Private lodging businesses in residential areas are now permitted by law. Homeowners and operators of such businesses must make efforts to properly manage these facilities to ensure they do not cause problems for travelers staying there or for nearby residents.
On June 15, the Private Lodging Business Law (also known as the minpaku law) came into force. It sets rules for operating minpaku private lodging facilities in which tourists pay to stay in vacant rooms and other spaces.
Minpaku operators must register their business with local prefectural governments and other authorities, and the maximum number of days they can rent out rooms is restricted to 180 days a year. Violating the law can be punished by a fine of up to 1 million yen.
Operating private accommodation facilities in a residential area had, in principle, been prohibited. However, the emergence of private lodging intermediary websites that connected foreign tourists and other visitors with private homeowners helped cheap minpaku accommodations gain popularity. It is thought several tens of thousands of private homes across Japan offered minpaku services.
Despite this, on the day the law came into force, only 3,728 households had registered to formally provide private lodging services.
Many homeowners seemed to drop out of the business because they felt it would be impossible to turn a profit due to the overly strict restrictions, such as the limit on the number of days they could operate.
About one week before the law came into force, a major private lodging intermediary canceled a huge number of accommodation reservations at homes that had not registered to operate. This sparked confusion among many tourists.
A large minpaku market was formed without any legal underpinnings. The government was quite right to regulate this market with legislation so as to rectify a situation sitting outside the law.
Concerns still abound
Many people living near homes offering minpaku services have complained about a series of minpaku-related problems, such as excessive noise and careless garbage disposal by guests. Not a few people also might have felt uneasy about foreign visitors and other people they did not recognize going in and out of nearby homes.
The minpaku law requires minpaku operators to compile a guest registry and regularly clean their property. They also must display a sign indicating their business is operating legally and provide explanations in foreign languages about how to use the facilities.
These homeowners and minpaku operators have an obligation to carefully explain to guests about manners and etiquette expected during everyday life in Japan, such as separating garbage. They also must take responsibility for dealing with any complaints that arise.
Concerns have been raised especially about minpaku lodging offered in vacant units in condominium buildings.
In these buildings, it is said that there are many cases in which the owner is absent and entrusts management of the minpaku services to a specialist agent. The minpaku operator also does not need to be permanently stationed there.
Under these conditions, there are doubts over whether guests will abide by the rules. Some observers also have expressed concerns that criminals and terrorists might exploit such lodgings as places to lie low. It is understandable that a nationwide survey found 80 percent of condominium resident associations plan to prohibit minpaku in their properties.
The government has set a target of 40 million foreign visitors in 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Minpaku have been positioned as a means to secure enough accommodation facilities for these visitors. The government should further improve the environment to enable the provision of sound minpaku services.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 22, 2018)
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