Can I sell my condominium unit while management fees are still unpaid? — How the arrears pass to the buyer

Yes, you can sell. But the arrears pass to the buyer, so they are disclosed to the buyer before the sale. And when the buyer pays, that does not extinguish the seller's own obligation. In practice, the arrears are settled at closing.

This page is written for people trying to sell a condominium unit with unpaid management fees or repair reserve fund contributions, and it sets out what kind of debt those arrears actually are. The overall sequence of a sale is set out in Special feature: selling real estate when you are leaving Japan, and the order of steps for selling while you live overseas is set out in A selling guide for overseas owners.

Last updated: ◯ ◯, 2026

Can I sell while management fees are still unpaid?

Yes, you can.

Nothing about being in arrears makes a sale of the sectional ownership (condominium) interest unlawful. Registration of the transfer of ownership is likewise handled separately from whether or not there are arrears. So it is not the case that you have to pay everything off before you can put the unit on the market.

Three things do move, however.

What	What happens
Disclosure to the buyer	The amount in arrears reaches the buyer at the explanation of important matters
Price	Because the buyer stands to inherit the arrears, the buyer will either negotiate on price or require settlement at closing
Time	Where the arrears are large and, together with the outstanding mortgage balance, exceed the sale price, negotiation with the mortgagee becomes necessary

The longer it is left, the heavier it gets. If the management bylaws provide for late payment damages, those accumulate too, and as set out below, a management association can also apply for an auction. If you are thinking about selling, the existence of arrears is not in itself a reason to stop.

Will the buyer not find out about the arrears?

The buyer will find out. This falls within the items covered by the explanation of important matters that a real estate broker gives to the buyer.

Article 35, paragraph 1, item 6 of the Real Estate Brokerage Act (宅地建物取引業法) sets out the matters to be explained in relation to a sectionally owned building, and leaves the specific content to ordinances of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the Cabinet Office. Article 16-2 of the Enforcement Regulation of the Real Estate Brokerage Act, to which that content is delegated, provides as follows.

Item	Matter to be explained
Item 6	Where the bylaws provide for the accumulation of funds for planned maintenance and repair, the content of that provision and the amount already accumulated
Item 7	The amount of ordinary management costs that the owner of the building must bear

There is one point worth stating precisely here. The words "disclose the amount in arrears" do not appear in the text of the statute or the regulation itself. The basis is the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's 宅地建物取引業法の解釈・運用の考え方 (Interpretation and Operation of the Real Estate Brokerage Act; version in force from 1 April 2026), sections 6 and 7 relating to Article 35, paragraph 1, item 6.

Where there are arrears in respect of the repair reserve fund and the like for the sectionally owned building in question, the amount thereof shall be disclosed.

Where there are arrears in respect of management costs, the amount thereof shall be disclosed.

The basis is not the text of a statute but an interpretive circular issued by the Ministry — that is the accurate way to put it. In practice, the broker asks the management company or the management association to investigate matters relating to management, and the amount in arrears comes back stated in that reply. Even if the seller says nothing, it surfaces by that route.

Note that renting out is different. The main clause of Article 16-2 of the same Regulation provides that, for a contract for the lease of a building, only items 3 and 8 are matters to be explained. The amounts of management fees and repair reserve fund contributions, and any arrears, are not included in the explanation of important matters for a lease (For overseas owners (renting out)).

Why does the buyer end up paying someone else's arrears?

Because that is what the statute says.

Article 8 of the 建物の区分所有等に関する法律 (Act on Building Unit Ownership, etc.; below, the Unit Ownership Act (区分所有法)) is a short provision, and this is the whole of it.

A claim prescribed in paragraph 1 of the preceding Article may also be exercised against a specific successor of the unit owner who is the debtor.

"Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article" is Article 7, paragraph 1. Article 7, paragraph 1 recognises a statutory lien (先取特権) over the debtor's sectional ownership interest and over movables installed in the building, in respect of claims that a unit owner holds against other unit owners concerning the common areas, the site of the building, and appurtenant facilities of the building other than the common areas, and also in respect of claims held against other unit owners on the basis of the bylaws or a resolution of the general meeting, and it goes on to provide that "the same applies to claims that a manager or an incorporated management association holds against unit owners in the course of performing its duties or business." Management fees and repair reserve fund contributions are claims that arise on the basis of the bylaws or a resolution of the general meeting.

