Housing in Indonesia Part 1: House Types
- Prelude to Indonesia
- 15 hours ago
- 7 min read
Good day~
As I wrote my previous post about building names in Bahasa Indonesia, I got inspired to write a post about housing and education in Indonesia. So without further ado, I’ll talk about housing first in this post. Let’s get to it!
As I’ve mentioned before, a house in Bahasa Indonesia is ‘rumah’. This term can refer both to the building and to the atmosphere, so to speak. However, there are various shapes of houses in Indonesia, the most commonly found nowadays is the standard house where a building stood on a land in the shape of, well, a house. Houses now becomes tinier and tinier, as prices increases….
These houses are still common, with many developer companies existing and competing in buying land then building houses on them. A cluster of houses is usually called ‘perumahan’, followed by the name of the street. It might be professionally managed by a large (business) group or simply built then left to…fend off for themselves by the developer. In any case, Indonesia has a system to manage neighbourhoods, which I’ll talk about later (if I’m not side-tracked…), so as long as people still lives there, it is more or less managed.
There also exists a type of house which we call ‘ruko’, an abbreviation of ‘rumah toko’ which means ‘house shop’. These houses usually have 3-5 levels, but quite narrow, as they were actually intended to be used as, well, a house and a shop. The first, and maybe second or even third, level(s) are used for the store, while the owner and their family lives upstairs. Stores operated in ruko ranges from F&B to apothecary to minimarkets to stationary stores and even informal education.
Why built them this way? Because land, especially in commercial districts with high foot traffic, is expensive. Not many can actually afford to buy or rent land big enough to house both their shop and their actual living space; those who can afford such arrangement probably won’t do it as it does mean your privacy is kinda compromised. With the layout of ruko, on the other hand, a clear barrier in the form of stairs exist, which gives an impression of more privacy. Though, some owners use their ruko purely for business purposes, with the upper levels being used for storage or rented to other businesses.
Other than ruko, there is also ‘rukan’, or ‘rumah kantor’ which translates as ‘house office’. As the name suggests, the lower levels of these buildings are used as an office. The upper levels, however, are often used as living space for the office’s staffs rather than the owner.
Apartments and condominiums have also risen in trend, especially in big cities. Oftentimes, they are built on top of a shopping mall or near commercial districts. Younger families tend to choose this type of housing, as it is cheaper to obtain and smaller so easier to maintain. Facilities are also quite complete here, with many offering swimming pools, gym, private elevator, and private parking space (which is crucial in many places as public transport in Indonesia is not that developed yet, especially outside Jakarta). If there’s any downside, it’s probably that the maintenance fee, as in monthly or annual fees paid to the developer/management, are quite high. I also don’t know what kind of certificate is given to the owner of apartment units, as some said it’s not an ownership certificate. I never have any apartment, though, so I don’t know the details.
A less expensive type of apartment can be called ‘rusun’, which is an abbreviation of ‘rumah susun’ or ‘stacked house’. These are essentially flats built by the government, with minimum facilities. Their location is also usually on the outskirts of the city rather than at the city centre, so commute is another matter.
Near schools, universities, and hospitals, another type of building-slash-business stands: kos(t) or indekos. Derived from Dutch words ‘in de kost’, which actually means something along the line of ‘eating together’, nowadays kos is more of a house filled with rooms which people, most commonly students, can rent and live in. Electricity, water, laundry, and internet connection may or may not be included in the fee, though usually the starting fee does include free rice and the use of a shared kitchen. The room commonly contains a bed, a set of desk and chair, and a wardrobe. Depending on the common standard of the place/city, parking space, air conditioner, and/or water heater (for showering) may also be part of the deal. Bathroom can either be private or communal, which usually affects the price too. If the place is managed directly by the school, it’s called asrama. These dorms are divided by gender, and many who provide them are religion-based schools. In asrama, one room is usually filled with multiple students, whereas in kos, one or two person is the norm. You can say asrama is more alike to military barracks (‘barak’).
In some areas, traditional houses are also more prevalent still. These houses, called ‘rumah tradisional’ or ‘rumah adat’, often becomes tourist attraction because of their rarity. Each province has their own traditional house, unique in shape, color, and/or material. I remember we had to remember each province's traditional house, dance, and outfit names during elementary (not that I remember any of them anymore...).
