When an inherited family home gets a 'recommendation' as a specified vacant house, property tax rises—how to move before the residential-land exemption falls away

The key point: When an inherited family home receives a "recommendation" (勧告) as a specified vacant house, its site is removed from the fixed-asset-tax residential-land exemption, and from the next year's assessment date (1 January) the land tax rises sharply. The stages run advice/guidance (Act on Promotion of Measures Against Vacant Houses (Act No. 127 of 2014) art. 22(1)) → recommendation (art. 22(2)) → order (art. 22(3)) → administrative subrogate execution (art. 22(9)), and the line where tax changes is the "recommendation". The residential-land exemption is under Local Tax Act (Act No. 226 of 1950) art. 349-3-2: it lightens small-scale residential land (the part of 200 m² or less) to one-sixth of the value and general residential land (the part over 200 m²) to one-third, and a recommended site is excluded from this. When the exemption falls away, the tax switches to the non-residential-land base, and in some municipalities' trial calculations the land's fixed-asset tax becomes about four times as much. The 2023 reform (Act No. 50 of 2023; in force 13 December 2023) newly created "management-deficient vacant houses" at risk of becoming specified vacant houses, which also lose the exemption on recommendation (same Act art. 13(2)). Valuation and sale brokerage are ours (a real-estate transaction business); if registration of inheritance is not yet done it is a judicial scrivener's; capital-gains tax and the vacant-house special deduction a tax accountant's; and subrogate execution, demolition-cost subsidies and withdrawal of a recommendation the municipality's vacant-house desk—each an independent business contracted with separately (no referral fees are exchanged).

For heirs who have left an inherited vacant house semi-neglected and have received, or are about to receive, a notice of advice/guidance/recommendation, this article organises at which stage the tax changes and what to weigh in choosing to sell, demolish or use the property, in the order of the statutory text and the national guideline. This is general information; the final judgment on an individual tax amount or disposition rests with tax accountants, the municipality and qualified professionals.

Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. (四葉不動産株式会社), based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, provides surveys of inherited vacant houses and brokerage of valuation and sale. For a property for which a recommendation notice has arrived, you can consult us from what can be confirmed before contracting.

How do advice, guidance, recommendation and order proceed, and at which stage does fixed-asset tax change?

The Vacant Houses Act positions as "specified vacant houses" those vacant houses that, left as they are, risk collapse or become markedly harmful to sanitation, and sets up a scheme by which the municipality proceeds with measures in stages (art. 22). The 2023 reform rearranged the articles, and measures for specified vacant houses are placed in art. 22.

Stage	Basis (Vacant Houses Act)	Effect on fixed-asset tax
Advice/guidance	art. 22(1)	No change
Recommendation	art. 22(2)	From the next year's assessment date (1 January), the residential-land exemption falls away
Order (if not complied with)	art. 22(3)	(Already fallen away at the recommendation stage)
Administrative / summary / emergency subrogate execution	art. 22(9) etc.	Demolition cost may be charged to the owner

The line where the tax moves is the "recommendation". At the advice/guidance stage the exemption has not yet fallen away, but once it proceeds to a recommendation the land tax burden rises from the next year. Confirm which stage you are at, and whether the notice is advice/guidance or a recommendation, with the text and the municipality's department in charge.

Why does the residential-land exemption fall away on recommendation, and by how much does the tax rise?

Land with a house on it (residential land) has an exemption that lightens the fixed-asset-tax base. Under Local Tax Act art. 349-3-2, the part of 200 m² or less (small-scale residential land) falls to one-sixth of the value, and the part over 200 m² (general residential land) to one-third. The city-planning tax has a similar exemption—one-third for small-scale, two-thirds for general (art. 702-3).

The site of a specified vacant house (and a management-deficient vacant house) that has received a recommendation is excluded from this residential-land exemption. When the exemption falls away, the land is taxed as non-residential land, and because the burden-adjustment cap is roughly 70% of the assessed value, the tax base for small-scale residential land jumps sharply from one-sixth. Some municipalities' trial calculations put the land's fixed-asset and city-planning tax at about four times the pre-recommendation level. Since the actual amount varies with the assessed value, burden adjustment and the municipality, confirm the specific calculation with a tax accountant or the municipality's property-tax section.

Category	Fixed-asset-tax exemption	Recommended site
Small-scale residential land (part of 200 m² or less)	One-sixth of the value	Outside the exemption
General residential land (part over 200 m²)	One-third of the value	Outside the exemption

The exemption falls away from the assessment date (1 January) of the year following the year the recommendation was made. Since a recommendation issued within the year is reflected in the next year's tax, improvement or sale moves are considered while watching the timing relative to the assessment date.

