How to become a Condominium Caretaker
Also called: Building manager, Apartment caretaker, Boarding house manager, Live-in caretaker
Works for a condominium management company, dealing with residents and handling day-to-day management under the management contract between the company and the owners' association of an apartment building.
Main tasks
- Greeting visitors and residents and answering the phone
- Receiving and reporting applications to use facilities, as set by the owners' association
- Receiving and reporting notices of residents moving in and out, as set by the owners' association
- Handling requests from interested parties to view the management rules and similar documents
- Looking after and lending out keys to shared areas
- Managing stock of maintenance supplies
- Visually checking the outside of the building, equipment and facilities
- Checking that lights turn on and off and replacing bulbs as needed (except in high or dangerous places)
- Checking and recording how equipment is running
- Giving removal companies and others the instructions they need
- Being present when contractors start maintenance or repair work and at times during it, and confirming completion from their reports
- Being present when rubbish is taken out and during cleaning
- Being present while disasters, accidents and the like are dealt with
- Reporting on notices received, inspection results and work witnessed
- Contacting and reporting to the right people when disasters or accidents happen
- Reporting disputes and complaints between residents
- Checking for suspicious people or objects and illegal or unauthorised parking
- Cleaning shared spaces in the building and the grounds
- Asking residents to follow the management rules
- Handing out or posting owners' association notices
- Attending board and general meetings and writing and checking the minutes
Workers in this job say university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
No qualification or licence is needed to start, and education and experience do not matter. There is almost no graduate hiring, and most people take the job as a second career after retiring. Many job advertisements are aimed at people in their 60s, and it is usually possible to keep working into your 70s. Management companies hire when they win a contract to manage a new building or when a caretaker leaves. Jobs are often advertised in newspapers, magazines and online or through Hello Work (public employment service), and more companies now advertise on their own websites. After being hired, you complete the company's own training and on-site practice before starting work. Some companies require regular training after you start and promote this skill building as a selling point. Rich life experience and people skills, such as communication, a spirit of hospitality and awareness of compliance, are important. You also need to be healthy and quick on your feet.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥3,700,700 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥219,800, and the middle half earn ¥185,900 to ¥301,200 a month.
- Pay measured for the wage survey group: Residential facilities, office buildings and other management personnel
- 0.88 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
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Questions people ask
How do I become a Condominium Caretaker?
No qualification or licence is needed to start, and education and experience do not matter. There is almost no graduate hiring, and most people take the job as a second career after retiring. Many job advertisements are aimed at people in their 60s, and it is usually possible to keep working into your 70s. Management companies hire when they win a contract to manage a new building or when a caretaker leaves. Jobs are often advertised in newspapers, magazines and online or through Hello Work (public employment service), and more companies now advertise on their own websites. After being hired, you complete the company's own training and on-site practice before starting work. Some companies require regular training after you start and promote this skill building as a selling point. Rich life experience and people skills, such as communication, a spirit of hospitality and awareness of compliance, are important. You also need to be healthy and quick on your feet.
How much does a Condominium Caretaker earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥3,700,700 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Residential facilities, office buildings and other management personnel, which covers several jobs.
Do you need a degree to become a Condominium Caretaker?
Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 41% of workers are university graduates.
Will AI change the work of a Condominium Caretaker?
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026