Arranging leased company housing and choosing a provider — for general affairs, HR and owners / Toyama
There are three kinds of provider: housing agencies, rental brokers, and us. We find a vacant detached house, repair it and handle the contract, all in one company. Written step by step for general-affairs and HR staff.
"Leased-housing provider" covers three different kinds of company. The first is the housing agency: nationwide operators that sign and renew leases, pay the rent and handle move-in and move-out paperwork on the company's behalf; some include the three Hokuriku prefectures, Toyama among them, in their service area. The second is the rental broker: in Toyama there are estate agents who broker leased apartments and flats for companies, and this is where most transferees' housing is settled. The third is us.
What we take on is neither the paperwork nor finding apartments. We find a vacant detached house in Toyama, repair it to a standard people can keep living in as company housing, and handle the contract between owner and company, all in one company. As a builder with both a real estate licence and a construction permit, nobody changes hands between search, repair and contract.
This suits cases an apartment cannot fit: a home for a transferee with a family, a dormitory with separate bedrooms, housing for technical intern trainees and Specified Skilled Workers. Toyama's home-ownership rate is 74.9%, third in Japan, and the average floor area per dwelling is 138.77 ㎡, the largest in Japan. Big houses are mostly owner-occupied, and family-sized detached rentals are relatively scarce. So we raise houses that no rental search will find, from the vacant stock.
Conversely, if you need a studio for a single transferee from next month, a rental broker is faster. In that case we will say so honestly.
What matters in the order is that the viewing and measuring come before the contract. If the house needs work, the contract terms are set after seeing what the owner will consent to and what it costs. For a dormitory or trainee housing, the bedroom area sets how many people can live there and the headcount sets the rent ceiling, so the contract cannot be drawn up before measuring.
When there is a start date to hit, nobody changing hands mid-way is what makes it fast. For technical intern trainees and Specified Skilled Workers the application needs a floor plan, so the house comes before the application. The schedule counted back from the arrival date is on Scheduling housing for trainees and Specified Skilled Workers.
In a lease for company housing, we act as broker. When the company leases directly from the owner, we broker the lease between owner and company as a licensed real estate agent. Before the contract a licensed real estate transaction specialist explains the important matters, and the brokerage fee is capped by a notice of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The parties are the owner and the company; we are not a party.
Instead of leasing, the company can also buy the house and own it as company housing. That is a sale contract, and we take on the property search and the renovation.
A question we're often asked by someone in general affairs: if a company houses an employee in a house it has leased, does the company become a “sublease business”? No, it doesn't. A company may lease a house from a landlord and, under its own internal rules, let it to an employee as company housing. In that case the company doesn't count as a “sublease business” (an operator whose business is subletting). The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism says so in its FAQ on the Rental Housing Management Business Act. It's the same when the company signs a lease with the employee and charges a fee below market rate. The company itself has no obligation under this Act to register or explain the important matters.
A provider that leases from the owner and sublets to the company, on the other hand, is what the same FAQ calls a "specified sublessor". In the contract with the owner it is bound by the ban on misleading advertising, the ban on improper solicitation, the pre-contract explanation of important matters and the delivery of the written contract. We do not work that way; we broker the lease between owner and company.
Lease or buy, the tax calculation when the company lets to employees is the same. The comparison of up-front cost, freedom to renovate and depreciation across the two forms is on Company housing and staff dormitories in Toyama (two forms).
A rental broker in Toyama will get a company lease on an apartment or flat settled quickly. Where we make sense is beyond that. Both are "leased company housing", but leasing an apartment under a company contract and turning a vacant detached house into company housing differ in how you search, whether you can renovate, winter preparations, and whom you ask. We line them up using only facts already on this site.
| Lease an apartment under a company contract | Turn a vacant detached house into company housing | |
|---|---|---|
| Whom you ask | A rental broker (the contract paperwork is sometimes outsourced to a housing agency) | Us (real estate + construction: search, repair and contract in one company) |
| Where to search | Rental listings on the market | Houses we have bought, listed properties and the akiya banks |
| Layout | Mostly for singles and small households | Family-sized. Separate bedrooms make a dormitory or trainee housing |
| Renovation | Not as a rule (restore to original condition on leaving) | We carry out the work, within the owner's consent |
| What the viewing checks | Fittings and rent | Whether it can be repaired and roughly what it costs (a builder joins). Bedroom areas, snowfall, which way the roof sheds it |
| Winter | Depends on the building | Who clears the roof snow and how the pipes are drained at New Year are settled before move-in |
| When the period ends | Hand it back | Hand it back (if bought, it stays) |
| Tax when let to employees | The 50% of taxable rental value rule (No. 2597) | Same |
| Who to call after move-in | The management company | Us, the builder, at the same desk |
Which pays depends on the headcount, the period and the state of the house. For a studio for one person a rental broker is faster, and in that case we say so.
