Japan Condo Management Association: Fees and Owner Duties

This article is part of the Zagdim wiki series on buying property in Japan. It explains what a condominium management association (管理組合, kanri kumiai) is and what duties an owner takes on as a member. It is written for readers who have just bought, or are about to buy, a unit in a Japanese condominium.

The management association is the body that all owners of a sold-off condominium building (分譲マンション) form by law. Buying one unit makes you a member. Members have five main duties and rights:

• Pay the management fee and the repair reserve fund in proportion to your share.
• Follow the building’s bylaws (規約, kiyaku).
• Make sure any tenant also follows the bylaws when you rent the unit out.
• Report changes in your acquisition of the unit and in your contact details to the association.
• Attend the general meeting, or vote in writing or by proxy. Depending on the bylaws, you may also be chosen as a director.

The management fee pays for day-to-day management. The repair reserve fund (修繕積立金, shuzen tsumitatekin) can be used only for special management such as planned repairs, and the two funds are kept in separate accounts. If you fall behind on payments, the association can claim late-payment damages and sue. These claims can also be enforced against whoever takes over the unit later.

Why Is It Still Unclear What the Association Does After You Buy a Condo?

Sale documents mention the management fee, the repair reserve fund, the bylaws, the general meeting and the management company. It is hard to see how these relate: who receives the money, who decides what, and what you are responsible for once you sign.

Another reason is that some of these duties come from statute and some come from a model document issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (国土交通省, MLIT). The two carry different weight, so this article separates them item by item.

What Is a Japanese Condo Management Association, and Who Makes the Decisions?

Under the Act on Building Unit Ownership (建物の区分所有等に関する法律, the Kubun Shoyu Act), all owners of a sold-off condominium automatically form a body that manages the building, its site and its accessory facilities. It can hold meetings, adopt bylaws and appoint a manager. As of September 2026, Japanese law gives owners no way to opt out of joining. Foreign nationals and owners living overseas are members in the same way as everyone else.

MLIT publishes a Standard Management Bylaws model (マンション標準管理規約) that individual condominiums use as a reference when writing their own bylaws. It is not law. Everything below marked “under the model” comes from that document, and what actually applies is the bylaws of your own building (規約).

The Meeting, the Manager and the Board

• General meeting (集会; the model calls it 総会, sokai): a meeting of all owners that the law requires at least once a year. Adoption and amendment of the bylaws are decided here.
• Manager (管理者): by law, preserves the common areas, carries out meeting resolutions and matters set in the bylaws, and acts for all owners within the scope of the role. Unless the bylaws say otherwise, the manager is appointed or dismissed by resolution of the meeting. If the manager acts improperly or is otherwise unfit, any owner can ask a court to dismiss them.
• Board: under the model, directors and auditors (together 役員, yakuin) are chosen by the general meeting from among the members. Later in this article, suing over unpaid fees and dealing with tenant violations are handled by the board chair after a board resolution.

The law also requires owners to cooperate with one another so that the building is managed properly and smoothly.

The Management Company Is a Contractor Hired by the Association

The association can delegate management work to a condominium management company (マンション管理業者). The client is the association, not any individual owner. Under the Act on Promotion of Proper Management of Condominiums (マンションの管理の適正化の推進に関する法律), a company running this business must register with MLIT, and registration lasts 5 years. Each office must employ a dedicated management work chief (管理業務主任者).

Before a management contract is signed, the company must hand important-matters documents to all owners in writing one week before the explanation meeting, and a management work chief then explains them at the meeting. When a contract is renewed on the same terms, giving the written documents to all owners in advance is enough. There are exceptions, for example during the sales period of a new building. Repair reserve funds and similar money held by the company must be kept separate from its own assets, and the management work chief must report on the management work to the manager and others at regular intervals.

In the fiscal 2023 (令和5年度) MLIT Condominium General Survey, 1,589 associations responded. Among them, 72.9% had delegated all core tasks (基幹事務) to a management company, including accounting and repair planning, and 5.2% managed everything themselves. The questionnaire was distributed mainly through member companies of the management industry association to the associations they serve, and self-managed condominiums made up only about 10% of the sample, so the share that delegates may be overstated.

