Koi- Bito issue six

[James P]

Is it in the mail yet? when is the renewal period? Thanks in advance. JR

[Brian]

Hi JR,

Sorry, no it is not. A legal battle here over a property that we were going to purchase has sucked up a lot of my time and money since the end of October. It will be in the mail this winter, and everyone that is up for renewal will receive notices via e-mail.

Thanks for your support! :wink:

[Dan Blatt]

Brian - Thanks for the update. Looking foward to the next issue.

[James P]

Thanks Brian, just wanted to make sure I don't miss a single issue. Hope all works out on the legal front. JR

[Brian]

Thanks JR,

Our legal position is pretty clear, but the gov't here is extremely weak when it comes to dealing with the private agents they license, and enforcing laws and regulations that already exist on the books. We've proven our grounds for the agent being in the wrong, and even that they have broken laws that could have his license removed for 3 years. The gov't won't punish people unless you sue them privately first, and since we don't think that he has the money to repay even if we win...it's not worth the time and effort. Even more unfortunate is the fact that there's no system of escrow here to protect buyers, so you really have to be careful when buying property, or you can get thrown to the wolves in terms of losing a sizable deposit even if the seller comes nowhere near fulfilling their obligations to the buyer.

Japan essentially has a common law system somewhat similar to the US and England, the big difference is that it seems like a lot of the logic behind it was applied by a group of 12 year olds.

The other party is insured, so that's how we're going about getting our money back. It's going to take until the end of the year, so it puts a lot of dampers on my plans. :cry: :cry: :smt010 :smt010 :smt011

[James P]

Brian thats a very interesting look into the life and legal system of Japan! Is it difficult for a foreigner to buy real estate in Japan? JR

[Brian]

JR, No...not difficult to buy. Difficult to get financing, but that wasn't a problem in our case. Until about 15 years ago, the real estate industry was controlled by some very shady elements in Japanese society. Unfortunately, some of these elements still exist, which make it difficult for everyone to buy, much less buy a sizable parcel of land.

A lot of people get shafted when buying property here, and there was simply no legal recourse until about a year and a half ago with the introduction of a series of consumer protection laws. Still, the gov't is reluctant to persue even what most of use Westerners would consider to be fraud, and won't move until you've won a civil case against the agent. What's really unfortunate is that most Japanese are reluctant to use the courts even when shafted, and legal fees aren't awarded to the victor even if the defendant was 100% in the wrong. The same holds true if you are sued and win the case brought against you. You have to pay your own legal defense even if the other party brought suit against you knowing that they had no chance of winning. Strange... :smt119 :smt013 :smt096 :smt093 :smt100