Does "specific successor" then include the buyer? The Commentary to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's 令和7年改正 マンション標準管理規約（単棟型）(Standard Management Bylaws for Condominiums (single-building type), as revised in Reiwa 7), in the part relating to Article 5, explains it this way.

Universal succession refers to inheritance; specific succession refers to cases such as sale and exchange. A lessee falls within the category of occupant.

This is not case law; it is an explanatory document published by the Ministry. Article 26 of the Standard Management Bylaws likewise provides that "a claim that the management association holds in respect of management fees and the like may also be exercised against a specific successor of a unit owner."

Position	Can the management association claim against them?
Heir (universal succession)	Yes
Buyer (specific succession)	Yes
Lessee (occupant)	Not a specific successor

The person who buys the unit is placed in the position of being claimed against for the previous owner's unpaid management fees. Buyers know this, so they either bring it into the price negotiation or make settlement at closing a condition. Concealing the arrears and getting out clean is not something that works in practice.

If the buyer pays, does my debt disappear?

It does not.

The wording of Article 8 of the Unit Ownership Act is that the claim "may also be exercised against a specific successor." It is a provision that adds to the list of people who can be pursued; it does not say that the original unit owner is released. Since the provision contains no discharge, it cannot be read as meaning that simply selling makes your own obligation disappear.

In principle, there can be situations in which, after the buyer has paid the management association, that buyer seeks reimbursement from the previous owner. A useful reference is a case in which a purchaser at auction who had paid the unpaid management fees sought reimbursement from a previous owner who had been through bankruptcy and discharge, and the court held that "the previous owner bears the obligation to pay it" — the Tokyo High Court judgment of 16 November 2011 (東京高等裁判所平成23年11月16日判決; reported in RETIO 87-114). We were able to confirm the name of the court and the date of the judgment, but we have not been able to confirm the case number.

You will sometimes see this relationship explained using the term "quasi-joint and several obligation" (不真正連帯債務). However, we were not able to identify any court decision that expressly constructed it that way. This article confines itself to explaining the wording of the statute. For how far responsibility remains with whom in a particular case, please confirm with an attorney (弁護士).

There is only one practical conclusion. The fact that the arrears pass to the buyer does not mean that your own burden disappears if you leave it alone. If you are selling, settling at closing is the quickest way to put it in order.

How far can the management association go?

As far as applying for an auction without obtaining a final and binding judgment.

Step by step, it works like this.

#	Stage	Basis
1	A claim for management fees and the like carries a statutory lien	Unit Ownership Act, Article 7, paragraph 1
2	That statutory lien is deemed to be a statutory lien for expenses for the common benefit as to its order of priority and its effect	Unit Ownership Act, Article 7, paragraph 2
3	Expenses for the common benefit are a general statutory lien	Civil Code, Article 306, item 1
4	For a general statutory lien, enforcement of the security interest may be commenced on submission of a document or electromagnetic record proving its existence	Civil Execution Act, Article 181, paragraph 1, item 2 (c)
5	It proceeds by way of auction of real property subject to a security interest	Civil Execution Act, Article 180, item 1

Normally, putting someone else's real property up for auction requires a title of obligation (債務名義) such as a final and binding judgment. The statutory lien for management fees sits outside that framework. The structure is that the procedure can be started by producing "documents proving its existence" — the bylaws, minutes of the general meeting, records of the arrears — and it is because of this structure that there are cases of management associations applying for an auction in buildings where arrears have run on for years.

The management association has its own constraints, however.

Constraint	Content
Priority	Attachment 3 to the Ministry's Standard Management Bylaws states that "the statutory lien under Article 7 of the Unit Ownership Act ranks behind public charges and behind registered security interests such as mortgages"
Order	Attachment 3 also states that "the statutory lien may be enforced against the sectional ownership interest only where enforcement of the security interest against movables installed in the building, which are the subject of the statutory lien, does not recover the full amount in arrears." The Civil Code, Article 335, paragraph 1 likewise provides that a general statutory lien holder must first obtain satisfaction from property other than real property, and may obtain satisfaction from real property only where a shortfall remains

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In a unit that still carries a mortgage, the registered mortgage comes first. Putting the unit up for auction is no assurance that the management association will recover anything. That is precisely why for the management association too, an ordinary sale settled at closing is often faster than an auction — and that is why a discussion about selling can move forward even when there are arrears.