In some buildings the management company also serves as the manager. This is called the management-company-as-manager arrangement (管理業者管理者方式). MLIT explains that the company can then be both the party ordering work and the contractor carrying it out, which raises conflict-of-interest concerns. From April 1, 2026, such a company that deals with itself or a closely related party must first hold an explanatory meeting to tell owners the material facts. Transactions within one month of that start date are not covered, and emergencies such as disasters are excepted. In the same survey, 3.7% of condominiums had a manager who was a third party other than an owner. That figure includes both management companies and other professionals.

What Are My Duties After Becoming a Member?

The table below lists what the law requires and what the model requires. For the model’s items, the bylaws of your own building govern.

Where Do I Find the Bylaws, and Do Old Bylaws Still Apply?

Bylaws must be made in writing or as an electronic record and kept by the manager, with the storage location posted in a conspicuous place in the building. A person with a legitimate interest who asks to read them cannot be refused without good reason.

After the amended law took effect on April 1, 2026, any provision of an older set of bylaws that conflicts with the new law became invalid from that date. Bylaws written earlier may still carry old voting thresholds. In that case the law prevails.

What Can the Association Do If Someone Breaks the Bylaws or the Common Interest?

The law prohibits an owner from acting in a way that harms the preservation of the building or goes against the common interest of all owners. The rule also applies to occupants such as tenants. When there is such an act, or a risk of one, the other owners as a whole, or the association if it is incorporated, can demand that the act stop, that its results be removed, or that it be prevented. Bringing a lawsuit requires a resolution of the meeting.

In serious cases where other methods are unlikely to work, the law provides three last-resort measures. Each requires a meeting resolution and must be pursued through a lawsuit, and the person concerned must be given a chance to explain before the vote:

• Ban the owner from using their unit for a set period.
• Seek a forced sale of the owner’s unit ownership and site-use right.
• Against a tenant or other occupant, seek termination of the lease and return of the unit.

These three resolutions require a quorum of owners and voting rights, each of more than half, and approval by at least three quarters of the owners present and three quarters of the voting rights present.

What Do I Need to Do for My Tenant?

Under the model, an owner who rents out their own unit must do three things:

1. State in the lease that the tenant will follow the bylaws and the usage rules.
2. Have the tenant give the association a written pledge to follow the bylaws (誓約書, seiyakusho).
3. Have the tenant notify the association that they have rented the unit.

If a tenant breaks the bylaws, the board chair can, after a board resolution, advise, instruct or warn the tenant. The owner must take the corrective action needed for their own tenant. A tenant who moved in with the owner’s consent may attend the general meeting and state an opinion on matters in which they have an interest, but has no vote.

The model also has an optional clause. If the bylaws ban renting to members of organized crime groups (暴力団員), the lease must include the tenant’s confirmation that they are not a member, the owner’s right to terminate without a demand notice if they turn out to be one, and the association’s right to exercise that termination right on the owner’s behalf if the owner does not. Not every building has this clause, so check the bylaws. If you want to run a short-term rental (民泊, minpaku) in your unit, check the bylaws first as well. If they prohibit it, you may not operate one.

What Do I Report to the Association?

Under the model, when you acquire or lose membership you must report it to the association in writing without delay. The acquisition notice form attached to the model asks for your name, current address, phone number and emergency contact. If any of these details change later, you must report that without delay too. An heir who acquires the unit through inheritance must report as well.

If you fail to report and this hinders or may hinder management, the board chair can, after a board resolution, search for your whereabouts and charge you the search cost, plus attorney fees and similar costs as a contractual penalty. This report is separate from the change of address in the real estate registry. Completing one does not mean the other is done.

How Are General Meetings Held and Votes Counted?

The law requires notice at least one week before the meeting, and the model requires two weeks. Under the model, a general meeting needs members holding more than half of all voting rights to attend. An ordinary resolution is decided by a majority of the voting rights of members present. Special resolutions, such as adopting or amending the bylaws, need attendance of more than half of the members and more than half of the voting rights, and then approval by at least three quarters of those present and three quarters of their voting rights. Votes cast in writing or by proxy count as attendance.

