Japan Property Practicalities

Guide

Real estate agent commission in Japan: how the legal fee cap works

Real estate agent commission in Japan, usually called 仲介手数料 (chukai tesuryo, brokerage commission), is not a fixed price. It is a ceiling set under the Real Estate Brokerage Act, and the actual amount is agreed between the client and a licensed brokerage within that ceiling. This guide covers the tiered cap for a sale, the combined cap for a rental, the rules added in July 2024, what cannot be billed on top, and where the rules stop.

Published 29 September 2026 · Checked against Japanese primary sources on 29 September 2026

Written by SHINWA CREATIVE, K.K., a welding and metalwork company in Miyagi Prefecture.

The rules below are those in force as of September 2026: the Real Estate Brokerage Act as in force from 1 April 2026, the remuneration notice of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) as amended with effect from 1 July 2024, and MLIT's interpretation guidance in the edition in force from 1 April 2026.

A ceiling, not a fixed price

The Real Estate Brokerage Act (宅地建物取引業法, takken gyoho) sets the framework in Article 46. Paragraph 1 says the remuneration a licensed real estate brokerage (宅地建物取引業者, takken gyosha) may receive is determined by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Paragraph 2 prohibits receiving more than that amount. Paragraph 3 requires the Minister to publish the amount in an official notice, and paragraph 4 requires each office of a brokerage to display the remuneration amounts where the public can easily see them.

Article 47(ii) adds a separate prohibition: demanding unreasonably high remuneration. It targets the demand itself, so it is a different offence from actually receiving more than the ceiling.

MLIT's interpretation guidance makes the practical point directly. The ceiling is not an amount a brokerage can automatically claim; the specific fee is decided with the client, taking into account the brokerage work to be done. Two clients in similar deals may therefore agree different fees, provided each stays within the cap.

Sale commission: the tiered table

For brokerage (媒介, baikai) of a sale or exchange, item 2 of the notice divides the price into bands and applies a rate to each band. The price used is the price excluding consumption tax on the property. The rates already include consumption tax on the fee. The cap applies to each client separately, so a brokerage acting for both the buyer and the seller may receive up to the full amount from each of them.

Part of the price (excluding consumption tax)Rate (fee including tax)
Up to ¥2,000,0005.5%
Over ¥2,000,000 up to ¥4,000,0004.4%
Over ¥4,000,0003.3%

For a price of ¥30,000,000 excluding consumption tax, the calculation is ¥2,000,000 × 5.5% = ¥110,000, plus ¥2,000,000 × 4.4% = ¥88,000, plus ¥26,000,000 × 3.3% = ¥858,000. The ceiling from one client is ¥1,056,000.

For prices above ¥4,000,000, the same result comes from (price × 3% + ¥60,000) × 1.1: (¥900,000 + ¥60,000) × 1.1 = ¥1,056,000. This is an arithmetic shortcut. The notice itself is written as the banded table, not as this formula.

When the brokerage acts as agent (代理, dairi) rather than as broker (媒介, baikai), item 3 allows up to twice the brokerage amount. If the brokerage also receives a fee from the other party, the two payments together must still stay within that doubled amount.

The site's purchase cost calculator applies the same banded table as one line among the other one-off costs of buying.

The 2024 rule for low-priced properties

MLIT Notice No. 949, in force from 1 July 2024, rewrote a special rule for what the notice calls low-priced vacant homes etc. (低廉な空家等, teiren na akiya-to). Item 7 defines them by price alone: land or a building whose price, excluding consumption tax, is ¥8,000,000 or less. For brokering such a sale, the brokerage may, having regard to the cost of the brokerage work, receive more than the banded amount, but no more than ¥330,000 (¥300,000 × 1.1) from the client.

The former version covered properties of ¥4,000,000 or less, capped the fee at ¥198,000 (¥180,000 × 1.1), and applied only where the client was the seller. The current wording refers simply to the client and no longer limits the rule to sellers.

Despite the name, MLIT's guidance states that the rule does not depend on how the property is being used, so the property does not have to be empty. The guidance also says that a brokerage using the rule must explain the fee and reach agreement with the client, within the cap, in advance when the brokerage agreement is concluded.

