T

he Jakarta administration has directed Owners and Tenants Associations (P3SRS) of apartment complexes to hand over management rights to residents, with the city threatening sanctions against those that fail to comply.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan issued a gubernatorial decree on guidelines for P3SRSs in November last year amid legal disputes between residents and P3SRSs, the members of which are mostly representatives of developers. After almost seven months from the date it was issued, only 71 out of 195 P3SRSs across the capital have complied with the regulation, according to data from the Jakarta Housing Agency.

The regulation stipulates that P3SRS members that are representatives of developers must be replaced by residents. P3SRSs that fail to comply with the regulation could receive formal warnings from the city administration and have their legal feasibility certificates retracted.

Jakarta Housing Agency head of guidance, control and public involvement Meli Budisatuti said the deadline had passed in March and that this month the city had begun reprimanding those who continued to ignore the regulation.

“The decree has given mayors the authority to reprimand P3SRSs of apartments in their respective municipalities, beginning with first and second warnings. In June, the mayors will report to Governor [Anies Baswedan],” she said on Wednesday.

“In September, the city could revoke P3SRS permits. They will have no choice but to hand over the management rights to residents,” she said.

Jakarta Ombudsman senior assistant Yustus Maturbongs said he welcomed the city administration’s move given the lack of regulations since the 2011 Apartment Law was issued.

Since the law was signed by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the central government has yet to make
derivative regulations, such as government regulations or presidential decrees. Hence, there are also still no bylaws at the provincial level regulating apartment management.

Yustus expressed hope the decree Anies issued would serve as a benchmark for other provinces.

He said the central government needed to acknowledge that issues concerning apartment management were not limited to Jakarta. The development of vertical housing has grown rapidly in other cities and regions of the country, such as Bali, Batam in the Riau Islands and Makassar in South Sulawesi.

In Greater Jakarta alone, Yustus added, more and more apartments were being built in Jakarta’s satellite cities like South Tangerang in Banten and Depok and Bogor in West Java.

“Jakarta has taken a good step, but it will be better if the central government also completes all the derivative regulations,” he said, noting that the membership makeup of P3SRSs was only one among many other issues concerning vertical housings.

He said other issues pertained to planning, land procurement, permits, construction as well as apartment management after the construction was completed.

Member of the Governor’s Team for Accelerated Development (TGUPP) Angga Putra Fidrian said Anies aimed to promote transparency in apartment management through the issuance of the decree.

Transparency has long been an issue of dispute between residents and P3SRSs. In many cases, residents have questioned the unilateral policies imposed by the associations that have often disadvantaged residents. Apartment residents have regularly complained about service charges being increased, such as for maintenance, without the residents’ input.

One recent conflict between a P3SRS and residents occurred at Lavande Residences on Jl. DR Soepomo in South Jakarta.

Residents of the apartment claimed that the maintenance fees had rapidly increased over the past two years.

However, anyone who protested or questioned any policy implemented by the P3SRS had their electricity or water disconnected. Anies visited the apartment in February to remind the management about the regulation he had issued.