By law, ordinary resolutions from April 1, 2026 are also decided by a majority of the owners present and a majority of their voting rights. For how an owner abroad can receive notices, vote and arrange a proxy, see “How Do You Manage a Japanese Rental Property From Abroad? Tenants, Repairs, Taxes and Communicating With Agents.”

Could I Be Chosen as a Director?

Under the model, the qualification for director or auditor is “member”, judged by whether you are an owner, not by whether you live in the building. A building can add a requirement such as being a member who currently lives in the condominium. It can also adopt the version in which outside experts serve as officers, such as a condominium management advisor (マンション管理士), a lawyer or an architect. The model also bars people such as undischarged bankrupts and members of organized crime groups from serving as officers.

Whether living abroad would stop you from being chosen depends on your building’s bylaws. In the fiscal 2023 survey (1,589 associations responding), 34.6% of condominiums were considering, or expected to consider when needed, appointing outside officers. The leading reasons were aging owners (42.7%) and a shortage of candidates for officer posts (42.3%).

What Do the Management Fee and the Repair Reserve Fund Each Pay For?

By law, the costs of the common areas are shared according to ownership share, which is by default proportional to the floor area of each unit and can be set differently in the bylaws. Under the model, owners pay the management fee (管理費, kanrihi) and the repair reserve fund (修繕積立金, a long-term repair fund) to the association, in amounts based on their share of the common areas.

• Management fee: covers day-to-day management, such as the building attendant’s wages, public charges (公租公課, taxes and similar levies), upkeep and operation of shared equipment, fire and earthquake insurance for the common areas, cleaning, disinfection and waste handling, and fees for outsourced work.
• Repair reserve fund: can be used only for special management, such as regular planned repairs, repairs needed after unexpected accidents, and improvements or alterations to the site and common areas. It must be kept in a separate account from the management fee.
• Parking fees and similar income: after covering the cost of managing the parking area itself, the rest is added to the repair reserve fund.

Some condominiums charge a repair reserve initial payment (修繕積立基金) at purchase. It is separate from the monthly repair reserve fund. Renovation inside your own unit (the exclusive portion, 専有部分) is generally outside the repair reserve fund.

How Much Is It Per Month, and Can It Rise?

In MLIT’s fiscal 2023 General Survey (1,589 associations responding, published June 21, 2024), the average monthly management fee per unit was 11,503 yen and the average repair reserve fund was 13,054 yen, in both cases excluding amounts transferred in from parking fees and similar income. Including those transfers, the figures were 17,103 yen and 13,378 yen. Including transfers, the management fee was lower in buildings with more units. These are national survey averages, and individual buildings vary widely.

The repair reserve fund is not fixed. MLIT guidance suggests reviewing the long-term repair plan about every five years and reviewing the reserve fund at the same time. Even where a level contribution method is used, with equal monthly amounts, the amount can later be raised after a plan review. For whether the accumulated amount is enough and what repair burden older buildings carry, see “How to Assess Repair Risk in Older Japanese Properties: Major Renovations, Reserve Shortfalls and Owner Burden.”

Can I Get the Money Back Later?

Under the model, you cannot demand a refund or division of management fees and repair reserve fund payments already made, though what applies in practice is your building’s bylaws. For rental properties, the year in which a repair reserve payment can be counted as a necessary expense depends on four conditions, covered in the main article, “What Foreign Owners Need to Arrange After Buying Japanese Property: the Management Association, Rental Management and Repair Costs.”

**Example: Mr. Zhang, who lives in Taichung and bought a Tokyo condo to rent out**

>

Mr. Zhang buys one unit in a Tokyo condominium and plans to rent it out. The building’s bylaws follow the model. After acquiring the unit, he submits a written acquisition notice to the association with his name, current address, phone number and emergency contact, and pays the management fee and the repair reserve fund every month according to his share.

