What is Long-term Quality Housing? Explanation of standards, advantages and disadvantages!

What are the standards and features of long-term quality housing?

Long-term quality housing refers to housing that has cleared the standards of the "Long-term Quality Housing Certification System," which began in 2009, and has been certified as a house that can be lived in comfort and with peace of mind for a long time.
The following items have been established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Housing Policy Headquarters as criteria for certification as Long-term Quality Housing.

●The structure and facilities must be designed for long-term use.
●Consideration for the living environment, etc.
●The dwelling unit must have a certain area or more.
●The period and method of maintenance and preservation shall be specified.

These criteria will be explained in more detail later.

Purpose of the Long-term Quality Housing Program

Traditionally in Japan, buildings have been built and torn down repeatedly.
The objective of the Long-term Quality Housing System is to change from such a scrap-and-build type of society to a stock utilization type of society.
Stock utilization type means "build good things, take good care of them properly, and use them carefully for a long time."
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's website describes the same.
Purchasing a house certified as quality long-term housing has the advantage of receiving tax incentives and subsidies while contributing to the creation of a better society, so it is a system that is good for both society and the buyer.

Certification Criteria for Long-term Quality Housing

The four certification criteria for Long-term Quality Housing were listed earlier, but in fact, the criteria are further divided into detailed items, each with its own grade and standard value.
Here are three major items as examples.

Barrier-free
The standard is whether or not it will be possible to remodel the building for barrier-free access in the future.

Energy-saving
The key points are superior thermal insulation performance and energy-saving design.
The standard value is set at insulation performance grade 4.

Ease of maintenance and renewal
This item asks whether the equipment, which has a shorter service life than the structural frame, is in a condition that facilitates inspection and maintenance.
Maintenance Measure Grade 3 and Renewal Measure Grade 3 are set as standard values.
These are difficult terms to understand, but they mean that a house that meets these standards will be a comfortable home to live in.

What are the advantages of choosing long-term quality housing?

What are the advantages of choosing long-term quality housing?
Here are three advantages.

Flat 35S preferential interest rates are available

The first advantage is that Flat 35S can lower the interest rate on a mortgage loan.
Flat 35 is a mortgage loan with a fixed interest rate for up to 35 years, lent by the Japan Housing Finance Agency in cooperation with private financial institutions.
And when a Flat 35 applicant acquires a long-term quality housing, the Flat 35S Interest Rate A Plan will be applied.
This allows a 0.25% reduction in the borrowing rate for the first 10 years.
Flat 50 is also available for long-term quality housing.
This allows the loan repayment period to be 50 years, and the loan can be transferred to the buyer when the house is sold in the future.
This is also a good option to consider.

Subsidies may be available.

If you build a long-term quality housing, a subsidy of up to 1.1 million yen per dwelling unit will be provided as part of the Regional Housing Greenification Project.
The Regional Housing Greenification Project is a project to promote the construction of wooden houses with superior durability and energy-saving performance by forming a group of related wooden house builders.
This group consists mainly of local small and medium-sized construction companies.
Subsidies are only available for long-term quality housing built by construction companies belonging to this group that have been adopted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
(Please note that this does not mean that any small or medium-sized construction company is acceptable.)

Eligible for earthquake insurance premium discounts

By obtaining certification as a long-term quality housing and submitting the necessary documents, a discount on earthquake insurance premiums can be obtained.
A housing performance certificate or certification notice is a document that is typically required.
The discount rate depends on the seismic resistance and seismic isolation performance of the building.
A 50% discount is available for earthquake insurance policies for seismically isolated buildings and buildings with earthquake resistance rating 3 with an inception date after July 1, 2014.

Special measures for mortgage deductions are available.

If a home qualifies as a Long-term Quality Housing, the mortgage deduction amount is increased from 40 million yen for an ordinary home to 50 million yen.
Under the Mortgage Tax Credit Program, 0.7% of the remaining mortgage balance at the end of the year is deductible over 13 years.
In this case, a maximum deduction of 4.55 million yen can be taken over 13 years.

What are the disadvantages and cautions of choosing long-term quality housing?

Long-term quality housing has its advantages, on the other hand, it also has its disadvantages.

Time-consuming and costly to apply.

First of all, it takes longer to start construction of a long-term quality housing compared to ordinary housing.
This is because it is necessary to have a survey by a registered housing performance evaluation agency and to apply to the competent administrative agency for certification.
In addition, the construction and application fees are higher than those for building a standard house that is not a long-term quality housing.
As already mentioned, in order to be certified as a long-term quality housing, the house must meet specified standards in multiple categories.
The cost of materials for this and the labor costs associated with the longer construction period will also increase.
In addition, the application and screening fee for long-term quality housing alone generally costs 200,000-300,000 yen.

Few certified apartments

Compared to detached houses, there are still fewer condominiums that have been certified as long-term quality housing.
Therefore, condominiums that are certified are very popular and sell out quickly when they come on the market.
We recommend that you check property information frequently.

Requires detailed maintenance.

Once certified as a long-term quality housing, maintenance must be carried out in accordance with a designated maintenance and preservation plan.
If they are found to be negligent in proper maintenance, they may be required to return preferential taxes or subsidies.
Also, as a precaution, you must always keep maintenance records.
When the competent administrative agency comes to inspect the status of maintenance, failure to present these maintenance records may result in a fine.

Must be certified when extending or remodeling.

As a precaution after the construction of a house, when extending the house or remodeling it, approval of the plan modification by the competent administrative agency is required again.
Of course, the contents of any additions or renovations must also meet the standards for long-term quality housing.
In addition, when selling or inheriting a house, the approval of the competent administrative agency is required as well.
After that approval, the maintenance and preservation plan will be passed on to the next owner.

Summary

In this article, we explained the certification criteria and the advantages and disadvantages of long-term quality housing.
By obtaining Long-term Quality Housing certification, you can receive deductions and subsidies, as well as contribute to a stock-utilizing society.
If you are thinking of purchasing a home, please consider long-term quality housing.