Lewis Corporation › Home buying service
Buying a home in Tokyo for your own use, with a licensed bilingual brokerage
Lewis Corporation is a licensed real estate brokerage in Ebisu, Tokyo, working in English & Japanese. We run the search and purchase of a home for your own use from ¥450 million, in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, with Kyoto also available. Below: what we do at each stage, what we leave to other professionals, whom a brokerage acts for in Japan, and how to start.
Who this service is for
This service is for buyers of a home they will live in themselves, for the whole year or part of it, with a budget from ¥450 million. You may already live in Japan or be an international buyer planning the move from abroad. Our search area is Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, with Kyoto also available.
If you would rather build, we also handle land to build your own home, as brokerage of the land, where land plus construction combined is from ¥450 million. We are neither architects nor builders: we find, check and negotiate the land, and you appoint the design and construction professionals.
What Lewis Corporation does for a buyer
A Japanese purchase runs through four stages. At each one the brokerage has a defined role next to the buyer's own professionals, and the tables say where the work belongs to someone else.
Search and shortlist
We take your brief in English or Japanese: budget range, the areas you know or the kind of life the home should support, size and timing. We then search listed inventory and the brokerage network and send a shortlist with the source documents attached, rather than photographs alone.
What Lewis Corporation does: Takes the brief, searches, checks each candidate against your criteria, sends the shortlist with documents
What we do not do, and who does: Value a property for lending: your bank or an appraiser. Advise on your tax position: your tax adviser
Viewings and information gathering
We arrange and attend viewings in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, and for buyers abroad we can walk a property on a live video call. Between viewings we gather what the seller side holds: the registry extract, the management documents for a condominium, the survey and boundary status for a house or land, and any inspection report. Since April 2018 a brokerage has been required to state in its brokerage agreement whether it can arrange a building inspector.
What Lewis Corporation does: Arranges viewings, in person or by live video; requests seller-side documents; explains what each shows and flags the questions it raises
What we do not do, and who does: Inspect the structure: a building inspector you commission. Give a legal opinion on title or contract terms: your lawyer
Offer, negotiation and contract
When you choose a home we prepare the offer letter (kaitsuke shomeisho), negotiate price and conditions through the seller's brokerage, and set the contract schedule. Before you sign, Japanese law requires a licensed real estate professional to explain the important matters of the property and the contract to you with a written document; at Lewis Corporation this is delivered by a bilingual licensed real estate professional (宅建士). Since March 2021 the explanation may be given by video call for a sale, and since May 2022 the explanation document and the contract document may be provided electronically with your consent.
What Lewis Corporation does: Prepares the offer letter, negotiates, delivers the explanation of important matters, prepares and explains the contract documents and the payment schedule they set
What we do not do, and who does: Review the contract as your legal adviser: your lawyer. Arrange financing: your bank
Settlement and handover
We coordinate the settlement date, the movement of funds and the key handover with the seller's side and the judicial scrivener, who checks identity and documents and registers your ownership at the Legal Affairs Bureau. If you have no address in Japan the scrivener will also ask you to name a contact in Japan for the registry, a rule in force since April 2024.
What Lewis Corporation does: Coordinates the date, the parties, the timing of funds and the key handover; explains the tax notices that follow
What we do not do, and who does: Register title: the judicial scrivener. File tax declarations or act as your tax representative: your tax accountant
If this is the kind of purchase you have in mind, tell us what you are looking for through the inquiry form.
Who the brokerage acts for in Japan (buyer representation)
In Japan you engage a brokerage by signing a brokerage agreement (媒介契約), which the law requires to be in writing. The national standard forms come in three types. Under a general agreement (ippan) you may also engage other brokerages and may contract directly with a seller you find yourself. Under a sole agency agreement (sennin) you engage one brokerage but may still contract with a seller you find yourself. Under a strict sole agency agreement (senzoku sennin) you may do neither.
One point catches buyers from other markets. Japanese law allows a single brokerage to act as intermediary for both seller and buyer in one transaction, what other markets call dual agency, and to receive a fee from each; the fee cap set by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism applies per client. You may ask us at any point whether we also hold the seller's listing on a property you are considering, and we will answer plainly.
Licensed real estate brokerage, English & Japanese
Lewis Corporation Co., Ltd. is a licensed real estate brokerage, licence number Tokyo Governor (1) No. 110843, with its office in Ebisu, Tokyo. We work in English & Japanese throughout, and the explanation of important matters is delivered by a bilingual licensed real estate professional, who must show the licence card on request. How we work is on about Lewis Corporation; the licence and company details are on company information. If you are looking for an English-speaking real estate agent in Tokyo to buy a home, whether you call the firm a realtor, an agent or a broker, the licence number is the thing to check, ours included.
Buying from Singapore, Hong Kong or Taiwan
Much of a purchase can be run from abroad: the first consultation is a video call in English or Japanese, viewings can be done by live video with the source documents sent ahead, and the explanation of important matters can be given online. What changes for a buyer abroad, and what to ask each professional, is in our guide to buying a home in Japan while living abroad.
Costs to expect
The brokerage fee is capped by an MLIT notice and charged per client; for a price above ¥4 million the cap works out to 3 percent of the price plus ¥60,000, plus consumption tax. Stamp duty is paid on the sale contract: for a contract amount above ¥100 million up to ¥500 million the reduced amount is ¥60,000, and above ¥500 million up to ¥1 billion it is ¥160,000, for contracts made through 31 March 2027. Registration and licence tax is paid on the transfer of title. Real estate acquisition tax is levied once on the acquirer and, in Tokyo, declared to the metropolitan tax office within 30 days. Fixed asset tax and city planning tax follow every year. We give you the figures at the offer stage; your tax adviser confirms how they apply.
How a consultation starts
Send us your brief through the inquiry form: your budget range, the areas you have in mind or a description of the life the home should support, your timing, whether you live in Japan or abroad, and which language you prefer. We reply in that language to arrange a first conversation, in person in Ebisu or by video call.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign national buy a home in Tokyo? Yes. Japan places no general legal restriction on a foreign national, or a person living abroad, acquiring land or a building, and no visa or residence status is required to own one. Owning a home does not by itself give you a residence status. A buyer living abroad has reporting and registration steps that a resident does not, which our guide for buyers overseas covers.
Do I need to be in Japan to buy? Much of it can be done from abroad: consultation and viewings by video, the explanation of important matters online, and the documents electronically. Signatures, identity documents and funds need arranging with a judicial scrivener and your bank. Our guide to how a remote purchase works covers each step.
What does a buyer pay the brokerage? A fee capped by an MLIT notice, which for a price above ¥4 million works out to 3 percent plus ¥60,000, plus consumption tax, charged per client. We put the exact figure for your purchase in writing in the brokerage agreement before you commit to anything.
Does Lewis Corporation handle land to build a home? Yes, as brokerage of the land, where land plus construction combined is from ¥450 million. We find, check and negotiate the land. Design and construction belong to the architect and builder you appoint; we provide neither.
Is Kyoto covered? Our search area is Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, with Kyoto also available. Say so in the inquiry form if Kyoto is your focus and we will explain how viewings and local coordination would run.
Which languages do you work in? English & Japanese, throughout: the first conversation, viewings, negotiation with the seller's brokerage, the explanation of important matters and the contract documents. The legal documents themselves remain in Japanese, and we explain them to you in English.