advice on property purchase

[penman]

Hi ,
We are planning to buy an older property in Kansai and my (Japanese) wife is going back next month to do some house-hunting ; I have to remain in Europe for the time being .

My question is about the joint buying process if she finds somewhere ;will there be any technical hurdles because I am a) not resident there ,b) not physically there and c) a foreigner ?

She feels that most local Japanese lawyers will have no experience of this situation and approaching from the gaijin viewpoint may find someone with direct experience .

I appreciate that this is a specialist question and would be happy if no-one has direct knowledge if they may know of a website or alternative resource I could approach .

Many thanks !

[mowthe]

Are you paying for the house with your money?

Do you already have your visa?

If the answer is yes to both of the above then put the house in your name, your wife will get half of it when/if you divorce anyway. If it's in her name you will likely get nothing if that is her will at all.

If you have a mortgage then the house will most likely be in her name anyway - because she will have to guarantor the mortgage against non payment.

Also, In general, your wife will try to complicate the issue - trust me.

As long as you have visa, you can register your hanko (Seal) at a ward office - with that you are entitled to ownership of property that requires legalities - houses, cars, boats etc...

you can ask the '2 people ownership' question to an english speaking land lawyer / conveyance lawyer for free - search online and carefully engage them in a way that you can get your information for free- just protect yourself is what I say! - We stand for nothing in this country in the legal system: the foreigner will always lose!

[larabell]

Originally Posted by mowthe

If the answer is yes to both of the above then put the house in your name, your wife will get half of it when/if you divorce anyway. If it's in her name you will likely get nothing if that is her will at all.

I don't believe it works that way. Are you speaking from experience (that's not a criticism -- I'm curious as to where you picked up that information).

When I bought my place I was told that joint ownership doesn't exist in Japan. If two (or more) people buy a property together, even husband-wife, the property is recorded as some percent owned by one and some percent owned by the other. The two of you can agree how to do the split but I was told that it generally goes according to who puts in how much money (the loan, assuming you're getting a loan, is usually in only one person's name and that counts as "money in" as far as determining a reasonable split).

If you have a mortgage then the house will most likely be in her name anyway - because she will have to guarantor the mortgage against non payment.

That depends entirely on the situation. In my situation I didn't need a guarantor (they do have the house as collateral, ya know). In one friend's case, they simply put the mortgage in her name (though I don't know how they split ownership). If you don't have your PR, chances are the mortgage will have to be in her name anyway, though that depends on the bank. If she holds the mortgage, it makes sense to put the bulk of the property in her name. If you put up a substantial amount of the purchase price in cash, then you should make sure an equivalent percentage of the property is recorded in your name. Your realtor can explain all that once you start the process.

We stand for nothing in this country in the legal system: the foreigner will always lose!

The "protect yourself" part is probably good advice for anyone, foreigner or not. But property law is pretty clear here and, unless you can cite examples, I'd be inclined to believe you're wrong with that last comment. At least it doesn't jibe with my own experience.

[penman]

Thankyou both mowthe and larabell for your input .

We are hoping to buy without a mortgage and I wont be applying for a visa until late next year so the main issue for me is whether the purchase process can be completed in my absence . Could the city hall element be done by written instruction with hanko for example .
I hear the strong caveat emptor re protecting my interests and I will certainly take that on board !

[larabell]

Originally Posted by penman

... the main issue for me is whether the purchase process can be completed in my absence . Could the city hall element be done by written instruction with hanko for example .

I'm no expert but, as far as I know, you can delegate pretty much anything if you have a registered hanko and pass it to someone else. The trick is... your hanko may need to be registered with the ward/city office for it to be valid for a real estate transaction. And you may not be able to do that without being a resident somewhere in Japan. And that's not possible without having entered Japan on a visa.

If the only reason you're not applying for a visa is that you don't intend to move yet, there's an alternative. Get the visa, make a short trip over here, and then go back. You can leave Japan for up to a year without a re-entry permit and you can always apply for a permit (or make annual return visits) if your move date is over a year away. That way you can become an official resident, register a hanko, and then hand it to your wife to take care of whatever needs to be done while you're not here.

She could also put the entire property in her name and then she can transfer some portion over to you once you get here. There will undoubtedly be extra fees doing it that way but that might be less than a trip or two to Japan.

You (or your wife) can ask the ward/city office where she is registered whether they can register a hanko for a non-resident. If not, she should find a realtor (I don't think you need to ask an attorney but you could) whether the new owner of a property is even required to hanko anything. I had to hanko plenty of things but I was also getting a mortgage and transferring money to the seller, the attorney, the realtor, etc, etc. I don't recall off-hand whether any of those stamps were for the actual transfer. If you pay cash, it's possible just the previous owner needs to hanko the paperwork. But... like I say... I'm not an expert so you should ask an expert.

[penman]

Great reply larabell ; lots of practical suggestions !

So she'll pack both hankos, passport copies and anything else official we can rustle up .
There maybe a catch 22 with registering the hanko at the city office but we'll have to play that by ear .

Thanks again !

[lorgnette]

[QUOTE=penman;991582]Great reply larabell ; lots of practical suggestions !

So she'll pack both hankos, passport copies and anything else official we can rustle up .
There maybe a catch 22 with registering the hanko at the city office but we'll have to play that by ear .

It might be worthwhile to start the spouse visa application before buying a property.

Worst scenario: if you bought land and property and economic/ immigration situation changes, you might not be able to enter Japan freely (whereas with a spouse visa, you can).

[larabell]

Originally Posted by lorgnette

Worst scenario: if you bought land and property and economic/ immigration situation changes, you might not be able to enter Japan freely (whereas with a spouse visa, you can).

I doubt that's worth worrying about. Certainly a spousal visa affords you the most latitude of any visa type (with the possible exception of a diplomatic visa) and if one is married to a Japanese citizen, I can't think of any reason not to go that route. But if things got so bad that Japan started turning away tourists and/or regular working stiffs, I doubt they'd make an exception for foreign spouses. Short of a war, though, I don't see that happening any time soon.