Japanese landlords sue families of suicide victims

Japanese landlords are demanding millions of yen in compensation from the families of suicide victims on the grounds that the properties are difficult to let after someone dies in them. Under Japan's strict laws on tenants' rights, a property owner is obliged to inform a potential tenant if the unit was the scene of an unnatural death.

As a result, many are imitating the tactics of Japan's railway operators, who charge the families of people who jump in front of a train around Y6 million (£46,114) for interrupting services. In one case, a landlord arrived at the funeral of a woman who killed herself in his property in Miyazaki Prefecture, southern Japan, and demanded Y6 million in compensation so he could have a priest carry out purification rites on the building. Too distraught to dispute the claim, the family paid up.

Some 32,845 people killed themselves in 2009 and the rate is likely to remain above the 30,000 threshold for the 13th straight year when the statistics for 2010 are released. In another case, the family of a 30-year-old man who killed himself, received a bill for Y2 million (£15,375) for "repairs" that needed to be carried out, as well as demand for another Y5 million (£38,439) for estimated losses in the future as the landlord would have to reduce the rent.

A Japanese support group called Sumireinokai has called on the government to enact laws that protect the families of suicide victims when they are faced by compensation claims. "Property owners should not be making these sorts of demands against the families of people who have just killed themselves," a spokesman for the organization said. "The families are already coming to terms with the death of a loved one and are vulnerable. These demands have no legal basis and landlords have no right to put pressure on these people."