Government to Provide Free Land Ownership Certificates, Check the Requirements
The government aims to issue 1 million Freehold Title Certificates (SHM) free of charge by 2026. To achieve this, the government is introducing a free land certification programme for low-income communities (MBR).
The Minister of Agraria and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), Nusron Wahid, explained that the programme provides a land certification quota of up to 8 million recipients by 2028. For this year specifically, certificates will be issued to 1 million recipients.
He noted that many houses remain unregistered under SHM. For instance, many recipients of housing programmes such as the Self-Help Housing Stimulant Assistance (BSPS) do not yet have certified homes. “From 2015 to 2024, over a 10-year period, approximately 1.4 million people have received (BSPS). After our verification, 1.1 million of those houses are not yet certified,” Nusron explained.
Nusron further detailed three groups of people eligible for free land certification. The first group consists of individuals receiving government housing assistance, such as through the BSPS or house renovation programmes. In addition to BSPS recipients from the Ministry of Housing and Residential Areas (PKP), the government will also include recipients of house renovation programmes from the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health, although data for the latter two groups is currently being finalised. These will serve as primary targets for the free housing sector certification programme for low-income communities.
The second group includes those participating in the Housing Financing Liquidity Facility (FLPP) programme. For this group, the government will waive the costs of upgrading certificate status from Right to Build (HGB) to Freehold Title (SHM). However, Nusron noted that the costs for splitting the master HGB held by property developers into individual HGBs for each buyer will still be subject to Non-Tax State Revenue (PNBP) charges. “What we are making free is the transition from the split HGB to SHM,” he said.
The third group comprises individuals who build their own homes but fall into the low-income (MBR) category. The determination of MBR status will refer to the Regulation of the Minister of PKP No. 5 of 2025. Under this regulation, formal workers can prove their MBR status by attaching a payslip. For those without payslips or informal workers, they can still participate in the free certificate programme as long as their names are recorded in the National Social and Economic Single Data (DTSEN) at a maximum of the eighth decile. “If they are at most in the eighth decile, they can enjoy this programme. Why the eighth decile? Because based on BPS explanations, the income reference in Permen PKP number 5 is equivalent to the eighth decile in that location,” Nusron concluded.