Low-cost apartment dwellers refuse to pay rent

JAKARTA (JP): Most tenants of low-cost apartments built by the City Housing Agency during former president Soeharto's era, refuse to pay their rental fees, the agency head said on Friday.

Head of the agency Irzal Z. Djamal said that in the past, the authorities asked people to move in swiftly to their apartments a day before they were inaugurated, even though tenants had yet to sign their rent contracts.

The tenants were mostly local residents already living in close proximity to the newly built apartments. They include victims whose houses were destroyed by fire.

"We now find it difficult to evict them since we have no legal contracts with the tenants. We can't take them to court because we would lose," Irzal told reporters.

He gave examples of the Bidaracina apartments in East Jakarta, inaugurated by Soeharto, and the Tambora apartments inaugurated by former vice president Try Sutrisno, both in the early 1990s.

He said that the residents thought that they were granted the apartments.

Things become more complicated as many of them rent the apartments to other parties.

To overcome the problems, Irzal said his agency is drafting a bylaw that will give the authorities a legal basis to make tenants pay rental fees.

Besides the Bidaracina and Tambora apartments, the city also owns five other apartment buildings, in Tebet, South Jakarta, in Bendungan Hilir, in Jati Bunder, in Karet Tengsin, and in Tanah Tinggi, all in Central Jakarta.

The monthly rental fees of a low-cost apartment ranges from Rp 100,000 (US$10) to Rp 125,000. A unit measures between 18 square meters and 21 square meters.

Irzal said his agency plans to build another low-cost apartment block in Kampung Legok, Cawang, East Jakarta by the end of this year.

His agency has provided Rp 5 billion for the appropriation of 5.6 hectares of land, which is still occupied by 160 families.

"These families will be prioritized when renting out apartments. So far we have yet to receive any objection from residents," he claimed.

He said the agency would build a six block apartment building with 100 units in each six-story block.

The construction of each block would cost Rp 8 billion.

"We hope that it can be financed by the city budget," he said.

An apartment would be rented for Rp 125,000 a month.

He said the agency would not build a car parking lot or facilities for car access to the apartment, to avoid handing over the apartments to "rich people".

Many low-cost apartments have been sold by owners to middle- income people since the buildings often have a car parking lot and are located in strategic areas. (jun)