Strengthening the Role of Government in Resolving Fraud and Disputes of the Flat Management

Abstract

The public concern with the housing issues and conditions including flat management becomes current phenomenon in developing countries such as Indonesia. However, less attention has been paid by researchers to discuss the role of government in the flat management. The fact is that fraud and disputes often occur as a result of the management of flats such as management fees and monthly billing invoice becoming the main issue at the court. Through case law approach method with four different cases, this paper therefore captures several issues related to the management of flats. For instance, this paper discusses a case where flat management companies tend to increase maintenance fees without having a consent or agreement, both from owners and tenants. Disputes are also related to transparency of collected management fees by flat management companies, causing dissatisfaction from the owners and tenants. Hence, this paper suggests that there is the need of government's role in the flat management issues. This suggestion is relevant to the idea of exercising government's power through monitoring flat management companies in order to comply with flat legislation. This paper argues that the use of government's authority could be practised through monitoring system and setting up administrative procedure on the management of flats.