What a vacant house costs each year
Property and city planning tax5〜150,000 yen/year
Fire insurance (higher when vacant)2〜50,000 yen/year
Water and electricity standing charges2〜30,000 yen/year
Mowing and garden trees3〜100,000 yen/year
Snow clearing (per visit, if hired)3〜80,000 yen
Travel to visit, if far awayeach trip home
Money that goes out every year on a house nobody lives in
about ¥150,000–400,000
Property tax on an inherited house is paid by the heirs even while the registered owner is still the deceased. For details, see Property tax on an inherited vacant house.
Tax 36%
Insurance and utilities 21%
Upkeep 43%
Tax / ¥50,000–150,000Property and city planning tax. It keeps coming whether or not anyone lives there.
Insurance and utilities / ¥40,000–80,000Fire insurance costs more for a vacant house; then the water and electricity standing charges.
Upkeep / ¥60,000–180,000Mowing, garden trees, snow clearing — and the cost of hiring someone.
in 1 year
15〜400,000 yen
in 5 years
75〜2000,000 yen
in 10 years
150〜4000,000 yen
for comparison
200〜5000,000 yen
* "For comparison" is the cost of insulation work (inner windows, underfloor, ceiling / whole house).
Ten years of upkeep equals one insulation job.
The same money, spent on keeping paying or on turning it into a house someone can live in. Including the option of letting it go, we work out with you which is the lightest burden.
* The shares and amounts are general guides and vary with the size of the building, location and insurance. Check your actual tax on the assessment notice. The dark part of each bar is the lower figure, the light part the range up to the higher one.
What happens each month is in the year-round calendar for looking after a vacant house from afar, including who to ask for snow clearing and how to drain the pipes. Liability and insurance when snow or tiles damage the neighbours: Who is liable when a vacant house damages the neighbours?.
While you keep paying, the house keeps deteriorating.
A house nobody lives in is not ventilated, so it deteriorates faster.
A leak left alone reaches the roof framing, and both the cost to repair it and the price it will fetch change along with it. Leave a vacant house untended, too, and the municipality may send a warning or ask you to fix it up. If that happens, the rule that lowers property tax can stop applying, and your tax may rise. Check the details with your municipality's office. A letter can also arrive from the city following a complaint from a neighbour. If one arrives, see
A notice from the city.
There are three routes
Which suits you depends on the house and its location. Look at the whole picture first.
If you are thinking of renouncing the inheritance to be rid of it, read Renouncing an inheritance versus the vacant house first. Renouncing does not make the house disappear.
To compare the seven ways of using the house without selling (restore and rent, inn, shop, company housing, DIY lease), see how to put a family home in Toyama to use.
A house on the plain and a house in the hills suit different paths. Before demolishing, check three ways out for a family home, plain versus hills. If the house is empty because a parent has moved into care, selling the family home after a parent moves into care also covers what to do when dementia is involved.
A family home full of belongings can be sold as it is, contents included. Clearing costs and how the altar and farm machinery are handled are covered too.
* Income under 03 varies greatly with location, condition and operation, and does not work for every house. Where it doesn't add up, we say so.
Already running a guesthouse and want to hand off just the cleaning and booking replies? See minpaku management and operation (Toyama).
On LINE, three steps
1Take photosA few of the exterior and anything that worries you. Phone photos are fine.
2Send them on LINEAdd us as a friend and send them straight over. The municipality helps too.
3Our assessment arrivesWhat we would pay, what a repair would cost — rough figures. No pushy sales.
Send photos via LINE
No drawings or registry documents needed. Registration not done, still talking to siblings — both fine.
Survey and appraisal are free
Not demolished: repaired and passed on
