JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Satoru Hasumoto, Takahiro Sato and Fuyuki Uchitsu, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
• issue recommendations and orders to take remedial measures if these persons are found to be disturbing the functions of significant facilities, such as defence facilities and sensi - tive infrastructure and Border Remote Islands, or if there is an evident threat that these persons will do so. In addition, parties to a real estate purchase agreement will be required to submit a notice of certain prescribed matters (eg, identity of the parties and purpose of use) prior to the execu - tion of the agreement if the real estate is located within the enhanced close monitoring area. In 2024, amendments to the Construction Busi - ness Act were passed by the National Diet. These revisions aim to secure a stable work - force in the construction industry by introduc - ing measures to: • secure wage resources for the improvement of the treatment of workers in the construc - tion industry and their dissemination to sub- contractors; • reduce the burden of labour costs on con - tractors by facilitating the transfer of increas - es in the price of materials to contract prices; and • promote work style reforms and productivity improvements. These amendments include provisions prohibit - ing contractors from entering into construction contracts that fall below cost unless there are justifiable reasons and obligations regarding the adjustment of contract prices due to price fluctuations. These amendments can impact the practice related to claims for increased con - tract prices due to materials and labour cost increases, which have been significant issues in
negotiations recently and have caused disputes between owners and contractors. In 2024, draft revisions to the Act on Building Unit Ownership, etc were under discussion. The proposed revisions included the relaxation of the majority requirement for resolutions for reconstruction from four-fifths to three-fourths. If the revised bill is submitted and passed, it is expected that the reconstruction of deteriorated condominiums will progress. In the Japanese market, the most common sub - ject properties or interests for investment pur - poses are currently: • ownership (equivalent of fee simple absolute) of the land or the building, or both; • a combination of the right to use the land (leasehold interest or superficies) and fee simple ownership of the building; • co-ownership ( kyo-yu ) of the land or the building, or both; and • a combination of co-ownership of the land and unit ownership of private units in a multi- unit building. 2. Sale and Purchase 2.1 Categories of Property Rights Co-ownership refers to a type of ownership where one person owns a certain percentage interest in the entire property and other owners own the remaining percentage interests. Unit ownership is a type of ownership recog - nised for a multi-unit building under the Law on Unit Ownership of Buildings. A unit owner is entitled to:
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