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Around 250 takedown requests made in fiscal 2024 over illegal private lodgings
There were around 250 requests from the Japan Tourism Agency to accommodation booking websites and others to take down listings for illegal minpaku private lodging services in fiscal 2024, sources said Tuesday.
Minpaku operators are required to notify prefectural governments of their businesses, ensure sanitary conditions and handle complaints.
According to the agency, it instructed intermediary businesses such as website operators around 250 times in the year through this March to delete information on listings linked to minpaku services that had not submitted notifications to prefectural governments but were posted on booking sites.
The agency has already made 40 deletion requests for listings this fiscal year.
Residents of a seven-story rental apartment in Tokyo's Itabashi Ward have been forced to leave due to illegal minpaku activity in their building, and former residents are calling for stricter crackdowns.
According to official registries and former residents, an affiliate of a major real estate firm purchased the apartment building on Nov. 29 last year and sold it on Jan. 17 this year to a company led by a man with an address in China.
Starting that month, the company then began taking actions that could discourage residents from continuing to live there, such as unilaterally notifying tenants that rent would be raised from around ¥70,000 ($483) per month to ¥190,000.
In May, residents' use of elevators was abruptly suspended, with the company explaining there was a malfunction, prompting many residents to move out.
Foreign nationals with suitcases began to frequent the building from around March, and a resident found that a room in the building was being listed for about ¥25,000 per night on a booking website. It turned out to be an illegal minpaku facility that had not been notified to the ward.
"I consulted with the local government, but I have the impression that the case was dismissed because it was a civil matter," said a man who moved out of the apartment this month. He questioned whether such illegal acts should be allowed.
The company has not responded to requests for comment, while a public relations official of the major real estate group said it has taken the necessary procedures for real estate transactions.
