SUN --:-- · ALT --°
2026-06-10 · Lodging

Turning a home into lodging: the four gates

NOTE

This gets underestimated. It is not a question of interior finishes; it is several bodies of law stacked on top of one another.

The first gate is zoning. City planning divides land into use zones, and some residential zones restrict hotel-type uses. Check this first — if the zone does not permit it, there is nothing further to discuss.

The second gate is change of use under the Building Standards Act. Once the area involved exceeds a certain size, a change-of-use confirmation is required, and this is where the completion-certificate question resurfaces.

The third gate is which licence you go for: a simple lodging licence under the Hotel Business Act, or the Private Lodging Business Act, the so-called minpaku law. The requirements and the restrictions differ completely. The minpaku route caps operation at 180 nights a year; the simple-lodging route has no such cap, but asks more of the building and its fire safety.

The fourth gate is fire safety: automatic alarm systems, guide lights, restrictions on interior materials. This is the part most often left out of a renovation budget.

Order matters. Check the zoning and the completion certificate first, then choose the licence route, and design last. Do it the other way round and you can find yourself halfway through construction discovering you cannot open.

Have a specific property to assess?

Send us the property details; we reply first with feasibility and the main risks.