JAKARTA. The Indonesian Consumer Foundation (YLKI) says that in Jakarta most developers continue to control apartment complexes and refuse to hand over the management of the buildings to the actual apartment owners, as required by law.

Among the most disputed fees in apartment buildings are the maintenance fees. Despite what is stipulated in a 2011 law on apartments and a 1998 government regulation, developers usually decide the amount of the fees unilaterally, said YLKI researcher Sularsi.

"Similar to in a landed housing complex where residents can form a neighborhood-based organization, apartment tenants have the right to establish a P3SRS [apartment owner and tenant association]. The developer must hand over the authority for maintenance to a P3SRS," she told thejakartapost.com on Thursday.

In some cases, she continued, developers usually avoided their obligation to facilitate the establishment of a P3SRS and chose instead to delegate maintenance to a building-management company, usually an affiliated firm, or even a subsidiary of the developer.

Among recently publicized cases are those of Green Pramuka City and the Eastpark Apartments, both located in East Jakarta. The tenants and owners in the two apartment complexes held demonstrations to object to the soaring fees imposed by the building management, including the maintenance fees and parking fees.

"This becomes a new business, as the company runs it for profit. The management company is supposed to only be a caretaker before a P3SRS is established. By law they can only manage it for a year, but in fact they continue to maintain the apartment building and charge fees one-sidedly," she said.

A researcher at House of Representatives’ Study and Data Center (P3DI), Inosentius Samsul, said the regional government must establish clearer guidelines on how to decide the amounts of maintenance fees and even monitor the establishment of apartment owner and tenant associations to guarantee public rights.

"It should be the regional governments, not the central government, that settle the issue because there are different characteristics in each region. Factors that should be considered are the costs applied to the consumers and to the developers," he said. (Anton Hermansyah)