Apartment life is not that simple

Desy Nurhayati ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 06/24/2009 11:34 AM  |  City

People choose to live in an apartment for practical reasons, because they think everything will be well taken care of once they have paid all the bills and they can just sit back and relax.

In fact, the situation is not that simple.

Blackouts, water supplies being cut off and out-of-order elevators are just a few of the typical problems some tenants and owners face, despite the fact they have paid all their bills including the service charge.

In many cases, the apartment tenants' association, known as the PPRS, which should be responsible for handling the apartment management, is found to be unreliable because it is involved in a conflict of interest in operating the apartment assets and funds.

The 2007 ministerial regulation on apartments states the PPRS are supposed to manage the budget collected from all tenants and maintain the building by appointing a contractor.

Take Permata Senayan apartments in Central Jakarta as an example.

"Conflicts among PPRS members have led to negligence in the management of apartment facilities such as the swimming pool, sauna and elevators, which have inconvenienced the entire resident body," said Andreas Harsono, who owns a unit on the 18th floor of the apartment block.

As the PPRS manage millions or even billions worth of funds collected from the apartment residents, it is often prone to mismanagement.

"They even had a budget deficit," Yoseph Uly, the apartment's building manager, said.

The apartment residents are now in the process of establishing a new PPRS, as the former committee has been dismissed because of the debacle, and the apartment management is now being handled by caretakers.

The Puri Garden apartments in Kembangan, West Jakarta, are another example of apartment management irregularity.

Tenants claimed they had paid all the water, electricity and telephone bills to PT Bima Sena Arthapratama. However, the company did not transfer the money to the respective authorities which caused regular blackouts, leading to tenants getting trapped in the elevators.

In many cases, PPRS members were involved in conflicts of interest that led to the misuse of apartment assets and facilities, Yoseph said.

Most residents were ignorant of the problems and only realized after they found something amiss with the facilities.

"Residents appointed as PPRS members should be accountable and transparent. They should pay attention to all the facilities and assets in the apartment and take special care in managing the money.

"PPRS members are also responsible for managing security, household and engineering issues."

Aguswandi Tanjung, secretary-general of the Indonesian Association of Apartment Unit Owners, said residents' committees were often controlled by developers who made tenants and owners their cash-cows.

"Since developers have no right to manage the apartments, they usually put their own people on the PPRS and exploit the tenants and owners. They do whatever they want in their own interests, especially to secure facilities that are commercially viable."

"They make residents their cash-cows," he said.

"The problems are usually more complicated in mixed apartment blocks where there are not only residential units, but also spaces available for offices or shop leases," he added.

Aguswandi suggested there should be a stricter monitoring mechanism imposed on the management of apartment buildings in the city that includes sanctions for violators.

"There should be a standard statute from the government to which all apartment managements should adhere. Public housing agencies should be given the authority to supervise and act against violators," he said.

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