What Due Diligence Documents to Request Before an Offer

Before I make an offer on any rental property, I request eight to ten specific documents from the seller or agent, and I don’t budge on this even when a property looks perfect and other buyers are circling. I learned why the hard way on my third property back in 2011: I skipped the pipe inspection report because the seller said everything was fine, and six months after closing I was staring at a 380,000 yen emergency repair bill for a corroded water line under the kitchen.

Over 15 years and 9 properties, I’ve built a due diligence checklist that I run through every single time, whether it’s a small wooden apartment building or a single-family house. It takes me about two to three weeks to collect everything properly, and I never make a final offer until I’ve seen it all.

Title and Registry Documents

The first thing I pull is the toki jiko shomeisho (registry certificate), which I get directly from the Legal Affairs Bureau rather than trusting a copy from the agent – it costs around 600 yen and takes 10 minutes at the counter. This tells me who actually owns the property, whether there are any liens or mortgages still attached, and whether the boundaries match what’s being sold. I also request the koteishisan hyoka shomeisho (fixed asset valuation certificate), which gives me the assessed value the local government uses for property tax, usually 60 to 70 percent of market price, and that number becomes my starting point for negotiating.

Building Inspection and Maintenance Records

For anything built before 1981 (pre new earthquake code), I ask for the kenchiku kakunin shomeisho (building confirmation certificate) and any seismic diagnosis reports on file. If the seller can’t produce them, I budget an extra 80,000 to 120,000 yen for a private inspector to check the foundation, roof, and plumbing myself before I sign anything. I also want five years of repair history if the seller has it – past leaks, exterior repainting dates, and any structural work. A property with a 2019 roof replacement and a 2021 repaint tells me a very different story than one with no maintenance records at all.

Financial and Rental History

This is the section that decides whether the numbers actually work. I request:

• Twelve months of rent roll showing actual collected rent, not the asking rent listed in the sale materials
• Current lease agreements for every unit, including start dates and any rent-free concessions
• Vacancy history for the past three years
• Utility and property management cost statements for at least one full year

I’ve seen listings advertise a 9 percent cap rate based on full occupancy, when the actual trailing twelve months showed 82 percent occupancy and a real yield closer to 6.5 percent. Without the rent roll and lease copies, you’re trusting the seller’s math instead of your own.

Land, Zoning, and Survey Documents

I always request the kokudo chosa (land survey map) and confirmation of the setback line, especially on older lots where the registered boundary and the actual fence line don’t match – this happens more often than people expect, maybe one in five older properties I’ve looked at. I also check the toshi keikaku (city planning) designation to confirm what can legally be rebuilt if the structure is ever demolished, since some lots I’ve viewed were technically unbuildable at their current footprint under current setback rules.

Management Association and Reserve Fund Records

If I’m looking at a unit inside a larger apartment building, I request the kanri kumiai (management association) minutes from the last two general meetings and the current reserve fund balance. A building with a reserve fund under 3 million yen and a large repair project scheduled within two years is a red flag for a special assessment landing on my desk right after closing. I also ask for the monthly management fee history to make sure it hasn’t jumped 20 or 30 percent in the last few years without explanation.

Utility and Infrastructure Records

Finally, I confirm the water, gas, and sewer connection type – some older properties in my area still run on septic tanks (johkasou) rather than public sewer, which adds roughly 15,000 to 25,000 yen a year in maintenance and pumping costs I need to factor into my numbers. I also ask whether the electrical panel has been upgraded to handle modern amperage; a panel still rated at 30 amps in a building with three tenants running air conditioners is going to trip constantly and cost around 90,000 yen to upgrade properly.

None of this due diligence is exciting work, and agents sometimes get impatient when I ask for the full document list before I’ll even discuss price. But that two or three week delay has saved me from at least two bad purchases over the years, and it’s the same checklist I run through before every offer across all 9 of my properties.

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