Abstract
There have been some reports that the problems in condominium management are becoming more and more serious recently in Japan. Whether a condominium can successfully solve the problems with its management or not depends much on whether the residential community has enough capability to build consensus smoothly. Condominium is a form of residence that a number of residents share a large structure, and it requires higher adjustment costs to make consensus than other forms of residence do. Considering this characteristic, some studies claim that condominium is a form of shared asset which has an intrinsic danger. Indeed the claim seems to be reasonable, but there have been a large number of condominiums provided already, therefore a negative opinion itself cannot be a solution. In this study, we tried to make a comprehensive understanding of ways to solve the problems in condominium management from two viewpoints: ‘increasing the capability of building consensus’ and ‘decreasing the difficulty of consensus building’. We reviewed previous studies on residential communities of condominiums, conducted interviews with two management office of condominium in Kyoto and Osaka city, which have been successful in smooth consensus building without depending on management companies, and organized information from these research into lists of problems and solutions.