What changed with the "management-deficient vacant house" newly created in the 2023 reform?

The 2023 reform (Act No. 50 of 2023; in force 13 December 2023), reflecting the lesson that moving only after a vacant house has become a specified vacant house is too late, made it possible to act at the stage before that. The reform raised the number of articles from 16 to 30, and the main additions are as follows.

• Creation of "management-deficient vacant houses" (art. 13). The municipality may give guidance (art. 13(1)) and a recommendation (art. 13(2)) for a vacant house at high risk of becoming a specified vacant house if left as is
• A management-deficient vacant house, too, loses the residential-land exemption if it receives a recommendation, like a specified vacant house
• Creation of "emergency subrogate execution" where there is no time for the prior procedures of an order, and smoothing of summary subrogate execution and cost collection where the owner cannot be identified

In short, tax can now rise not only on a recommendation for a specified vacant house (art. 22(2)) but also on the earlier-stage recommendation for a management-deficient vacant house (art. 13(2)). Which of the two the notice refers to changes the stage you are in.

Which of sell, demolish or use is realistic for the heir after a recommendation?

After a recommendation, the exits broadly divide into "sell as is", "demolish and sell as vacant land" and "use (rent / change the use)". The way tax and cost bite differs.

Exit	Points that come into play
Sell with the old house (as-is)	The exemption has already fallen away at the recommendation / price changes with whether the buyer assumes demolition or renovation / whether it meets the inherited-vacant-house 30-million-yen special deduction (Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation art. 35(3))
Demolish and sell as vacant land	Demolition and removal cost and subsidy systems (municipal) / the residential-land exemption falls away on clearing (if already recommended, the practical difference is small) / sale timing and the assessment date
Use (rent / change use)	Whether improvement can earn withdrawal of the recommendation / renovation cost and expected income / use-zone restrictions

How to sell an inherited vacant house is explored in whether to demolish and sell as vacant land or sell as land with an old house, and the tax exemptions in the vacant-house 30-million-yen special deduction and the residence requirement for nursing-home admission. Which exit is favourable after tax is surest considered together with a tax accountant, since capital-gains tax and whether the exemption applies are involved. We organise and hand over the issues of the expected result and timing on sale, from the property's current state and the market.

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Can a recommendation be withdrawn or deferred, and what to check at the municipal desk?

A recommendation is an administrative prompt urging the owner to improve. If the pointed-out state (risk of collapse, sanitation problem, etc.) is improved, there is room for the recommendation to be withdrawn and the residential-land exemption to revive. Before proceeding to an order, an opportunity to explain is given, and subrogate execution is the last resort when an order is not followed. At the municipality's vacant-house desk, checking the following makes it easier to move.

• Whether the notice is advice/guidance, a recommendation, or an order (the tax and procedure change by stage)
• What and how much to improve for the recommendation to be withdrawn, and the deadline for improvement
• Whether there is a subsidy system for demolition/removal cost and its requirements
• Where there are several owners (co-ownership) or registration of inheritance is not done, who becomes the addressee of the measure

These administrative procedures (subrogate execution, demolition-cost subsidies, withdrawal of a recommendation) are the field of the municipality's vacant-house desk. What we handle is the property survey and valuation/sale brokerage; everything else we connect to each professional/authority, each an independent business contracted with separately.

Trouble	Who to ask
Current-state survey and valuation of the vacant house; sale brokerage	Us (a real-estate transaction business)
Registration of inheritance not done (mandatory from 1 April 2024); sorting out the title	Judicial scrivener
Capital-gains tax; applying the vacant-house 30-million-yen special deduction	Tax accountant
Administrative subrogate execution, demolition-cost subsidies, withdrawal of a recommendation	The municipality's vacant-house desk
Disputes among heirs; disputes over subrogate-execution cost	Lawyer

These are each independent businesses, contracted with separately. We neither receive nor pay referral or introduction fees. Whether a recommendation can be withdrawn, and which tax exemption fits, is ultimately judged by the municipality/tax accountant. Looking at the property, we take consultations from separating the issues—confirming the stage, the timing of the tax, the choice of exit—and arranging who to consult on each. For how to proceed with inherited real estate, see also the consultation desk for inherited real estate (Japanese).

