Private Land Rights Can Be Seized by State if Converted into Settlement Areas

JAKARTA – Land holding the status of Certificate of Land Rights (SHM – Sertifikat Hak Milik) is not ordinarily subject to government seizure for abandoned land reclamation.

However, under certain conditions, land previously classified as private ownership can be regularised if it has been neglected for an extended period and has developed into a residential settlement.

San Yuan Sirait, Head of Land Acquisition and Procurement at the Land Bank Authority (BBT – Badan Bank Tanah), explained that abandoned land enforcement typically targets land with specific usage rights such as Business Use Rights (HGU – Hak Guna Usaha) and Building Use Rights (HGB – Hak Guna Bangunan) held by businesses but left unutilised.

“Once something has SHM status, it is indeed private property. That is not HGB. Private ownership rights do not fall within the scope of abandoned land enforcement,” San Yuan said at a BBT event in Jakarta on Friday, 6 March 2026.

Nevertheless, he said, certain conditions pertaining to private ownership land can warrant government regularisation.

For instance, if SHM land sits atop an area that has developed into a residential settlement, the ownership status may become unclear.

“For example, there may have been private property rights there previously, but now it has become a village settlement. The original private property rights are no longer clear as to who owns it,” he said.

Under such circumstances, the government can reorganise the land status to provide legal certainty to residents who have long occupied the area.

According to San Yuan, following regularisation, residents who have lived in the area for an extended period can be granted property rights over the land they occupy.

He also stressed that the utilisation of abandoned land is not conducted solely through the Land Bank Authority, but can occur through various other mechanisms prepared by the government to ensure land is used for the public interest.