the building management company stating neither the agent or management company ever inquired about the important matters document. How or what would be the best way to report this issue?
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How old is the building?
~~To the best of my knowledge, they have no legal responsibility to inform you of temporary construction to the property prior to your tenancy. Apartment buildings/condos need maintenance periodically throughout their life, it’s the nature of buildings.~~
~~If you’ve been repeatedly calling and mailing about this, and they have no legal liability, it’s understandable that they might be getting annoyed.~~
You’re free to [consult with Consumer Affairs](https://www.kokusen.go.jp/e-hello/map/index.html) to verify, though.
Edit: Though this isn’t in the list of items that are required to be disclosed in the real estate act, it appears that they have a responsibility under the civil code because they omitted information that would have greatly influenced the decision to enter into the contract, which constitutes a tort. Thanks for the case link /u/Nihonbashi2021
You can sue for damages if they did not warn you in advance that large scale renovations were in preparation. But there are limitations on how much will be rewarded in a case like this.
Here is an example where the construction lasted 2 months and the resident requested 1160000 yen in damages but was only rewarded 300000.
https://www.retio.or.jp/info/pdf/118/118-122.pdf
Also good to know that maybe your real estate company didn’t know either. Companies that fill rental vacancies are a dime a dozen. Everybody thinks that 1 month fee you pay is a rip off but these companies need to do a bunch of of these contracts a month to make ends meet. Most of the time they just do a search of property, print out the 1 pager and take you to the property to do a showing. They don’t have deep knowledge of the places they are sending to you most of the time the realtor has walked into he building for first time as you and there knowledge is whatever the building owner has put on the 1 pager he read 15 minutes before you showed up.
Anyway i don’t think it was a deliberate attempt to trick you into moving in before the external reform started. Probably more fault lies with the actual building owner who knew about the reform but because he didn’t have to disclose it he didn’t volunteer the information. Personally if this happened to me I would also blame myself for not asking beforehand or checking the little bulletin board at the entrance where it has all the communal info like garbage collection times and a little passive aggressive notice to not make noise at night. When your apartment hunting you can tell a lot about a building from the bulletin board and what is posted and what’s not posted.