At exactly ¥8,000,000, the ordinary table already gives ¥330,000, so the special rule changes the ceiling only for lower prices. For agency, item 8 allows up to twice the item 7 amount.

Rental commission: one combined cap

For brokering a lease, item 4 of the notice sets a combined limit instead of a per-client one. The total received from the landlord and the tenant together may not exceed one month's rent × 1.1, with the rent taken excluding any consumption tax.

For the lease of a building used as a residence, there is a second limit. The brokerage may receive no more than 0.55 of one month's rent from either side, unless it obtained that client's consent when it accepted the request to act. MLIT's guidance adds that consent obtained after the request was accepted does not count. It also says that, for this purpose, a building that is partly used as an office or shop is not a residential building.

Subject to the combined limit and, for residential leases, the 0.55-month rule, the guidance states that the notice does not regulate how the fee is split. A brokerage may take it from both sides in any proportion, or from one side only.

Item 6 has a separate rule for key money (権利金, kenrikin), meaning money that is paid as consideration for granting the lease right and is not returned. For a lease of land or a non-residential building involving key money, the brokerage may treat the key money as if it were a sale price and use the sale table instead. MLIT's guidance says 礼金 (reikin) falls into this category and a deposit, 敷金 (shikikin), does not. The rule is not available for residential buildings. Deposits and key money for homes are covered in the guide to shikikin and reikin.

When the brokerage acts as agent for a lease, item 5 sets the same limit of one month's rent × 1.1, including any fee from the other party.

Long-term vacant properties for rent

The 2024 amendment also added item 9 for leases of long-term vacant homes etc. (長期の空家等, choki no akiya-to). Where the tenant's share stays within the normal limit, the combined fee from both sides may reach 2.2 months' rent. The guidance explains that any amount above the normal limit can come only from the landlord.

The notice defines these properties as land or buildings that have not been used for a long time, or are not expected to be used in the future. The guidance gives examples: a detached house or a condominium unit whose occupant has been absent for a period exceeding one year at a minimum, or one left unused after an inheritance with no expected use by the owner. A vacant unit in a rental block that is being advertised to tenants is treated as in business use and does not qualify.

As with the low-priced sale rule, the guidance requires the brokerage to explain the fee and reach agreement with the client in advance when the brokerage agreement is concluded. For agency, item 10 sets a 2.2-month limit in the same way.

What cannot be charged on top

Item 11(1) of the notice closes the list. Apart from the amounts allowed by items 2 to 10, a brokerage may not receive remuneration for a sale, exchange or lease. The one stated exception is an amount equal to the cost of advertising carried out at the client's request.

The guidance gives examples of what this excludes: so-called viewing fees, application fees, and charges for advertising the client did not request. It also says that the rule does not prevent a brokerage from receiving actual expenses for special work the client specifically asked for, such as an investigation at a distant site, if the client agreed in advance to bear them.

Two further points concern deals with more than one brokerage. If several brokerages work for the same client, the total that client pays across all of them must stay within the ceiling. If each party appoints its own brokerage as agent, the fees received by the two agents together are limited to the amount in the notice. Separately, the guidance allows a brokerage to charge for related work other than brokerage, such as consulting, only where that work is distinct from the brokerage itself and is covered by a separate contract with the fee set in advance. It is not a route to exceeding the ceiling for the brokerage.

Consumption tax on the commission

A transfer or lease of land is itself non-taxable for Japanese consumption tax. The National Tax Agency (NTA)'s Basic Circular 6-1-6 states, however, that a brokerage fee for such a transfer or lease is a taxable supply. The NTA also explains that leasing a residence is generally non-taxable, except for example where the lease period is less than one month, while rent for an office building is taxable.

In the notice, the property price and the rent used for the calculation exclude consumption tax, while the resulting fee amounts include it. That is why the rates are written as 5.5%, 4.4% and 3.3%, and the fixed amounts as a figure × 1.1. This page does not state the consumption tax rate itself, because the legislation that sets it was not examined for this article.

Item 11(2) sets a different limit for a brokerage that is exempt from paying consumption tax: the amount under items 2 to 10 multiplied by 100/110, plus the consumption tax on its own purchases for that transaction, plus any requested advertising cost.

