It has been alleged that employees of a large-scale condominium repair firm concealed their identities and infiltrated owner committee meetings at a building in Kanagawa Prefecture, posing as unit owners themselves. Apparently, their goal was to influence which company would be selected for design consulting, in hopes of increasing their own company’s chances of securing repair work.
The company, which, for the purposes of this article, we will refer to as Company A, is a repair contractor from Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture. Its employees had allegedly been participating in the building’s repair committee since 2024, but it wasn’t until May 2025 that things came to a head. Representatives of the management association demanded that the pair identify themselves. Police arrived and arrested one on suspicion of unlawful entry, while the other allegedly fled the scene. He was later arrested too, and in February of this year, both of them, along with Company A’s president, were referred to prosecutors.
The method by which the dastardly duo accessed the meetings is also of interest. They approached residents, saying they were, ironically, investigating potential misconduct in committee meetings. They proceeded to pay a couple of residents in order to attend meetings on their behalf, all in the name of their “investigation.” Once they were in the meetings, they would then pose as owners. Ultimately, however, it turned out that they hadn’t gone as far as obtaining formal proxy authorization.
It’s simple to understand their goals, at the very least. The committee was in charge of selecting a design consulting firm, which would in turn help determine who would be contracted to carry out the repairs. By posing as owners, the employees could attempt to steer meetings in a way that ultimately favored their company.
In the meetings, they took the initiative in preparing comparison documents for the different companies. The committee ended up selecting a design consulting firm that we will refer to as Company B. The president of Company B turned out to be a former employee of Company A. I don’t think I need to explain the connection here, but their plan was foiled before a contract could be finalized.
The Kanagawa management association took legal action, with allegations including fraudulent obstruction of business and attempted fraud.
Apparently, this wasn’t the first time Company A had allegedly tried something similar either. It reportedly sent another employee to a building in Tokyo, where he actually managed to obtain positions of power, including becoming a director of the management association and chair of the large-scale repair committee. Those positions weren’t enough to prevent suspicion, however, and when identification was eventually requested, he resigned from both positions.
In the Tokyo case, Company B was again selected as the design consulting firm. After the contract was signed, however, the impersonating individual was accused of altering the comparison documents, similar to what allegedly occurred in the Kanagawa case. It was a lengthy process to terminate the contract, as despite the incident, some legitimate committee members still wanted to proceed with Company B. As of the end of March 2026, the management association was consulting police about filing a criminal complaint.
Moving back to Company A, it originally started as a waterproofing contractor before moving into more general large-scale repair work. The president claimed that the industry was dominated by opaque arrangements between management companies, consultants, and contractors. After management companies stopped working with Company A around 2015, it tried a new approach: reaching out to residents directly.
He also claimed that it was the residents who asked his employees to attend on their behalf, and that no comparison documents were falsified or fudged. While he said the company would stop using methods resembling impersonation, it would continue “marketing” directly to residents.
This whole situation points to a wider need for caution when dealing with consultants and contractors. In a country where both condominium buildings and their residents are aging rapidly, many buildings will need larger and more expensive repair projects. It is in this exact environment that vultures hunt. If you are considering buying a condominium in Japan, this is one reason why we would highly recommend having a high level of Japanese. While it is not necessary for the most part, except when applying for some loans, do you really want to lack control over which company is repairing your tower mansion, especially when another major earthquake occurs?
Source: https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUC283AW0Y6A420C2000000/