How to check a property developer
Checking the developer and checking the land are two different checks, and no company register can answer the second one.
At a glance
- The question
- Is it safe to pay this developer for this property?
- Short answer
- That is two checks: the company is checked in the registers and the parcel at the land office, and the two have to match each other.
- Where it is checked
- AHU and OSS for the company; the local land office for the certificate; the local building authority for the PBG and the fitness certificate
- What you need
- The developer’s full name including its legal form, the parcel number on the land certificate, and the building approval for what is being sold
- What it proves
- That the company exists and the documents shown concern the right parcel — not that the building will be finished
How to check
- Check the company first: the entity exists, its NIB covers real-estate activity, and whoever signs the contract has authority under the deed.
- Ask for the land certificate for the project and match its parcel number against the plot you were shown — not against the project’s name. The certificate itself is verified at the local land office.
- Check the type of title. Freehold is for Indonesian citizens only; a foreign national may hold a right of use, or buy a building standing on a right to build, both of which run for a term and must be extended.
- Ask for the building approval (PBG) for the building being sold, and where it already stands, the certificate of fitness for occupation. PBG replaced the old IMB and is issued per building, not per estate.
- If you are being offered a purchase before the building exists, check the conditions for a pre-sale agreement: certainty of title, the building approval, the availability of infrastructure, and construction that has reached at least twenty per cent.
How to read the result
- A certificate exists and is in the developer’s name: that means the parcel is theirs, not yet that it is the parcel you are buying.
- “The certificate is being split” is the commonest answer there is, and what it means is that the condition for selling has not been met.
- There is a PBG for one show block: a PBG is issued per building, so one document does not cover an estate.
- The land is held freehold by an individual rather than by the company: ask what the legal relationship between that person and the developer is before anything is signed.
What it does not prove
- This site holds no land records. No page here can tell you who owns a plot of land.
- A developer that is registered and licensed can still fail to finish; checking legality is not checking capacity.
- A building approval is permission to build, not a guarantee that the building is finished or matches the drawings.
- A contract signed in front of a notary still cannot give you a right the statute forbids.
When it does not match
Hold the deposit until the certificate, the building approval and the identity of whoever signs all match each other. A land deed official checks the land side and an advocate reads the contract, and both are far cheaper than a deposit that has already moved.
On this site
We can answer the company half: a developer’s profile here states its legal form, the address on record, and the official notices that concern it where there are any. The land half is not ours, and it is in no company register anywhere.
Need the certificate and the contract checked?
A land deed official verifies the certificate and the parcel’s history at the land office, and an advocate reads the contract that binds you to the developer.
Notaries, land deed officials and legal services across Indonesia
The rules this summarises
- Law 5/1960, the Basic Agrarian Law
- Law 1/2011 on Housing and Settlement Areas
- Government Regulation 12/2021 amending Government Regulation 14/2016, for the conditions on a pre-sale agreement
- Government Regulation 16/2021 implementing the building law, for the PBG and the certificate of fitness for occupation
- Government Regulation 18/2021, for land rights held by foreign nationals
A summary of the rules in force, not legal advice. Rules and thresholds change — check with the relevant authority before you register.
Other checks
PT, CV, cooperative, foundation and the rest: how they differ and what it means for the owner.