Consumer group welcomes ruling on apartment

Consumer group welcomes ruling on apartment

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation on
Saturday hailed the government's announcement of the new decree
on the sale of apartments.

"The decree is a good step taken by the government to protect
consumers. However, the decree should also include an article
regarding both developers and consumers," foundation chairperson
Zumrotin K. Susilo said.

Developers, for example, should also be required to pay fines
when they cannot finish projects on time. Not a single article on
this is in the new decree, she said.

Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tanjung announced on Saturday
that his office has issued a decree to regulate sales of vertical
housing on which construction hasn't begun, in order to protect
consumers.

The new regulation was issued in response to the rising number
of sales for property still under construction, and in some cases
for property on which construction has yet to begin, the minister
said.

The new decree also gets a warm welcome from representatives
of other institutions, including the Indonesian Real Estate
Association.

Zumrotin explained that consumers are currently obliged to pay
fines if they do not meet their monthly installments on time, but
on the other hand there are no penalties for developers who are
behind time in completion of constructions.

She said there are many developers who conduct unfair business
practices and tend to hurt consumers by dishonoring contracts.

There have also been complaints from consumers that there are
difficulties in taking ownership of their apartments after
construction, even though down payment for the apartment has been
made, she said, adding that under the issuance of the new decree
such a thing will not happen again.

Treatment

Meanwhile, Soeharto, an assistant of the Minister of Public
Housing, said there is no intention of causing consumers
difficulties as both consumers and developers will receive the
same treatment.

The decree stipulates, among other things, that developers are
obliged to help buyers form owners' associations, which will
manage apartment facilities.

The associations have to be set up as a legal entity, whose
tasks include the management of the collective land and other
social facilities.

"The fees to manage collective facilities will be set by the
association based on agreement among owners/tenants," Soeharto
said.

He explained that owners will have to pay fees according to
the size of their units. (yns)