Many residents of Benhil apartments transfer ownership

Many residents of Benhil apartments transfer ownership

JAKARTA (JP): The new apartments in Bendungan Hilir, or
Benhil, continue to attract interested buyers.

Those who ask to speak with the management are told to deal
directly with residents as units in the ten-story apartment
building in Central Jakarta are not supposed to be for sale.

"Visitors come every day, and on Sundays they come from
morning until the evening," Sani, a resident, said yesterday.

"I just watch them going up and down and looking around," the
mother of three said.

Many residents living there now feel that they cannot afford
to pay for the apartments, many of which are already being resold
for up to Rp 50 million (US$21,394.95) -- only two weeks after
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja inaugurated the apartments on May 30.

Surjadi has told residents not to transfer the ownership of
their apartments, which are strategically located close to Jl.
Sudirman, Jl. Gatot Subroto and the Slipi area.

Two signs sit in front of the complex, stating that the units
were built by the municipality only for victims of the fire which
razed 400 slum homes in 1994.

But the signs have largely been ignored. Residents say that
transactions began taking place long before the neatly built
structures with pink roofs were built.

Many former residents sold the rights to their apartments
based on land prices and not the market price for the
apartments.

"My neighbor sold her ownership right for only Rp 3 million
(US$1,283.70)," one woman said.

"Even if they had looked at the apartment plans, people here
wouldn't have understood the value of the land. But they wouldn't
have sold their apartments at such a price if they had known the
plots would be like this," she said, looking up at the apartment
complex.

The government has subsidized 50 percent of the apartment
costs, which are priced on average between Rp 20 million and Rp
30 million.

Monthly installments range from Rp 88,000 to Rp 191,000 with
service charges totaling up to Rp 39,000.

Sani said her husband has already sold their 21-square-meter
unit. His salary as a generator repairman, she said, cannot cover
the monthly installments and living expenses. However, trains at
the station near Bendungan Hilir make it easy for her to reach
her husband's place of work and her daughter's school, Sani said.

She said she did not know how much her husband earns, but that
his salary is divided between the five members of her husband's
family.

Sani said she can usually earn money by selling food. Such
activities, however, are not allowed on the grounds unless
residents buy additional space to set up businesses on the ground
floor.

Because the units are not for sale officially the ownership
documents are still under her husband's name, though the monthly
payments are now being paid by the new buyer.

She said that many others have not paid service charges due to
the upcoming school year. In the end, she said, her family has
already bought a home in Sudimara, Tangerang, where other
neighbors have also built new homes.

City housing officials have said that they plan to begin
keeping ownership records of the Benhil apartments in order to
prevent residents from transferring the ownership of their
apartments.

Despite the city's efforts, prospective buyers continue to
drop by. Yesterday, a young couple on a motorcycle came by to ask
if the units were for sale. They were then allowed to take a look
inside. After a tour, the couple was surprised to hear that the
apartments were only 18 to 21 square meters without rooms, and
that the 36-square-meter units had yet to be built. (anr)