Your 30-day home-finding guide

Your 30-day home-finding guide

Deden Sudarbo, Associate Director, Residential Department, PT Procon Indah

Ever hear someone ask "However did you manage to find such a
nice apartment or house so quickly - I looked at over 70
properties before I found even one I liked!"

Well there is a smarter approach to secure your home in
Jakarta, even as a newcomer.

Allocate your time to options-finding, negotiations and lease
execution.

During the first 10 days you can start with house- or
apartment-hunting on your own or with the assistance of a
property agent.

If you prefer to go on your own, browsing through the Internet
or the local English newspapers is a great staring point. If you
work through an agent, make sure they are reputable property
agents who can help you in narrowing down your search, based on
your requirements.

Be specific with your requirements so that the agent doesn't
waste your valuable time offering locations, quality, or pricing
outside your criteria. A good agent will use this information to
short-list appropriate properties (usually 5 choices to 10
choices) for you to inspect.

You cannot make homemaking decisions without physically seeing
the property, so site visits should be scheduled to enable you to
take a good look at the short-listed properties. Saturdays, when
the traffic congestion is less, are often a good time to
allocate, but rush hour on a normal day will also teach you a lot
about what to expect once you've moved in!

Take your time to inspect every corner of the properties, ask
as many questions as you need to make sure that you are
comfortable with the place that you plan to select. Look at the
neighborhood and surrounding facilities. Is the access road to
the house or apartment block single-car width or even one-way
only? Does the locale look secure? Ask about flood risk (get your
driver to speak to the neighbors or the nearest warung (street
stall) owner to get their feedback). Even see how close the local
mosque is!

During the next 10 days or so, and once you have decided the
property that best fits your needs, the landlord or the property
consultant will send you an offer letter that contains all the
standard commercial terms and conditions of the lease. It will
provide you with information such as the rent payable and the
miscellaneous costs that normally come with utilization of the
property, like service charges, taxes, and deposit requirements,
which are not covered by the basic rental fee.

It should also document the intended lease start date and your
arrival and departure dates (if they differ from the lease dates)
and other terms and conditions on the leasing of the property,
including schedules of fixtures & fittings provided by the
landlord.

Make sure you read through this offer letter before agreeing
to it. This is the stage where you need to negotiate with the
landlord on specific requirements, such as additional
items/furniture/appliances, change of property layout, frequency
of rental payments and even the rental rate itself. This process
can be handled by the agent, if you have chosen to use one.

If you fully agree with the lease terms and conditions, you
will then be required to sign an acceptance of the offer letter
and pay a sum of money as a deposit, as specified in the offer
letter.

Once the terms and conditions have been agreed between you and
the landlord by way of his countersigning the offering letter and
providing a receipt for the deposit payment, then the final 10
days of this "30-day process" can begin.

This is when the landlord will proceed to issue the lease
agreement document. This document contains a detailed description
of the property ownership and its condition, the lease terms and
conditions agreed between the parties, schedule of furniture &
other fixtures, the respective legal & repairing/maintenance
obligations of both parties, as well as other standard contract
clauses between you as the lessee and the property owner as
lessor. If all terms and conditions are agreed, both parties
will sign the lease agreement, usually the occupier first.

Upon execution of the lease you will also need to finalize the
rental prepayments (if any have been agreed) before handover and
moving in. Once the lease agreement is signed and payments have
been settled, you are ready to move in on the date stated and
agreed in the lease agreement. On that day, make sure you meet
with the owner or his representative, and before you take
possession of the keys, make sure you do a check to ensure that
all items agreed to be provided by him are there and in working
condition. If you can, take a photographic inventory and sign it
together. Note particularly any items in disrepair, damaged or
poor state of maintenance, so that you will not be held
responsible for them later.

These simple steps can ensure that with the right approach, it
is possible to secure your home within a month of beginning the
search process. The quick checklist below can be cut out as your
aide-memoire to help making your Jakarta home search a more
productive experience. So as you can see, looking for a home in
Jakarta is not that difficult after all.

Happy hunting, and have a great stay in Jakarta!

Quick checklist for apartment hunting

Name of Apartment : Notes
Date of Inspection:
---------------------------------------------------------------
A. Basic Information

* Location/Area

* Budget range

* Number of bedrooms

* Move-in date

* Lease period

B. Important things to check during inspection:

* Quality and condition of the property, e.g.:

* Cracks in the wall

* Leakage

* Bathrooms (tubs, showers, sinks)

* Kitchen (sink, cupboards)

* Wardrobes in bedrooms

* Service area/servants' quarter

Surrounding situation and convenience of location

Distance to:

* Office

* Schools

* Shopping/entertainment areas (malls, supermarkets, cinemas,
restaurants)

*Sports club/sports facilities

Facilities (especially for townhouse or apartment occupants):
* Swimming pool
* Fitness center
* Sauna
* Children playground
* BBQ area
* Mini market
* Cafe/restaurant
* Parking facilities (visitors' and tenants' parking)
* Whether serviced/unserviced
* Cable/satellite dish TV

Items included:
* Furniture (sofa, armchairs, coffee table, dining table, dining
chairs, beds)
* TV
* Refrigerator
* Microwave
* AC
* Stereo System
* Stove
* Oven
* Cooker hood
* Cutlery
* Wardrobes

Security
* Closed circuit TV
* Security access card
* Door locks

Others
* Water capacity
* Electricity capacity
* Service charge