Finding a Home

Finding a Home
Gradually more professional real estate agents and brokers set up shop in the major cities, such as Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya and they will be happy to find you a house or (less popular) an apartment to your liking. Newspapers, including the English language dailies carry advertisements for homes for rent.

The more regular way of renting a house is through local, usually unofficial agents. It is an accepted form of brokerage, but a word of care is needed. Put all the promises the agent makes in a contract and have it legalized.

The custom in Indonesia is to rent a house for one year, sometimes for two or three years. When the contract expires you are supposed to vacate the house. If you prefer to renew the rent it is best to put an option in the contract right from the start. It should explain that you will have the right on renewal and that the broker is not allowed to offer the house to another interested party without your consent. Even so, bring up the subject with the broker well before the expiration date.

Another practical point to know is that the brokers usually will be happy to make repairs during the first month after you move in. From then onwards you will be responsible to pay for all repairs, be it a broken water pump, a leaking roof, a collapsing wall and so on (almost all roofs in Indonesian houses leak, but walls usually remain firmly intact).
If you plan to buy property in Indonesia you should know that foreigners are not allowed to do so