The written agreement for a sale

For the sale or exchange of land or a building, Article 34-2(1) of the Act requires the brokerage, once a brokerage agreement is concluded, to prepare a document listing specified matters without delay, sign and seal it, and deliver it to the client. Item (vii) of that list is "matters concerning remuneration". The same article requires the brokerage to give its reasons when it states an opinion on the price, limits exclusive brokerage agreements to three months, and allows the document to be provided electronically with the client's consent. Article 34-3 applies the same rules to agency contracts for a sale or exchange.

Article 34-2 covers sales and exchanges only. It does not impose this written-agreement requirement on the brokerage of a lease.

When the fee can be claimed

Neither the Act nor the notice fixes when the commission becomes payable. The relevant terms appear in MLIT's Standard Brokerage Agreement terms (標準媒介契約約款, hyojun baikai keiyaku yakkan), a model form that the guidance describes as appropriate for ordinary transactions but that is not compulsory. Where an agreement follows the model terms, they provide as follows.

  • The brokerage may claim remuneration when the sale or exchange contract is concluded. If the contract is subject to a condition precedent, it may claim only once the condition is satisfied.
  • The amount is agreed between the parties within the limit in the notice.
  • The fee may not be received until the contract document required by Article 37 of the Act has been delivered to the parties.
  • If the contract is cancelled under a loan contingency clause, the brokerage must return the whole fee received without delay, without interest.
  • Advertising the client specially requested, and travel to a distant location, are charged to the client at actual cost.

None of the sources examined for this article (the Act, the notice, the guidance and the model terms) sets a rule that the fee is paid in instalments at particular stages. The model form contains a field for the parties to record when the fee will be received, so the individual agreement is the place to check.

Penalties and supervision

BreachPenalty provisionMaximum penalty
Demanding unreasonably high remuneration (Art. 47(ii))Art. 80Imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to ¥1,000,000, or both
Receiving more than the ceiling (Art. 46(2))Art. 82(ii)Fine of up to ¥1,000,000
Not displaying the remuneration amounts (Art. 46(4))Art. 83(1)(ii)Fine of up to ¥500,000

Under Article 84, when a representative, agent, employee or other worker commits one of these offences in connection with the business of a company or individual, the offender is punished and the company or individual is also liable to the fine. Article 65(2)(ii) separately allows the licensing authority to order a suspension of all or part of the business for up to one year for breaches that include Article 46(2) and Article 47.

Article 80 uses the term 拘禁刑 (kokinkei), which replaced the earlier term 懲役 (choeki) in this Act from 1 June 2025. No official English translation of the new term was confirmed for this article, so this page says only "imprisonment".

No separate rule for foreign clients

The Act, the notice and the MLIT guidance examined for this article contain no separate commission rule based on the client's nationality. The limits refer to "the client" throughout. This statement is limited to those sources.

Other costs of buying, such as registration tax and acquisition tax, are covered in the guide to property tax in Japan. For renting, the guide to rent guarantor companies explains a separate charge that is not brokerage remuneration.

How the pieces fit together

Read together, the rules work in layers. The notice fixes an upper limit by transaction type: a banded percentage of the price for each client in a sale, and one month's rent in total for a lease, with the 0.55-month limit on each side of a residential lease unless consent was given when the request was accepted. The 2024 items raise those limits only for properties priced at ¥8,000,000 or less and for long-term vacant properties let through a brokerage, and in both cases the guidance ties the higher figure to explanation and agreement when the brokerage agreement is concluded.

Item 11 then closes the list, leaving requested advertising as the only stated addition, while the guidance separately allows actual costs of specially requested work agreed in advance. Within the limit, the amount itself is agreed between the brokerage and the client. The timing of payment and any refund on cancellation are matters for the agreement; where it follows MLIT's model terms, those terms supply the rules described above. This page describes that structure only. It does not apply it to any agreement or fee.

Sources

Statutory text was retrieved from e-Gov API version 2 with asof=2026-09-29. Ministry and National Tax Agency materials were read on the same date. The English descriptions are reference translations; the Japanese originals govern.

Thank you for bearing with the arithmetic and the exceptions. Knowing how the ceiling is built makes the rest of the rules much easier to follow.