Register within 3 years. Even if the title is still your grandfather's, you can still make it

From 1 April 2024, inheritance registration became a legal duty. A house of a parent or grandfather who died long ago is covered too, if the title has not been moved.

About inheritance registration (the procedure to move the title from the deceased), the Ministry of Justice says: "You must make the inheritance registration within 3 years of learning that you acquired the property by inheritance." In other words, you move the title to your name within 3 years of the day you learned that your parent had died and you received the family home.

Inheritances that happened before 1 April 2024 are covered too. For these, you register by 31 March 2027. Even for a house of a father who died 10 years ago, this deadline applies if the title has not been moved.

If you do not register without a valid reason, you may be given an administrative fine of up to ¥100,000 (money you are made to pay to the authorities, like a fine). The court decides the amount within that range.

The Ministry of Justice gives the following as examples of a valid reason.

• There are very many heirs, and it takes time to collect family registers or find the other heirs
• The heirs are in a dispute over whether the will is valid or over the scope of the estate
• The person who must register cannot move because of a serious illness or similar
• The person is in financial hardship and cannot pay the registration costs

There are other examples too. Also, when the person who gets the house is decided in a division agreement (a discussion among all heirs on who receives what), you register that result within 3 years of the day the agreement was reached.

The siblings cannot agree. The family registers are not all collected. For when it looks like you will miss the 3-year deadline, a simple procedure called the heir's declaration registration was created. Within 3 years, you tell the Legal Affairs Bureau that you are an heir of the owner shown in the register (the Bureau's record of land and buildings).

No registration and licence tax is charged. A single heir can file alone, and you can also do it online. The documents to attach are family register certificates and similar papers that show you are an heir.

Pay attention to this sentence from the Ministry of Justice: "Only the heir who made the declaration is regarded as having fulfilled the duty of inheritance registration." In other words, even if your older brother files, your younger brother's duty remains. Each sibling files, or one person files on behalf of the other heirs as well.

One more point. The heir's declaration registration does not record who received the house. The Ministry of Justice also says that when you "sell (...) the inherited house, you must separately file an inheritance registration." In other words, when you sell, you need a proper inheritance registration again.

The cost of inheritance registration comes mainly in three parts. The total depends on the assessed value of the house and the number of heirs. Here we only describe what the costs are.

• Registration and licence tax. This is a tax you pay to the national government when registering. For a transfer of title by inheritance, it is 4/1,000 of the property value, that is 0.4% (Registration and Licence Tax Act, Appended Table 1). For the value, the assessed value in the municipality's property tax ledger is usually used
• Fees for family register certificates and similar documents. You collect the deceased person's family registers from birth to death. Each municipal office charges a fee
• Judicial scrivener's fee. You pay this when you hire a judicial scrivener (a specialist who handles registration procedures for you). The amount differs by office, so we do not state it

The registration and licence tax has a tax exemption (Special Taxation Measures Act Article 84-2-2). For registrations made by 31 March 2027, the tax is not charged on the following two. According to the Legal Affairs Bureau, both are exemptions for land.

• Land valued at ¥1 million or less. When you receive a share, the value is the value of the whole land multiplied by your share
• Registration in the name of a person who received land by inheritance but died before moving the title

We do not state here how much it will be for your house. For tax calculation and filing, please consult the tax office or a tax accountant. For preparing registration documents, consult a judicial scrivener.

You look up the register of your family home and find the title is still in your grandfather's or great-grandfather's name. In old houses in Hokuriku, this is common. When your father also died before the procedure for your grandfather's inheritance was done, this is called successive inheritances (inheritances pile up because an heir dies before registering).

The basic way is to follow the deaths in order. You move the title from grandfather to father, then from father to you. In some cases the midway step can be combined into one filing. Please check which applies with a judicial scrivener. Because of the tax exemption described under the previous heading, until 31 March 2027 the registration and licence tax is not charged on land registered in the name of a father who died midway.

