An apartment building manager (in Japanese, kanrinin) protects the safety and cleanliness of a building and supports residents in living comfortably. Even so, what this person actually does day to day is surprisingly little known.
This article explains the manager's concrete duties, the different work arrangements a building may use, the kinds of trouble that can arise between a manager and residents and how to handle them, and the relevant qualifications, information useful to owners and tenants alike. Readers familiar with the American "building superintendent" or the British "caretaker" or "porter" will recognize the role immediately, though, as this article shows, the Japanese version of the job is structured somewhat differently.
What Is the Role of an Apartment Building Manager?
The fundamental role of an apartment building manager is to maintain an environment in which residents can live safely and comfortably. Concretely, this comes down to three things.
- Maintaining the safety and cleanliness of the building — inspecting equipment, cleaning, and patrolling the premises
- Ensuring security — watching for suspicious visitors and controlling entry and exit as a deterrent to crime
- Mediating disputes among residents — handling the initial response to noise complaints, garbage disputes, and similar issues, and coordinating with the management company
This is a broader mandate than the term "superintendent" implies to many American readers, for whom the role can sometimes be reduced to maintenance and repairs alone. In much of the United States and the United Kingdom, security patrolling and dispute mediation are more often handled separately, by a security contractor or a property manager rather than by the on-site staff member who unclogs drains and replaces light bulbs.
The Manager's Concrete Duties: Seven Jobs
| Duty | Content | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection and patrol | Checking for burnt-out light bulbs, confirming that elevators and automatic doors operate correctly, watching for suspicious individuals, and checking on cleaning status | Daily |
| Cleaning | Cleaning the entrance, hallways, garbage collection area, and bicycle parking area, while also checking for equipment problems or lost items along the way | Daily |
| Reception | Handling visitors and delivery couriers, receiving move-in notifications, and lending out keys to common areas | Continuous |
| Attendance | Being present for repair work, equipment inspections, and bulky-waste collection, and confirming that the work meets quality standards and follows the rules | As needed |
| Reporting | Preparing daily logs and reporting to the management company, with immediate contact whenever trouble occurs | Daily |
| Support tasks | Posting and distributing notices from the residents' association, and collecting and tallying surveys | As needed |
| Handling complaints | Reporting problems such as noise, misuse of common areas, or garbage disposal to the management company and acting on its instructions | As needed |
The manager is not expected to personally arbitrate disputes between residents. The standard practice is to contact the person in charge at the management company and act only after receiving instructions, a division of labor that will feel familiar to anyone who has dealt with a homeowners' association manager in the United States, where the on-site staff member is likewise expected to escalate rather than adjudicate.
The Difference Between a Building Manager and a Front Manager
| Apartment Building Manager | Front Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Main duties | On-site work such as cleaning, inspection, reception, and patrolling | Supporting the operation of the residents' association, administrative work, and supervising the building manager |
| Position | Hands-on staff working on site | A bridge between the residents' association and the management company |
| Common in | Both rental and owner-occupied buildings | Mainly owner-occupied condominium buildings |
| Expertise | Practical, hands-on skills | A wide range of administrative, management, and long-term repair planning skills |
The "front manager" role has no exact equivalent in the United States or the United Kingdom; it sits closer to a hybrid of a condominium association's professional manager and an office administrator, a distinction worth keeping in mind because Japanese owner-occupied condominiums, unlike most American co-ops or British leasehold blocks, commonly employ both a front manager and a separate on-site building manager at the same time.
Three Types of Work Arrangement for Building Managers
1. Resident Commuting
In this arrangement, a manager employed by the management company commutes to the building at a fixed time every day. Nine in the morning until six in the evening is the most common schedule, and the position is sometimes filled on a part-time or hourly basis.
2. Live-In
The manager lives in a dedicated manager's unit inside the building while working. Working hours are set, but the manager may still be called on to respond outside those hours in an emergency, much like a live-in superintendent in an older American apartment building, a work style that has become less common in the United States over the past few decades but remains fairly standard for larger Japanese buildings.
3. Periodic Rounds
This arrangement is common in smaller buildings, where a single manager is responsible for multiple buildings and visits each one on a periodic round. Because residents may not know exactly when the manager will arrive, it is important to check the patrol schedule in advance. American and British readers may recognize this as closer to a roving maintenance contractor than to a dedicated superintendent.
