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)