The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has decided to sharply increase penalties for building owners who ignore correction orders from local authorities and fail to ensure the safety of their buildings, ministry sources said Saturday. The ministry plans to raise the maximum fine 200-fold, from 500,000 yen at present to 100 million yen.
An amendment to the building standards law will be submitted to the current regular Diet session as early as March. The legislation would also allow municipal governments to order improvements to buildings deemed to have safety problems even if they technically meet safety standards.
Under the proposed amendment, municipal governments will have the authority to order building owners to pull down, relocate or renovate facilities that do not meet safety standards because of their age or damage. They will also be able to order that use of such buildings be stopped or limited.
A survey the ministry conducted in November 2001 showed that 39 percent of small, multitenant buildings inspected by municipal governments across Japan violated the law. The violations included using building stairways as storage areas.