Photo/Illutration A worker cleans up an apartment where a woman who lived alone died in Osaka Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A leading insurance company has begun selling a policy for apartment association boards that will pay for costs that occur when elderly occupants die alone with no relatives located.

The elderly dying alone has become a growing social problem in recent years.

Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. said in some cases it costs more than 1 million yen ($7,200) to clean the apartment and do other necessary work to prepare it for purchase again after its previous occupant dies.

Under the policy on offer from July, apartment association boards will get reimbursed when they have to shoulder the costs for cleanup and disinfection, as well as the expenses to hire lawyers to locate possible heirs.

A yearly insurance premium will cost 50,000 yen or so for a maximum payout of 1 million yen in the event of a solitary death for an apartment building housing 100 units, according to the company.

Data from the Cabinet Office showed 6.71 million people 65 or older lived alone across Japan in 2020, up 40 percent from 2010.

The number of unattended deaths is on the rise among the age group.

In 2019, 3,913 people 65 or older died alone in Tokyo’s 23 wards in 2019, up 80 percent from 10 years earlier, according to the metropolitan government.

Tokio Marine’s new insurance policy follows one it began marketing in 2015 for owners of rental apartment buildings to cover cleanup costs after occupants die and the loss of monthly rents until new occupants move in.

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