Pay attention to the number of heirs. Your grandfather's heirs include not only your father but also your uncles and aunts. If an uncle or aunt has already died, their children are heirs too. The Ministry of Justice also says that when inheritances repeat without dividing the estate, "co-ownership of the estate by many heirs makes managing and disposing of it difficult." In other words, the longer you wait, the more people you have to talk to.

Who gets the house is decided in a division agreement. All the heirs take part in this discussion. If even one is missing, it cannot be settled.

Collecting family registers got easier on 1 March 2024 with wide-area issuance of family register certificates. You can request family register and removed-register certificates at the office of any city, ward, town or village, not only where the family register is kept. A grandchild living outside the prefecture can get the grandfather's Toyama family register at a nearby municipal office.

• Those who can request: the person themselves, spouse, parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren. Siblings' family registers cannot be obtained this way
• You cannot request by mail or through an agent. The person goes to the counter and shows photo ID such as a driver's licence or My Number card

The family registers you collect can be combined into one chart under the certified list of legal heirs system. If you submit a chart showing the heirs, together with the bundle of family registers, to the Legal Affairs Bureau, the registrar checks the contents and issues a certified copy free of charge. The chart is kept for 5 years, and during that time you can have it reissued.

Relatives you have not met for decades, or an uncle whose whereabouts are unknown. The older the title, the more such heirs appear. When someone cannot take part in the discussion, there are court procedures you can use.

• Administrator of an absentee's property (Civil Code Article 25). The family court chooses a person to manage the property of someone who left their home and cannot be found
• Acquiring the share of a co-owner whose whereabouts are unknown (Civil Code Article 262-2). A co-owner can obtain a court decision and acquire the share of a co-owner who cannot be found. You deposit money equal to the market value with a government deposit office. However, for a house that became co-owned by inheritance, this cannot be used until 10 years have passed since the inheritance began

Which procedure fits differs in each case. For how to proceed, please consult a judicial scrivener or a lawyer.

From 1 April 2026, registering a change of the address or name shown in the register is also a legal duty. You register the change within 2 years of the change. If you neglect it without a valid reason, you may be given an administrative fine of up to ¥50,000.

If your address changed before 1 April 2026, it is covered too, and you register the change by 31 March 2028.

One scheme that saves effort is Smart Change Registration. According to the Ministry of Justice, "once you make a simple declaration, the Legal Affairs Bureau will check changes of address and similar details and register them." In other words, after you declare once, the Bureau confirms later address changes and registers them for you. It is useful to know if you move outside the prefecture after putting the inherited family home in your name.

You file with the Legal Affairs Bureau that covers the municipality where the house stands. The branches in Toyama and Ishikawa and the Takayama Branch for Hida all accept registration applications.

The offices below are copied from the jurisdiction lists of the Toyama District Legal Affairs Bureau, the Kanazawa District Legal Affairs Bureau and the Gifu District Legal Affairs Bureau, Takayama Branch (checked on 1 October 2026). Before you file, please check each bureau's website to be sure.

If you file yourself, you can use the Legal Affairs Bureau's registration procedure guidance. It is a service for people with no knowledge of registration. It is by appointment only, up to 20 minutes per session, by phone, at the counter or by web meeting. However, they will not prepare your documents for you. Advice on how to divide the estate is also outside the service. You can also file online.

When you sell the family home, you first put the title in your own name by inheritance registration, before moving it to the buyer. But an appraisal (a price estimate of what we can buy it for) and advice on how to sell can start before the registration.

For our direct purchase, we give you an appraisal even if the registration is not done yet. You only need to finish the registration by the handover (handing over the keys and changing the owner), and we can introduce a partner judicial scrivener. Once you know the price, it is easier for siblings to move the discussion forward.

The order of steps up to a sale is in Guide to selling an inherited family home. If you cannot travel from outside the prefecture, see How to sell without going back. A family home with rice fields or farmland attached has the same registration duty. For how to sell farmland, see Selling a family home with rice fields or forest.