After how many years does it become time-barred?

The answer as to the period is five years, but the way that is explained needs care.

The decision usually cited is the Supreme Court, Second Petty Bench, judgment of 23 April 2004 (最高裁判所第二小法廷 平成16年4月23日判決; case number 平成14(受)248; Minshu Vol. 58, No. 4, p. 959). It is a case in which claims for management fees and special repair charges were held to fall within the claims prescribed in the then Article 169 of the Civil Code (the five-year short-term extinctive prescription for claims for periodic payments).

Here is the important point. That old Article 169 was deleted on 1 April 2020. The current Article 169 of the Civil Code is an entirely different provision, concerning rights determined by a judgment. So it is not accurate to write that "case law puts it at the five years under the current Article 166, paragraph 1, item 1."

The provision that applies under current law is Article 166, paragraph 1, item 1 of the Civil Code — "where the right is not exercised for five years from the time the obligee came to know that the right could be exercised." A management association knows when each month's management fee falls due, so the resulting period does come to the same five years. However, we were not able to find any decision holding that the reach of the 2004 Supreme Court judgment extends as such to the current Article 166, paragraph 1, item 1.

And relying on prescription is not realistic. Prescription does not simply complete itself if you leave things alone: it is impeded by a demand, by litigation, and by acknowledgment of the debt. On the situation where a management association files a demand for distribution within auction proceedings, the Supreme Court, Second Petty Bench, judgment of 18 September 2020 (最高裁判所第二小法廷 令和2年9月18日判決; case number 平成31(受)310; Minshu Vol. 74, No. 6, p. 1762) ruled on the demand for distribution by a creditor holding a statutory lien under Article 7, paragraph 1 of the Unit Ownership Act and the interruption of the extinctive prescription. It is a judgment premised on that statutory lien being handled within the framework of Article 181, paragraph 1 of the Civil Execution Act. Whether prescription has completed in a particular case is something to confirm with an attorney.

How is it handled at closing?

It depends on what the contract says. Generally, two things are combined.

Item	Usual treatment
Management fees and repair reserve fund contributions from the delivery date onward	Apportioned pro rata by reference to the delivery date (which party bears the current month, and how the pro rata calculation is started, are matters for the contract)
Arrears that arose before the delivery date	Usually borne by the seller, settled out of the sale price at closing and paid over to the management association

If the unit is handed over without the arrears being settled, the buyer is placed in the position of being claimed against under Article 8 of the Unit Ownership Act. The buyer's bank dislikes that, and there are cases where the loan is not drawn down as a result. Whether to write settlement of the arrears into the contract as a condition of closing is a point to decide at the very start of the sale.

Where the arrears and the borrowings have piled up beyond even the sale price, the situation changes. Negotiation with the mortgagee becomes necessary, and that takes time. How to proceed once you are at that point depends on the individual case, so please talk to us at an early stage.

What should I do if the arrears piled up while I was overseas?

For people living overseas, arrears very often begin with the remittances and the notices both stopping.

A common starting point	What happens
The direct debit account went dormant or was closed	The direct debit fails, and reminders are sent to the old address in Japan
The address in the register is still the old one	Neither the management association nor the post office can trace where to send things
The unit was rented out and left entirely to a management company	Remittances continue, but they have not kept up with revisions to the management fee

There are three things to do first.

#	What to do
1	Contact the management company and the management association and get the amount in arrears and its breakdown (management fees, repair reserve fund contributions, late payment damages) in writing. Until the figure is fixed, you cannot decide whether to sell or to pay
2	Correct the address in the register to your current address. Registration of a change of address is now mandatory (Changing your address in the register is now mandatory)
3	Decide whether to sell, or to pay and continue holding the unit

Registration work is the business of a judicial scrivener (司法書士). We will introduce you on the basis that you contract with them directly, and we do not receive any referral fee.