Consult Yotsuba Real Estate about inherited property for which a specified-vacant-house recommendation has arrived—initial consultation is free

In your message, write "specified-vacant-house recommendation" and include whether the notice is advice/guidance or a recommendation, whether you are considering demolition, and whether registration of inheritance is done. Without presuming whether the tax will rise, we begin with the current-state survey and with arranging which parts to refer to professionals for registration, tax and administrative procedures.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Does fixed-asset tax rise just because a recommendation notice has arrived?
A. On receiving a recommendation (specified vacant house: Vacant Houses Act art. 22(2); management-deficient vacant house: art. 13(2)), the site is removed from the residential-land exemption, and from the next year's assessment date (1 January) the land's fixed-asset and city-planning tax rises. At the advice/guidance stage it has not yet fallen away. Since treatment changes with whether the notice is advice/guidance or a recommendation, confirm the stage with the text and the municipality's department. The specific calculation is the field of a tax accountant/the municipality's property-tax section.

Q. By roughly how much does the tax rise?
A. The residential-land exemption lightens the tax base to one-sixth of the value for small-scale residential land (200 m² or less) and one-third for general residential land (Local Tax Act art. 349-3-2). When the exemption falls away on recommendation, it switches to the non-residential-land base, and because the burden-adjustment cap is roughly 70% of the assessed value, some municipalities' trials put it at about four times. Since the actual amount varies with assessed value, burden adjustment and municipality, confirm with a tax accountant or the municipality.

Q. If I improve it, is the recommendation withdrawn and the tax restored?
A. If the pointed-out state is improved, there is room for the recommendation to be withdrawn and the residential-land exemption to revive. Check what and how much to improve for withdrawal, and the deadline, with the municipality's vacant-house desk. A recommendation is an administrative prompt to improve; an order and subrogate execution are the stages when it is not followed. Whether withdrawal is possible and the administrative procedures are the municipality's field; we help within the range of property survey and brokerage.

Q. Can I sell even if registration of inheritance is not done?
A. Even on the premise of selling, registration of inheritance cannot be skipped. It became mandatory from 1 April 2024, requiring an application within three years of the day you learn you acquired the property by inheritance. If registration is not done, the addressee of the measure and the party to the sale may be unclear. Registration is a judicial scrivener's field and disputes among heirs a lawyer's. We help within the range of valuation and brokerage, connecting you from the arrangement of registration.

Sources

The following public materials are starting points. Laws are amended, so check the current text, paragraph, item, enforcement date and latest amendment on e-Gov Law Search. Demolition-cost subsidy systems and the operation of recommendations differ by municipality, so confirm with the vacant-house desk where the property is located. All were consulted on 29 October 2026. They do not guarantee an individual tax amount or disposition result. The sources below are in Japanese.

• e-Gov Law Search: Act on Promotion of Measures Against Vacant Houses (Act No. 127 of 2014; art. 13 = measures against management-deficient vacant houses [(1) guidance, (2) recommendation], art. 22 = measures against specified vacant houses [(1) advice/guidance, (2) recommendation, (3) order, (9) administrative subrogate execution]. Act No. 50 of 2023 added management-deficient vacant houses, emergency subrogate execution, etc., in force 13 December 2023; articles 16 → 30)
• e-Gov Law Search: Local Tax Act (Act No. 226 of 1950; art. 349-3-2 = the fixed-asset-tax residential-land base exemption [small-scale residential land of 200 m² or less: one-sixth of the value; general residential land: one-third; excluding the site of a specified/management-deficient vacant house that has received a recommendation], art. 702-3 = the city-planning-tax residential-land exemption [small-scale one-third, general two-thirds])
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism / Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, "Guideline necessary for the appropriate implementation of 'measures against specified vacant houses'" (national technical advice under the Vacant Houses Act, organising the operation of advice/guidance, recommendation, order and subrogate execution. Consulted 29 October 2026; individual judgment is by the municipality)
• Act on Special Measures Concerning Taxation (Act No. 26 of 1957) art. 35(3) = the 30-million-yen special deduction when the decedent's residential property (vacant house) is sold. Whether it applies depends on the requirements, and the judgment is a tax accountant's field (consulted 29 October 2026)

This article provides general information and does not guarantee an individual tax amount, whether a recommendation can be withdrawn, or the application of the exemption. The application of fixed-asset/capital-gains tax and the vacant-house exemption is by a tax accountant; registration of inheritance by a judicial scrivener; subrogate execution, demolition-cost subsidies and withdrawal of a recommendation by the municipality's vacant-house desk; and disputes among heirs by a lawyer.

Joji Uramatsu (浦松 丈二), Representative Director and licensed real estate transaction specialist, Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. (四葉不動産株式会社). We provide surveys of inherited vacant houses and brokerage of valuation and sale. Author profile

Updated: 29 October 2026