Right to Request Increase or Decrease of Rent

Plain-language explanation

Article 32 of the Act on Land and Building Leases gives either landlord or tenant the right to request an increase or decrease in rent when the agreed rent becomes unreasonable due to changes in land or building prices, changes in taxes and public charges, or a gap compared to market rents for similar properties in the area. Importantly, this change takes effect only prospectively (from the point of the request onward) — you cannot claim back-rent adjustments for the past.

There's an important exception: if the lease contains a special clause saying rent will not be increased for a set period (a "rent freeze" clause), that clause is valid and blocks increase requests during that period. However, clauses that block *decrease* requests are generally treated as invalid, since they would work against the tenant's protection — so in practice, only "no increase" clauses tend to hold up, not "no decrease" clauses. If landlord and tenant can't agree on the new rent, either party can bring the matter to court mediation (chōtei) or litigation to have the amount fixed.

This provision acts as a safety valve for long-term leases, allowing rent to adapt to real economic conditions like inflation, falling property values, or shifting local rent markets. It comes up constantly in commercial real estate — office building leases, retail store leases, and land leases for parking lots or ground leases — where landlords seek rent hikes after years of below-market rent, or tenants push back when local rents have fallen or taxes have decreased.

日本語での解説

Common scenarios

• ▸オフィスビルの賃料が周辺相場より高すぎるとして借主が減額請求をするケース
• ▸地価上昇に伴い地主が借地料の増額を求めるケース
• ▸固定資産税・都市計画税の増額分を賃料に転嫁したい貸主が増額請求をするケース
• ▸契約に据置特約があり、一定期間は増額請求が制限される商業テナント契約
• ▸賃料交渉が決裂し調停・訴訟で適正賃料を確定させるケース