BPN to issue property rights for cheap houses

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Agrarian Affairs/Chairman of National Land Agency (BPN) Soni Harsono said yesterday that buyers of inexpensive houses were allowed to receive property rights.

He also said buyers could directly propose the processing of property rights without necessarily getting certificates to build houses first.

The minister issued Decree No. 9/1997, dated July 2, 1997, on property rights for buyers of inexpensive houses.

In line with the decree, purchasers of inexpensive houses worth less than Rp 30 million (US$12,244) and no more than 200 square meters in size are eligible for property rights.

Under the decree, property rights are limitless, far different from building certificates which are only valid for 20 years and can be extended.

"The issuance of the new decree is expected to give legal certainty to the public, especially buyers of houses in this category, who are mostly low-income people," Soni was quoted by Antara as saying.

He said buyers could ask for help from developers to process their property rights. This is also intended to make developers more responsible for houses they build, he said.

In a related development, head of BPN's Bandung office, Masri Asyik, said over the weekend that Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, and some tourist resorts in Puncak, have temporarily suspended the issuance of permits for new housing complexes.

Masri said areas in Bandung were still open to permits for the development of inexpensive houses.

"Starting this year, there will be a temporary freeze on issuance of permits for the development of new housing complexes in these areas. New permits will only be issued for inexpensive houses," Masri was quoted by Kompas daily as saying.

The lots at inexpensive housing complexes were also limited to no more than 50 hectares each, he said.

Masri explained that permits for housing development in Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi and Puncak already covered over 120,000 hectares. They are expected to be adequate for the rising demand in housing until 2018, he said.

"It's better to speed up development of housing projects whose owners already have permits, rather than issuing new ones," he said.

He further said that BPN's Bandung office would no longer issue permits for the development of new industrial estates, as well, in a bid to further promote existing estates, of which only 10 percent to 15 percent are occupied.

The postponement in the issuance of permits was made because most existing industrial estates were vacant, he said.

BPN's Bandung office assigned over 70 companies to promote existing industrial estates, which have a combined area of about 18,000 hectares, over the last seven years.

Masri reminded permit holders that certificates were valid for only 10 years. If they failed to meet requirements stated in the agreements they signed, their permits would not be extended, he said. (hhr)