A trivia: Generations of Indonesian president lives in a(?) place called Istana Presiden. There are actually eight of them currently, spread in Java, Bali, and Borneo.
Another trivia: Jails in Indonesia can be called ‘rutan’, short for ‘rumah tahanan negara’ or ‘national holding house’.
Next, let’s also talk about fees and certificates.
Other than using your own cash, banks and money lender have what we call ‘KPR’, short for ‘kredit pemilikan rumah’ or ‘house ownership credit’. Using this scheme, people can live in a house by only paying a certain amount of money at the front (called ‘uang muka’ or ‘DP’, short for ‘down payment’) and then pay the rest plus interest in instalments.
House owners must also pay tax, most specifically the ‘PBB’ or ‘pajak bumi dan bangunan’ (‘land and building tax’), which amount depends on the size and location of said property. This tax, paid annually, has to be well documented as it must also be proven when you submit your tax report. I think you can also get a discount if you’re, say, the widow of a former government employee, though you have to submit payment proof of the past 5 years or something. Electricity and water bills are centralized, controlled mostly by government (I think if you install your own electricity generator such as solar panels, you have to report it and then pay a certain fee to the government). If you want to buy a house, make sure all previous electricity, water, telephone, internet, and maintenance fee have been paid, so you don’t have to pay them instead.
If you rent the house, depending on your agreement with the land owner, you might also have to contribute to the PBB. If you rent a room in a kos, though, electricity and water bill might or might not be dependent on your consumption. For example, you might only need to pay electricity, and you don’t have to pay at all as it is already included in the rent fee, or you might have to top-up your own electricity meter using tokens you can buy.
Next, we’ll look at certificates. There are a lot of certificate one can obtain in relation to a house. The ownership certificate, or ‘sertifikat hak milik’ (SHM), means you own the house and/or land the deed detailed. This certificate means you have the highest claim to the land/building, though I think foreigners are not allowed to hold this type of certificate (that’s why some foreigners marry Indonesians and then use their spouse’s name to own a house). Other than SHM, make sure you also have an ‘akta jual beli’ (AJB), or ‘deed of sale and purchase’, to proof that you had indeed purchased it, and an ‘izin mendirikan bangunan’ (IMB) which is a building permit that will allow you to actually built a house on top of your land.
If you don’t actually own the land, as in the land might belong to someone else or it’s governmental property, you can have an SHGB, short for ‘sertifikat hak guna bangunan’ or ‘building usage right certificate’, which allows you to own and build a building on top of that land. This deed usually has an expiry date of 30 years, though it can be extended for another 20 years. Housing and apartment developer likes to use this kind of deed as it is cheaper, so do be attentive. If the land and the building is not yours, you can have a SHP or ‘sertifikat hak pakai’ AKA ‘usage right certificate’, which essentially allows you to use said building for a certain amount of time.
If it’s for business purposes, there are also many certificates the owner should procure to ensure smooth sailing. Each city has slightly different rules, though, so check with your local government. There are also taxes unique to each type of business, and some buildings cannot be used for business.
Right, lastly I want to talk about how housings are managed, especially when there’s no corporations involved. Indonesia has an established system, where households, as proven by their household certificate, are managed under an ‘RT’, short for ‘rukun tetangga’. Though literally translated as ‘neighbourhood harmony’, it is actually a neighbourhood association where 10 to 50 households are managed by one head of RT. You need his/her stamp to process things like making ID card, moving house, and making a note of temporary stay. Things like trash collection and security concerns are some of RT’s responsibility, too. Three to ten RT is managed under an RW (‘rukun warga’, literally ‘people harmony’). RW’s field of responsibility is wider, even organizing neighbourhood events and election processes. On top of RW there’s kelurahan, and after that kecamatan. Some places are not big enough for it, though, and is collectively called village or desa. I really don’t know how this system translates when an apartment or flat is involved, so if anyone has more information, please tell me~
That’s all for today’s post! I’ll see you next time with even more information about housing in Indonesia, more specifically about the rooms and objects usually found in and around a typical house.
Bye for now~
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