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