The reason for a detached house is the number of rooms. A family home, a dormitory with separate bedrooms, or housing for technical intern trainees and Specified Skilled Workers (4.5 ㎡ of bedroom or 7.5 ㎡ of living room per person) often will not fit into an apartment. How to count the requirements and a worked room-allocation example are on Housing for technical intern trainees and Specified Skilled Workers in Toyama.
A housing allowance is taxed as salary in full, from the first yen. Company housing isn't taxed as salary, as long as the employee pays at least 50% of the fair rental value. The National Tax Agency also says that, for housing or a dormitory leased from someone else, you need to confirm the property tax assessed value from the landlord or similar. Whether a leased company house is taxed as salary isn't decided by the rent the company pays the landlord — it is decided by calculating the “fair rental value” from the building's and the land's property tax assessed value.
The assessed value is a figure the owner holds. Before the contract we obtain it from the owner and work out the taxable rental value and the minimum rent to charge employees. We do this as part of the brokerage. Directors are calculated differently, and the 50% rule does not apply.
If the tenants are Specified Skilled Workers, the immigration rules add a ceiling (the leasing cost divided by the number of residents), and the rent sits between those two lines. The formula for the taxable rental value, housing for directors, and how social insurance treats benefits in kind are on Company housing and staff dormitories in Toyama (taxable rental value). The tax and whether it pays depend on each company's circumstances, so check with your tax adviser before acting.
Not a company-housing project: a house we restored as a home (two months' work, construction cost ¥9 million). → See this case in detail
After handover, problems after move-in come to us, the builder, at the same desk. With a lease, whether the owner or the company pays for repairs is set by the contract, so we write down who repairs what when the contract is signed.
For a detached house in Toyama, winter is the real test. From December to February snow builds up on the roof, and on a warm day it slides off all at once, breaking eaves, gutters and the neighbour's fence. In January and February the pipes freeze. Over the New Year break, when the staff go home, the house is in the same state as a vacant one. Do not have the employees clear the roof snow: every year in snow country people fall from roofs. Book a snow-clearing contractor or a builder in the autumn. Before the break, give the residents the drain-down procedure (close the stopcock, open the taps to drain, empty the water heater and the toilet cistern); the water heater's frost protection needs power, so do not switch off the electricity.
Then insulation. Because the company does not pay the utilities, a cold house becomes the tenant's burden and people do not stay. Our renovation fixes insulation first. In order of cost-effectiveness: windows, underfloor, ceiling. Snow load, where the snow slides, and the four reasons for insulation are in Company housing and staff dormitories in Toyama (what winter brings).
Four things are enough: the headcount, the move-in date, the workplace, and whether the company will sign the lease. "Three people next spring" is fine as a start. Suggesting candidate houses and joining the viewing are free, and on the spot we tell you whether the house can be repaired and roughly what it would cost. If all you need is a studio for one person, a rental broker is faster, and we will tell you so.
When the company leases directly from the owner, the owner and the company are the parties, and we broker the contract as a licensed real estate agent. When the company buys, it is a sale contract. We settle which form at the first consultation.
No, it doesn't. A company may lease a house from a landlord and, under its own internal rules, let it to an employee as company housing. In that case the company doesn't count as a “sublease business” (an operator whose business is subletting). The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism says so in its FAQ on the Rental Housing Management Business Act. It's the same when the company signs a lease with the employee and charges a fee below market rate.
Yes. The National Tax Agency says that even when the housing or dormitory is leased from someone else, the company must obtain the property-tax assessed value from the owner. It is not the rent the company pays the owner that counts: if employees pay at least 50% of the taxable rental value calculated from the assessed value of the building and land, nothing is taxed as salary. Directors are calculated differently. We obtain the assessed value from the owner before the contract.
Yes. We cover all of Toyama Prefecture, all of Ishikawa including Kanazawa, and northern Gifu (the Hida region: Takayama, Hida and so on). Our office is in Yatsuo, Toyama City, and the same company comes for the viewing, the renovation and any winter problems. The full service area is on Company housing and staff dormitories in Toyama.
"Three people next spring, working at ..." is enough. We come back with the search criteria and the form of contract.
Tax and the two forms of company housing, the rules for trainee housing, how to find a house, and winter preparations.