New Japanese Law Prevents Airbnb from Advertising ‘Minpaku’

Utilizing the power and reach of Airbnb, an endless number of landlords in Japan have been offering apartment-sharing lodgings as short-term rentals – known as ‘minpaku’. But, authorities quickly acted against it and introduced a set of stern legislations.

Why? Well, an awful lot of landlords were operating illegally and compromising the healthy state of the housing industry. Back in December of last year, the Japan Tourism Agency demanded that platforms like Airbnb must stop allowing unlawful minpaku by June 15.

Subsequently, all individuals providing short-term rentals must register with their local governments before that date. Airbnb chiefs are fully on board with the new bill and have promised to remove any minpaku listings if the landlords fail to submit relevant paperwork when the legislation takes effect.

That means owners must register with their local governments by June 14, so they have time to supply the proof to Airbnb. Airbnb has placed a warning on their site since March 15, so all hosts have had plenty of notice.

However, despite that, a large majority of the 62,000 minpaku Airbnb listings in Japan are operating without authorization. Therefore, if they don’t seek permission by registering, we could see a huge reduction in minpaku listings on the Airbnb platform on June 15.