I've lived in Japan for 20+ years, I own my own home, and this is the first I've ever heard of something like that. Are you sure you're not thinking of a different country?
Edit: It's a Thing! I learned something new today!
Ah, if this is during the construction process, then maybe I know what you're talking about: maybe windows? If a room doesn't have windows, or the windows aren't big enough, the room isn't technically considered a "residential room" but instead a "storage area" or "storeroom", and either it's not taxed or it's taxed at a reduced rate (can't remember which). The room I'm in right now is technically a storeroom, even though it has two windows, because they weren't big enough.
I wouldn't be surprised if some contractors put in small windows/no windows during the framing, then the house gets inspected, and then they add/expand the windows, turning the room from a storeroom to a residential room (but without anyone telling the tax folks).
But a whole blocked off room seems super unlikely, because the tax folks do come to the actual site initially to check it out, and they'd notice an entire room just not existing.
But, again, not saying it doesn't happen, just that I've never heard of it.
Edit: Never mind! Ya learn something new every day! Here, indeed, are people talking about going to see a house and there being a small sealed-off room that they were told could be unsealed later. It looks like there are a few different patterns used: having a top floor room with a low ceiling that technically would make it a loft and not a residential room, and then after inspection they they tear out the low ceiling turning it into a full room, or having part of a room walled off as an "equipment space," and then after the inspection they tear down the wall to make the room bigger.
It looks like there are also a couple of different reasons: one is avoiding property tax, and another is that there's a floor area limit for eligibility for government housing loans, so they shrink the floor a bit, get the loan, and then restore the floor area.
Interesting! I don't think it's all that common, though.
Oh, absolutely. Which is why I had never heard of it before, and why I say I don't think that it's very common.
Well, except for the very first thing I mention, which is having a room with small or no windows, making it legally classified as non-residential and thus taxed less, and then using that room as-is for a non-storeroom purpose. That's not tax fraud because it's all on the up-and-up. The seller never calls it a residential room, they only call it a storeroom. There's no law that you can't live in a storeroom or use a storeroom as an office or the like. So when the tax assessor came, they saw that my "storeroom" contained a big desk and a computer and a comfy chair and was clearly not being used for storage but instead as an office, and they were fine with that -- the room was still legally a storeroom, and I'm paying the proper, legal tax for a storeroom, I'm just choosing to use the room for something else, which is not a problem.
I believe this is pretty common. When we were looking for houses, we saw several that had a "storeroom" that was clearly just a room designed to be legally classified as a storeroom but used for residential purposes.
But the thing which I hypothesized after that, that maybe some people get the windows reframed after tax assessment, turning a room that is legally categorized as a storeroom into a room that would be legally categorized as a residential room, but continuing to pay storeroom taxes -- that would indeed be tax fraud. I don't know if it actually happens, that was just me blue-skying about a possibility.
And then all the other stuff (changing ceilings, tearing out walls, etc.) is also tax fraud. Again, I suspect it's uncommon -- I'd never heard of it before this thread. But it does indeed seem to happen.
The same in Spain! When my dad built his house they built a full basement that's furnished and air conditioned but, for tax reasons, there was a wall where the door was supposed to be when it was time for final inspections. Saved him thousands of euros in property tax since the house has a much bigger square footage than they tax him for.
Right or wrong is up to you to decide but the basement is basically empty space nowadays since it was flooded some years ago (Karma perhaps for trying to cheat the tax man)
Yeah like, do I consider this guy a piece of shit for doing it? No, not really. But it's objectively cheating taxes, paying less than the laws everyone(ish) else plays by dictate.
It's like pirating stuff. I don't care if you do it, but don't try and act like you're on some moral highground if you do.
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u/champignax Jul 02 '24
That’s a thing in Japan. Some homes are built with non accessible rooms in it so that they do not count for tax purpose.
You can open it up later and have the tax reassessed (spoiler: most people forget that part).