>

When he rents the unit out, he writes a clause in the lease requiring the tenant to follow the bylaws, and has the tenant give the association a pledge and a notice that the unit is rented. If the tenant later breaks the bylaws, the board chair can warn the tenant after a board resolution, and Mr. Zhang must take the necessary corrective action. What he needs to do: check whether the bylaws differ from the model, then decide whether he or a management company he hires will prepare these notices and lease clauses.

What Happens If I Don’t Pay, or Pay Late?

Under the model, management fees and similar charges are collected by transfer from the owner’s bank account. If a payment is overdue:

• The association can claim late-payment damages (遅延損害金, at a rate set in each building’s bylaws), plus attorney fees, collection costs and similar amounts as a contractual penalty.
• The association must take collection steps and similar measures, and the board chair can, after a board resolution, sue or take other legal action.
• By law, the association holds a statutory lien (先取特権), meaning a priority right to be paid first, over your unit ownership (including your rights in the common areas and the site-use right) and over movable property kept in the building.

Under the Building Unit Ownership Act, claims arising from the bylaws or a meeting resolution can be enforced against a new owner who takes over the unit. The model states that management fees and similar charges are claims of this kind, though what applies in practice is the bylaws of your building. That is why, before buying a resale condo, you need to confirm whether the unit has unpaid amounts. In the same fiscal 2023 survey (1,589 associations responding), 30.1% of condominiums had at least one household that was three or more months behind on management fees or the repair reserve fund.

Which payment methods are available to an owner living overseas must be confirmed with the association or the management company it hired.

Which Common Claims Should You Be Careful About?

• “The management association is the management company.” The management company is a contractor the association hires. The decisions are made by the meeting of all owners.
• “What the standard bylaws say is the rule.” The model is not law, and your building’s bylaws may differ.
• “The repair reserve fund is my savings and I get it back when I sell.” Under the model, repair reserve payments already made cannot be refunded or divided.

How Should You Decide What to Do Next?

After buying a condo in Japan, first get the building’s bylaws and usage rules and check them point by point:

1. The pledge and notification formats for renting out, and whether short-term rental (民泊) is banned.
2. Whether directors and auditors have a residency requirement, and whether owners who do not live in Japan must appoint a domestic manager (国内管理人).
3. How management fees and the repair reserve fund are paid, and when you must submit your acquisition notice.
4. Whether management work is delegated to a management company, and whether that company also serves as manager.

You can also ask whether the building has a management plan certification (管理計画認定). It is a certification that an association can voluntarily apply for from the local government, starting in fiscal 2022, and it is renewed every five years. Criteria include holding a general meeting at least once a year, keeping the management fee and repair reserve fund in separate accounts, and keeping a member roster, and local governments can add their own criteria. Certified condominiums get benefits such as a reduced rate on the Japan Housing Finance Agency’s Flat 35 (フラット35) mortgage.

The application is voluntary, so not having certification does not mean a building is badly managed. The target in MLIT’s summary of the amendments is to raise the share of certified buildings from about 3% (fiscal 2024, 令和6年) to 20%. The announced expansion, including letting sellers of new units apply for certification at the time of sale, takes effect on April 1, 2027, and as of September 2026 it has not yet taken effect.

For the whole picture of the holding period, including rental management companies, tax on rental income and tenant protection, see the main article, “What Foreign Owners Need to Arrange After Buying Japanese Property: the Management Association, Rental Management and Repair Costs.”

Japan Condo Management Association FAQ

Can I get my repair reserve fund payments back when I sell a Japanese property?

Under the MLIT Standard Management Bylaws model, management fees and repair reserve payments already made cannot be refunded or divided, and membership ends when you sell. The model is not law, and what applies is your building’s bylaws.

Could an owner living overseas be chosen as a director of the management association?

Possibly. The model sets the qualification for director or auditor as being a member, regardless of whether you live in the building, but each building can add a residency requirement in its bylaws. Whether living abroad would stop you from being chosen depends on your building’s bylaws.

Is the owner responsible if a tenant breaks the condo bylaws?

Under the model, the board chair can, after a board resolution, advise, instruct or warn the tenant, and the owner must take the necessary corrective action for their own tenant. In serious cases, the association can, by meeting resolution, sue to terminate the lease and have the unit returned.

