Feuding tenants to have their day in court

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 06/20/2007 9:46 AM  |  Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A rental dispute between the principal of a South Jakarta music school and her former business partner will end up in court, with both parties determined to sue each other.

The principal of Daya Music Institute, Tjut Nyak Deviana Daudsyah, and her former business partner Dorothy Poon are currently struggling over the right to lease the building that houses the institute.

Dorothy's lawyer, Hamzah Fansyuri, said Tuesday she would file a lawsuit against Deviana at the South Jakarta District Court this week.

""We will file the lawsuit based on our losses, both material and immaterial, (incurred) during the dispute,"" Hamsyah said.

Deviana, through her lawyer Nixon Sipahutar, sued Dorothy over the leasing rights for the school building on June 8.

Hamzah said Dorothy had suffered immaterial losses from press reports -- based on a statement from Deviana -- that Dorothy used hired thugs to attempt to seize the property.

""There were no thugs involved in the case from the beginning, the men who came with Dorothy worked for her, such as the gardener and some local staff. These men were only showing their sympathy,"" he said.

The school had agreed to rent the house on Jl. Wijaya IX, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, from 2004 to 2010 for Rp 1.2 billion.

The dispute began in 2006 when, according to Deviana, she wrote a letter to Dorothy to ask her to take over some administrative work at the institute to help deal with problems with sponsorship.

However, Deviana said that, instead of dealing with the sponsorship problem, Dorothy used the letter to pay the annual rent and make a new leasing agreement.

Dorothy denied Deviana's allegations.

""This letter had nothing to do with the sponsorship issue. She handed me the letter to pay the annual rent because she told me that she didn't have the money to pay it,"" Dorothy said.

Dorothy said that the new leasing agreement was legal and that Saskia Ubaidi, the house's owner, had acknowledged her as the new tenant.

She added that after she paid the rent, she intended to offer to sublet the house to Deviana on a monthly basis.

""But she refused to pay and claimed the right to occupy the building, which I had paid the rent for,"" Dorothy said.

Commenting on Dorothy's move, Deviana said that she was ready to face Dorothy in court.

""Let the court decide who has the right to the house,"" she said. (10)

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