Dear All,
I am a European living in Indonesia for 26 years. Owing bits of land in Java, Bali & Lombok.
I won't answer questions because I am too busy with business & social foundation activities.
But I put here a few pointers for your help.
Welcome to my Paradise...
1) The nominee system is legally weak (even clearly illegal). Only two components of it, the BPN registered mortgage and the 25 year + 25 year lease agreement have a bit of value.
2) Beware, in case of the sale of the land, the lease agreement looses its value !!! (except in the case of Hak Pakai di atas Hak Milik, registered to BPN Land agency, limited to 25 years, and limited to 3000m2 per foreigner like they do at Bali but don't know how to do at Lombok).
You can sue your pennyless nominee but since the new owner of the land DIDN'T KNOW you were the beneficiary of a lease on it he has no obligation to continue your lease !!!
3) Most Nominee Packages I have seen at Lombok are pure bullshit. Some notaries of South Bali are now experienced but unfortunately we must use a notary from the Kabupaten where we buy land (ie: Notary from Praya for lands in Pujut/Sengkol/Kuta/Mertak).
Many land purchases end up even without properly registered mortgage !! Or with mortgage of ridiculously low value !!
4) Notaries are not responsible for Nominee Packages!! Notaries are only liable for land registration. And public lawyers are liable for nothing !!
5) The nominee system is ONLY for expats who know an honest Indonesian person from a very long time (3 to 15 years!!). This time is NEEDED to discard dishonest prospective nominees.
Climbing mount Everest or Ocean crossing is not for me ! This is only for people meeting specific criteria!!
Each person has his or her advantages from life experience. You can't BUY that !!
6) Since the nominee contract worths nothing, only remains the value of nominee's honesty. For some special people some strong old friendship, long mutual help and loyalty worth more than doing an easy steal.
This is very wrong to believe that there is some kind of "contract" where a guy will receive 1%, or even 10% of the land value. And will therefore become honest!!!
7) Use (long known friends or long known employees) nominees from islands different from where you buy land. Ie: nominee from Sumatra at Bali, nominee from Bali at Java, nominee from Java at Lombok. Lead us away from temptations ....
Contrary to wrong beliefs, Yes it is compulsory to keep with you the two green books from BPN (Sertifikat Hak Milik and Hak Tangungan) but this is NO great protection.
Your nominees, as the only legal owner, can easily report a fake theft or a loss at BPN. Five hundred thousands Rupiah later, he get 2 green duplicates and the old ones you had get automatically cancelled!! Your nominee is ready to sell your land again...You will probably loose it (Although the mortgage to your benefit will have to be reimbursed to the notary, pending for you to collect your money).
9) Without the nominee system, Property Agents, Brokers, Notaries, Public Lawyers would almost never sell land !! (to foreigners)This is why they are all OK to "validate" the nominee system as if this is a "normal" system!!
This is very unprofessional of all of them !!
Many foreigners haven't developed long term friendship in Indonesia and also don't want to create a PMA company (since they also don't plan to run a business in Indonesia).
The cherry on the cake is when those Property Agents, Brokers, Notaries, Public Lawyers offer they own staff, husband, wife, cousin, to become your nominee!! What a shame !! Shall go to jail !!
"For sale great land with ready-served nominee" It would be funny if it wasn't ending in horror stories...
Too bad white collar crimes aren't properly pursued/punished in Indonesia
10) Did i mention that many notaries manage to get 1% of the declared Mortgage value ? (Mortgage value that we advise to put at five or ten times the actual transaction value to get protected against fast land appreciation).
So many notaries get more fees from mortgages that from land transaction! (while in fact, mortgage fees at Bali and Lombok can be negociated at 0.1 percent of the mortgage value).
No wonder that Notaries (and in some case public lawyers) love "Nominee Packages"...
11) But mostly, the dozens of true horror stories of Kuta happened with nominees you met "by yourself" just a few months ago !!
(In some rare case, this "newly met nominee" is even part of a elaborate scam in collusion with the land vendor, and/or with the land broker. This Kuta scam goes this way : you found a land much cheaper than others, but in fact the transaction only go through because you use a specific crooked "newly met nominee", and with a mortgage not-truly-registered-at-BPN-Land-Agency. Thinking about a good bargain, you have paid big money for owing nothing !)
BOTTOM LINE :
DON'T EVER use freshly met nominees !!!
Avoid nominees from the same island
If you are greedy (to get cheap land in foreign countries),
If you are jealous (of other people who have different skills than yours),
If you are lazy (to do your homework about law and regulations),
If you are naive (to believe sweet talkers),
If you are impatient (to grab dangerous ready-served .),
Then you know who to blame, when you WILL get robbed...
I hope my writing will be of help to protect many fellow foreigners of their life savings.
Happy new year 2013 to all Lombok Lovers. Take care of yourself.
Sun Dec 23, 2012 8:58 pm