Glossary

• Management association (管理組合): the body formed by law by all owners of a sold-off condominium to manage it.
• Bylaws (規約): the building’s own management rules, which must be made in writing or as an electronic record.
• Standard management bylaws (マンション標準管理規約): a model set of bylaws made by MLIT for buildings to use as a reference. It is not law.
• Manager (管理者): the person who, by law, preserves the common areas and carries out meeting resolutions, chosen by the meeting.
• Officers (役員): the association’s directors and auditors.
• Repair reserve initial payment (修繕積立基金): a payment some condominiums charge at purchase, separate from the monthly repair reserve fund.
• Late-payment damages (遅延損害金): an amount added when a payment is overdue, at a rate set by each building’s bylaws.
• Statutory lien (先取特権): the association’s right to be paid first from the unit ownership and related rights for unpaid claims.
• Pledge (誓約書): a document a tenant gives the association promising to follow the bylaws.
• Condominium management company (マンション管理業者): a company that handles management work for an association and must be registered with MLIT.
• Management plan certification (管理計画認定): certification of a management plan that an association voluntarily applies for from the local government, renewed every five years.

About the Information

The information in this article was checked as of September 30, 2026. It is based on Japanese laws and official MLIT materials, and no separate web research was done.

The statement that there is no way to opt out of joining is inferred from Article 3 of the Building Unit Ownership Act, under which “all” owners form the body. The statement that foreign nationals and owners living overseas are members in the same way is inferred from the fact that the documents checked contain no contrary rule, and that the domestic manager system presupposes owners who do not live in Japan. The Standard Management Bylaws are an MLIT model, and the long-term repair plan guidelines and the repair reserve fund guidelines are guidelines. None of them is law, and what applies is each building’s bylaws.

The fiscal 2023 Condominium General Survey cited here is mainly a questionnaire sent to associations, with 1,589 responses. The 30.1% figure is the share of condominiums with households three or more months behind on payments. The figures 72.9%, 5.2% and 3.7% come from the tabulation tables of the same survey. The questionnaire was distributed mainly through member companies of the management industry association, and self-managed condominiums made up about 10% of the sample. The 3.7% includes both management companies and other professionals, and the survey does not distinguish them. The survey checked here does not count foreign owners or owners living overseas. The roughly 3% for management plan certification is a baseline value listed in MLIT’s summary of the amendments, not a General Survey figure.

Still changing: the expansion of management plan certification takes effect on April 1, 2027, and as of September 2026 it has not yet taken effect.

Have a question about this guide? Leave a comment below, or ask Zagdim directly.

Sources

• e-Gov法令検索－建物の区分所有等に関する法律
• 法務省民事局－区分所有法・被災区分所有法の改正について
• e-Gov法令検索－マンションの管理の適正化の推進に関する法律
• 国土交通省－マンション標準管理規約
• 国土交通省－令和７年改正マンション標準管理規約（単棟型）及び同コメント
• 国土交通省－外国人区分所有者向け「日本におけるマンション管理について」
• 国土交通省－住宅：マンション関係法令
• 国土交通省－マンション関係法改正の概要（令和７年９月）
• 国土交通省－報道発表資料（令和５年度マンション総合調査結果）
• 国土交通省－令和５年度マンション総合調査結果〔概要編〕
• 国土交通省－令和５年度マンション総合調査 集計表（管理組合向け）
• 国土交通省－令和５年度マンション総合調査 調査項目一覧
• 国土交通省－マンションの修繕積立金に関するガイドライン
• 国土交通省－長期修繕計画標準様式・長期修繕計画作成ガイドライン・同コメント
• 国土交通省－マンション管理計画認定制度
• 国土交通省住宅局－施行規則等改正省令について（概要）
• 国税庁－質疑応答事例「賃貸の用に供するマンションの修繕積立金の取扱い」

Important Notice

This article is a general summary of information and does not constitute individual legal, tax or real estate advice. The information was checked as of September 30, 2026. Rules and survey figures may be updated, so rely on current announcements from Japanese authorities and on your own building’s bylaws, and consult a qualified professional where needed.