Boardinghouse business, humanism or profit?

JAKARTA (JP): The economic crisis, which has gripped the country for almost a year, has brought uncertainty to almost all businesses, including the rented accommodation sector.

Operating boarding houses, one of several alternative ways to seek an immediate revenue from one's investment, is not as rosy as before the Indonesian economy began collapsing last July.

Sutrisno, an operator of 30 boarding house rooms in the Jakarta suburb of Depok, said recently that it was now common for him to hear many of the tenants asking to postpone paying their rent.

He told The Jakarta Post that he set the rents at an average of Rp 200,000 (US$14) per room per month.

Sutrisno, whose boarding house complex is located close to the University of Indonesia and other private universities, said he was trying to understand his tenants' difficulties as not all of them came from rich or well-paid families.

"I knew that they were serious in their study. Therefore, I sometimes gave them loose deadlines," he said about the tenants, who are all university students.

However, Sutrisno is considered a lucky person in the business as most of the tenants keep their promises and eventually pay their rent.

"Although they were well behind the deadline, they still paid the rent," he said.

A woman, operating a small boarding house complex in Slipi subdistrict, West Jakarta, is not as lucky as Sutrisno.

Having only four rooms for lease, she said that she had to rely on the rents for her income. She sets the rent at Rp 100,000 per month per room.

However, the economic crisis has also struck her business and forced her to forget all ideas about making a profit from the business.

"All the tenants, and they're all university students, are three to four months behind the payment deadline now," she said.

A widow of four grown-up children, she said that she did not even have the heart to ask them to leave.

"They have been staying at my boarding houses for almost two years now," she said, "And I would feel uneasy about asking them to leave."

"I do not want my children to experience the same feeling, that if they manage to go to university someday they are forced to leave their rented rooms if they cannot meet the deadline," she said.

Her oldest child, a daughter, is now studying at a nearby high school. Her three other children are at junior high school and elementary school.

She said that she did not either have the heart to increase the rents to Rp 125,000 per month, which would still be the lowest among nearby boarding houses. Others charge at least Rp 200,000 per unit per month.

"It already takes them months to try to comply with the deadlines. I cannot imagine how will be able to pay the rent if I increase the fees," she said.

She said she could now only pray for an immediate end to the economic crisis.

The boarding-house business is also gloomy for Lisma, the owner of a 10-room complex in Pasar Minggu subdistrict, South Jakarta, whose tenants are mostly workers.

She said that she had just had to insist three of the tenants leave the boarding house.

"It's still better for me to have them leave the boarding houses and keep the rooms vacant than to let them stay, as I have to bear all of the costs, including the electricity bills," she said.

Lisma sets different rates for different sizes of rooms. She has three types of accommodation to rent; the smallest ones are leased at Rp 200,000 per unit per month, the medium ones for Rp 250,000 per unit per month and the biggest at Rp 300,000 per unit per month. (imn)