If you choose to sell, that can be done while you remain overseas. A power of attorney, a document that takes the place of a seal registration certificate, the tax treatment that applies to non-residents — there is an order in which these steps are taken. See Selling after you have left Japan — what to do now and Non-resident status is judged as of the delivery date.

What this article is based on

Content	Basis
Claims against a specific successor	建物の区分所有等に関する法律 (Act on Building Unit Ownership, etc.; Act No. 69 of 1962), Article 8
Statutory lien for claims for management fees and the like / deemed to be a statutory lien for expenses for the common benefit	Same Act, Article 7, paragraphs 1 and 2
Expenses for the common benefit = a general statutory lien / order of satisfaction for a general statutory lien holder (property other than real property first)	Civil Code (民法) (Act No. 89 of 1896), Article 306, item 1 / Article 335, paragraph 1
Starting point and length of the extinctive prescription (current law)	Civil Code, Article 166, paragraph 1, item 1 (as amended, in force from 1 April 2020)
Commencement of enforcement of a security interest by a general statutory lien (document or electromagnetic record proving its existence) / by way of auction of real property subject to a security interest	Civil Execution Act (民事執行法), Article 181, paragraph 1, item 2 (c) / Article 180, item 1
Explanation of important matters concerning a sectionally owned building	Real Estate Brokerage Act (宅地建物取引業法) (Act No. 176 of 1952), Article 35, paragraph 1, item 6
Bylaw provision on the repair reserve fund and the amount already accumulated / the amount of ordinary management costs / only items 3 and 8 for a lease contract	Enforcement Regulation of the Real Estate Brokerage Act, Article 16-2, main clause, items 6 and 7
Disclosure of the amount in arrears (the basis is an interpretive circular, not the text of a statute or regulation)	Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 宅地建物取引業法の解釈・運用の考え方 (version in force from 1 April 2026), sections 6 and 7 relating to Article 35, paragraph 1, item 6
Specific succession means sale and exchange and the like; a lessee is an occupant	Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 令和7年改正 マンション標準管理規約（単棟型）, Commentary relating to Article 5
A claim for management fees and the like may also be exercised against a specific successor	Same Standard Management Bylaws, Article 26
Subordination of the statutory lien, and the order of enforcement	Same, Attachment 3
Case holding that claims for management fees and special repair charges fell within the claims prescribed in the old Article 169 of the Civil Code	Supreme Court, Second Petty Bench, judgment of 23 April 2004 (最高裁判所第二小法廷 平成16年4月23日判決) / 平成14(受)248 / Minshu Vol. 58, No. 4, p. 959
Demand for distribution by a creditor holding a statutory lien, and interruption of the extinctive prescription	Supreme Court, Second Petty Bench, judgment of 18 September 2020 (最高裁判所第二小法廷 令和2年9月18日判決) / 平成31(受)310 / Minshu Vol. 74, No. 6, p. 1762

The provisions and materials were checked as of 11 August 2026. The following points have not been confirmed. (1) Any court decision constructing the relationship between the specific successor and the former unit owner as a "quasi-joint and several obligation" (the term is not used in the body of this article); (2) any decision holding that the reach of the 2004 Supreme Court judgment extends to the current Article 166, paragraph 1, item 1 of the Civil Code; and (3) the case number of the Tokyo High Court judgment of 16 November 2011.

This page provides general information. It does not make any judgment on how far responsibility remains with whom in a particular case, or on whether prescription has completed. For matters involving a dispute we will introduce you to an attorney (弁護士), for registration to a judicial scrivener (司法書士), and for tax to a certified tax accountant (税理士), in each case on the basis that you contract with them directly. We do not receive any referral fee. Real estate brokerage is undertaken by Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. and document preparation by the Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office, each under a separate contract.

This article is written by Joji Uramatsu, President of Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd., a licensed Real Estate Transaction Specialist and administrative scrivener (行政書士). He spent 34 years as a journalist at the Mainichi Shimbun and was posted to China, Taiwan and Thailand as its China Bureau Chief. Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku — five minutes' walk from Myogadani Station.

Related links

• Special feature: selling real estate when you are leaving Japan
• A selling guide for overseas owners
• Selling after you have left Japan — what to do now
• Non-resident status is judged as of the delivery date
• Changing your address in the register is now mandatory
• For overseas owners (renting out)