Advantages and Disadvantages of a Building with a Resident Manager
Four Advantages
- A consistently clean environment — dirt in common areas and equipment malfunctions are addressed quickly
- A fast response to trouble — even an emergency such as a water leak can be reported and dealt with right away
- Improved security — the manager's presence acts as a deterrent to crime, working together with security equipment
- Accepting deliveries on a resident's behalf — some buildings allow the manager to hold packages when a resident is out, though this depends on the property
Two Disadvantages
- Higher management fees — the cost of employing staff is added on top, and round-the-clock staffing raises the fee further, in much the same way that a full-service doorman building commands a premium over a self-managed one in New York or London
- Compatibility with the manager — being assigned a manager with a poor attitude can make daily life less pleasant
Five Kinds of Trouble That Can Arise Between a Manager and Residents
1. Cutting Corners on Cleaning and Inspection
Inadequate cleaning of common areas leads to an unsanitary environment. Foul odors or pest problems around the garbage collection area can also become a nuisance for neighbors.
2. A Poor Attitude
A high-handed manager makes residents reluctant to bring up concerns, which is one reason trouble can end up going unaddressed.
3. Rude Treatment of Visitors
A high-handed attitude toward contractors or a resident's friends and acquaintances lowers residents' overall quality of life.
4. Leaking Personal Information
There are cases in which a manager lets slip a resident's personal information while chatting with other residents.
5. Harassment
Examples include unreasonable complaints about legitimate garbage disposal or excessive fuss over minor noise. In such cases, residents should raise the issue with the residents' association, the management company, or, if necessary, the police.
These categories of complaint are not unique to Japan; tenant forums in the United States and the United Kingdom describe near-identical friction with superintendents and caretakers, from gossiping about tenants' business to selectively enforcing house rules, which suggests the underlying dynamic is really about the power imbalance built into any on-site staff role rather than anything culturally specific to Japan.
Tips for Building a Good Relationship with the Manager When You Move In
- Greet the manager when you move in — bringing a small gift makes a good impression and can also make the manager more accommodating during the move
- Confirm the work arrangement — knowing when the manager is actually present provides peace of mind in an emergency
- Keep an appropriate distance — avoid asking for favors outside the manager's job duties, and remember that the manager is a person deserving of respect, not a service to be commanded
The custom of greeting the manager with a small gift on move-in day has no real parallel in the United States or the United Kingdom, where tenants more commonly interact with building staff only when something needs fixing; readers moving into a managed Japanese building for the first time should not assume this step is optional small talk.
Three Qualifications Related to Apartment Building Management
| Qualification | Type | Pass rate | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management Business Operations Officer | National qualification | About 20% | Supervises building managers as a senior role and also supports the residents' association |
| Condominium Management Consultant | National qualification | About 8% | An expert in building management who advises, guides, and assists residents' associations |
| Building Manager Certification | Private qualification | — | Certifies a baseline level of competence; a manager can work without any qualification at all |
It is possible to work as an apartment building manager without any qualification, but holding a national qualification substantially increases the trust that management companies and residents place in a manager. American superintendents and British caretakers, by contrast, generally hold no formal management credential of this kind, since the role is treated in those countries primarily as a maintenance job rather than a licensed management profession.
Qualities That Suit Someone to Apartment Building Management
- Communication skills — the ability to interact smoothly with residents, contractors, the management company, and other parties
- A love of cleanliness — the attentiveness to clean and maintain even hard-to-reach places
- A sense of responsibility — the willingness to face trouble sincerely rather than avoiding it
- Comfort with physical work — patrolling and cleaning both involve a good deal of physical activity
- Broad life experience — the flexibility to respond to a wide variety of unexpected problems
- A genuine desire to be of service — finding satisfaction in the gratitude expressed by residents
Conclusion
An apartment building manager is the quiet, indispensable presence behind everything from maintaining the safety and cleanliness of a building to handling trouble, all in support of residents' comfortable daily lives. For an owner, the manager is directly connected to the value of the property and the satisfaction of its tenants; for a tenant, the manager is a partner who protects the peace of mind of everyday life.
INA&Associates Inc. regards its people as its most important asset and provides rental management services built around placing and training high-quality management staff. Owners looking to improve the quality of their property management are welcome to reach out to us at any time.
