Rabu, 04 Juni 2008

Developers not to be trusted: Tenants tell of dodgy deals

Agnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 06/02/2008 10:20 AM | City

After living in her apartment in South Jakarta for more than a year, Novita Ari Wardani, 28, found that the water she had been using was groundwater and not from a water company.

She and her neighbors then came upon another hitch; state electricity firm PLN told them it would cut off their power supply because the bills had never been paid.

"It was really upsetting to learn that all this time the developer has never used the money we were charged to pay the bills," she said.

On doing some calculations, Novita then discovered the developer had been charging them more than what they were supposed to pay.

"I don't think there is an honest developer, so we, as consumers, must be really cautious when dealing with them," she said.

Novita paid Rp 600,000 (US$65.9) a month to cover water and electricity bills, as well as a Rp 450,000 per month service charge for her 42-square-meter unit. All this money was collected by the developers, she said.

The same developers were also using electricity and water for their laundry and caf* businesses, and making the tenants pay for it, Novita said.

"They are charging us more money, when it should have been the developer who rented the facility from us."

A 1998 law on apartments states that within a year of service, developers must leave the apartment and allow occupants to establish an association to manage any public facilities like water, electricity and commercial spaces.

Legal matters are another problem for Novita and her neighbors.

Upon payment, the developers promised to give owners certificates within three months. Three months passed, but the certificates were never provided, she said.

So, she and 20 fellow apartment owners organized a protest against the developer.

"We later found out that the developer was using our certificates as collateral for a loan," said Novita, who finally got her certificate 13 months after she paid for her unit in full.

Novita said she had not got a written promise because she trusted the developers.

"This was my first time buying an apartment and because they were so convincing I just trusted them."

Nonny Subeno, residential marketing consultant for PT Property Advisory Indonesia (Provis), said, "Customers must be aware that everything developers promise needs to be put in writing because there are so many mischievous developers out there".

The National Land Agency (BPN) usually authorizes strata title certificates for apartments within 6 to 12 months after construction is complete.

Without written evidence, it is difficult to prove the developers are guilty, she told The Jakarta Post.

Nonny said, any public facilities, like supermarkets, laundries, community halls, fitness centers, swimming pools and caf*s, must be left to be managed by an occupants association which must be established within one year after the building construction work is complete.

"Developers are obliged to entrust all public facilities to the association," Nonny said.

Due to most customers' lack of awareness of this matter, many developers have created separate certificates for public facilities so they can be excluded from owners' rights, Nonny said.

"So developers can have commercial activities in the facility without any obligation to pay rent to the occupants association."

"Most developers want to reap unlimited profits from both selling units and managing the building. They regard apartment occupants as gold mines," Secretary General of Association of Apartment Occupants in Indonesia (APERSSI) Aguswandi Tanjung told the Post.

Around half of the apartments in Jakarta did not have an occupants association or a neighborhood or community organization, he said.




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