Apartments provide a hassle-free life

Apartments provide a hassle-free life

JAKARTA (JP): In searching for maximum security and
convenience, more people now choose to live in apartments and
willingly sustain their strict rules, exorbitant prices and
leasing fees.

Sekar and Agus, a newlywed couple, sacrificed most of their
savings to make their dream of having a nice home right in the
heart of the city come true by buying a two-room apartment in the
Kuningan area early this year.

"Now, we no longer have to wake up in the early hours and rush
to the office before other people jam-pack the street. With the
apartment already furnished, a sports hall within walking
distance and security guards standing by around the clock, our
life couldn't be better," Agus said.

Dania, a tenant of Setiabudi apartment, said she fell in love
with living in an apartment since she experienced renting one
while studying overseas. One of the many reasons for cherishing
life in an apartment is the simple and labor-less maintenance,
she said.

"The size of an apartment is perfectly manageable. And thanks
to the simplistic, yet luxurious architecture and interior
design, I can clean and arrange the room without having to hire a
servant," she said.

She said the only drawback of living in an apartment were the
massive costs. On top of the huge sum of money she paid for the
leasing fee, Dania is charged with some maintenance-related fees,
which can amount to over Rp 2 million a month.

The type of people who choose to live in an apartment are
usually people aged less than 40 or 50 years old. The older
generation say they could not imagine living with atomized
neighbors in a high-rise cubicle, where they don't have a private
backyard to grow favorite plants or walk their dogs.

Harjono, a 52-year-old businessman, said he would never live
in an apartment. "I couldn't stand living in a place where one
would barely have neighbors to talk to. It must be a very sad,
lonely life up there," he said.

He, however, plans to buy his soon-to-be-married daughter an
apartment near Sudirman or the Semanggi area for "safety and
reasons of comfort".

For most Indonesians, an apartment is not yet considered a
common choice for housing, both because of its relatively new
presence and also their expensive price.

Some first-time apartment dwellers found their life gets
sometimes more complicated because they need to bow down to the
strict rules applied by the management or learn how to get used
to the mostly automated apartment facilities.

A sitcom aired in 1999 by RCTI titled Satu Atap Seribu Wajah
(One Roof, A Thousand Faces) portrayed, although exaggeratedly,
the confusion experienced by first-time apartment tenants, while
trying to adapt to the modern facilities and different way of
doing things in an apartment.

One family was amazed to see the kitchen and bathroom were
just as bright and clean as their bedrooms, while others were
agitated by the tight security rules, confused by the fully
automatic washing machine and mistakenly thinking the lift was a
huge iron cupboard!

The lead character, played by television actor and dangdut
singer Jaja Miharja, hated the apartment, calling it "nothing but
a tall, crowded pigeonhole nonsense".

Many occupants find it hard to obey the strict rules applied
by apartment management because they have long been accustomed to
less enforced regulations and permissive neighbors.

"In an apartment, you can't just do whatever, whenever you
please," said Mien Uno, guru of etiquette and mannerisms, who is
also the marketing vice president of the exclusive Dharmawangsa
apartments.

"Your territory is limited only as far as the walls
surrounding you. Beyond that is either the territory of the
people next door or the building management's," she added.

Don't assume that you are not challenging other tenants'
rights and territory just because you are not physically
intruding on them. Excessive sound, dust or smells that come out
from your room are enough to make the people next door file a
complaint against you to the management or worse, the district
court.

Supermodel Cindy Crawford was recently sued by her neighbor in
an expensive Manhattan apartment for causing too much noise.

The neighbor got upset after the renovation project in
Crawford's unit went on for quite a long time and produced
massive amounts of noise.

To help you achieve a convenient, problem-free life in an
apartment, Mien Uno provides you with some basic dos and don'ts
on apartment dwelling:

* Always read through the contract and regulations and check the
condition of every single item in the apartment unit before
moving in. Write a report on any minor scratches, cracks or
damage found in the room and its facilities to avoid unwanted
accusations made by the management against you in the future.
* Never hang your clothes by the window or on the balcony. Some
tenants still practice the conventional way of drying clothes in
the sun. That's against apartment regulations. Use the washing
and drying machines in your compartment or in the laundry room.
Strings of colorful clothes waving about on your balcony is not a
picturesque view and will only degrade the apartment's image.
* Inform the management if you plan to invite guests for a
meeting or, especially, a party. The management needs to register
your guests for security reasons and explain to your neighbors
about any possible noise emanating from your unit during the
event.
* Report to the management when you have guests, including
parents or siblings, who will sleep over for a night or longer.
* If the people next door hold a party from hell or drive you
nuts with their deafening stereo or television, don't go blasting
on their door. You don't want to end up in a shameful, nerve-
racking argument with them over such a matter, do you? Report
your complaint to the duty manager and ask them to duly fix the
problem for you.
* You must report to the management or owner any plan to change
the apartment's interior, including the color of paint and
wallpaper. Most apartments, just like hotels, rule out the
massive use of celluloid tape or nails on the wall fearing it may
damage the paint or wallpaper. Even if you do own the unit, you
still need to let the management know. That's to save you from
being sued for damaging or changing the structure of the property
without permission. The management also needs to know your plan
so that they can inform your neighbors about being temporarily
disturbed by the dirt, noise and workers who will come and go
during the project.
* You may let friends or relatives enter your apartment while
you're gone as long as you leave the keys with the reception and
inform the names of your guests beforehand. On arrival, your
guests will be required to leave their identity cards at the
reception before picking up the keys.
* Forget about having pets in an apartment. It's the rule applied
by every apartment, even the exclusive ones in Manhattan where
rich tenants must put their pets in a costly shelter. Pets are
lovely, but to find them messing your lovely room with stinky
waste or hear them barking or meowing all night long is the last
thing that you and the entire building want to encounter.(Chris
Tumelap)