Govt issues new decree on apartment sales

Govt issues new decree on apartment sales

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung
announced on Saturday that his office has issued a new decree to
regulate sales launching of vertical housing, in order to protect
consumers.

The new regulation is issued in response to the rising number
of property sales of apartments, even though the construction of
their facilities have not yet been completed and in many cases
developers have not started the projects at all, the minister
said.

Many potential buyers were reported recently to over-buy many
middle and upper-class apartments in Jakarta regardless of the
fact that the facilities have not yet been built.

This can be seen in the Taman Rasuna apartment project, owned
by the Bakrie Group. The apartments were sold out because of
their "cheap" prices even though the developers had not yet
received the proper government permits.

"The new decree is expected to be beneficial to both
developers and buyers," Akbar said. Developers can get funds for
the construction of apartments and at the same time buyers can
pay the apartments on an installment basis.

Speaking at a get-together to inform the issuance of the
decree, Akbar said the decree is very important in that it
protects buyers against any problems that may arise after
agreements for the procurement of apartments are signed.

The meeting was attended by 50 representatives from
various government offices, including the office of the Minister
of Public Housing, the Ministry of Public Works, regional
administrations throughout Indonesia, the Indonesian Real Estate
Association and the Indonesian Consumers Protection Foundation.

Akbar said that development of vertical housing in Indonesia,
especially in Jakarta, advanced rapidly due to the intention to
maximize the usage of lands.

Kosmian Pudjiadi, an executive of the Indonesian Real Estate
Association, said at the meeting that the number of apartments,
which are expected to reach 4,000 middle and upper-class
apartments in Jakarta by the end of this year, will jump to
34,000 apartments by the end of 1997.

Total investments for the construction of all these apartments
are estimated at Rp 3.4 trillion (US$1.55 billion), he said.

Soeharto, an assistant to the Minister of Public Housing, said
that as part of this buying spree phenomenon, people are willing
to buy in advance without understanding their rights.

"Consumers are willing to buy apartments before construction
is begun, and in many cases they are even ready to stand in long
lines for their turn to sign the purchase agreements," he said.

The new ministerial decree stipulates that developers are
obliged to obtain proper government permits first, before
starting the sales launching.

Another executive of the real estate association, Herman
Soedarsono, said that hopefully this new decree would solve
problems which happen at the time of preliminary purchase as well
as to protect consumers.

"There are several developers who have no proper government
permits but they have already introduced their businesses by
participating in a number of real estate exhibitions," Herman
said, adding that the decree will restrict other developers from
doing so because such actions only gives the real estate
association a bad name. (yns)

YLKI -- Page3