Girik, Letter C and Petuk Stopped Being Proof of Ownership on 2 February 2026: What Home Buyers in Bekasi Should Check

Government Regulation No. 18 of 2021 was promulgated on 2 February 2021. Its implementing rule, Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning / Head of the National Land Agency Regulation No. 16 of 2021, contains one article that started a five-year countdown: Article 76A. It reads:

Five years from 2 February 2021 lands on 2 February 2026. So as this is written, the deadline is nearly six months behind us. Out in the Bekasi resale market, listings marked “girik” or “Letter C” did not disappear along with it.

The six documents, and what actually changed

These papers come from the era before national land registration ran end to end. Most of them began life as tax records rather than records of right.

Document	What it originally was
Girik	A record of land control from before nationwide registration existed
Letter C	A copy of the former customary land record kept at the village office
Petuk Pajak Bumi / Landrente	Administrative proof that land tax had been paid
Verponding Indonesia	A land tax document inherited from colonial administration
Kekitir	A marker of land control noting the tax amount
Pipil / Papil	A record of land control together with the tax already paid

Look down the right-hand column. Not one of them originally said “certificate of ownership”. The habit of treating these papers as proof of ownership grew out of practice, not out of what they were designed to do. Article 76A mostly closes the gap between the two.

Past the deadline, these documents drop to the role of supporting data in the land registration process. Still useful, still used, but no longer standing on their own to show that someone owns the parcel.

What did not change: nobody takes the land

This part is worth stating plainly, because news like this mutates fast once it starts getting forwarded through chat groups. Article 76A strips the evidentiary force of a document. It does not transfer the land to the state, does not void physical possession, and does not erase the history already on record.

A girik holder who has genuinely occupied the land for generations can still pursue registration, and will in fact use that old document as a pointer during the process. What went away is the ability to hold up the paper and call it proof of right. Small difference in a sentence, large difference across a negotiating table.

Why this is a buyer's problem, not just the old owner's

Here is where the exposure changes hands. If you hold girik, this rule is homework you can chip away at whenever you like. If you are the buyer, it is a risk that lands on you, and it lands quickly.

The reason is straightforward. Unregistered land cannot be covered by a Sale and Purchase Deed drawn up by a land deed official, because what a deed transfers is a recorded right. Transactions over girik land usually fall back to something else: receipts, statements of declaration, private deeds, sometimes just a sale agreement drawn up without any transfer of right. All of those bind the person, not the parcel.

So if your money has gone out in full while registration is still unfinished, what you hold is someone's promise to complete a process. Should that person die, move away, change their mind, or turn out to have more heirs than were mentioned at the start, you are standing on the weak end of it. The documents worth checking before a deposit moves are set out in the eight documents to check before paying a deposit.

Three situations that keep coming up in Bekasi

1. Cheap plots on the fringes of Bekasi Utara and Jatiasih

The price gap is real, and that is exactly what makes it attractive. What buyers rarely price in is the cost and time of carrying that land through to a certificate: measurement, public announcement, history checks, plus the chance that the surveyed area differs from the area written on the old document. That mismatch is common, since the old papers generally did not come from mapped measurement. We compare the plot route against buying a finished house in building on your own plot vs buying a finished house.

2. An inherited resale house where “the certificate is being processed”

That phrase needs opening up. Processed to which stage, in whose name, and which heirs have already signed their consent. A house in good physical condition that has been lived in for years can still sit on land that was never registered at all.

3. The extra strip of land behind or beside the house

This one slips past inspection most often. The main house is certified, then there is an additional parcel whose paperwork is different and older. It feels like one package; the status is two. If the boundaries themselves are unclear, that adds another layer, which we cover in checking land legality through Sentuh Tanahku.

The order of checks before any money moves

1. Ask what kind of document it is in the first conversation. Not “is the paperwork complete?” but “what form is it in: SHM, SHGB, or an old document?” Those two questions produce very different answers.
2. Match the name, location and area. The name on the document, on the seller's ID, and in the village record all need to line up. If it has changed hands a few times without being recorded, that chain has to be completed first.
3. Ask for registration to be finished first. This is the sharpest dividing line. Buy something already certified, or agree that signing only happens once the certificate is issued.
4. Take it to a land deed official before the deposit, not after. They can tell you early whether the object can be deeded at all. The fees are broken down in notary and land deed official fees in 2026.
5. Do not pay in full up front for an unregistered parcel. If you proceed anyway, hold back the largest portion until the certificate is actually issued.

How this compares with buying a registered unit

The rule targets former customary land that was never registered. Units in a development sit on a different track, because the master certificate has already been issued and split per unit before handover. The right is recorded at the Land Office, so what remains for the buyer is the name transfer.

Aspect	Land with old documents	Registered development unit
Status of right	Not yet recorded, registration needed first	Recorded under the developer, name transfer remaining
Deed can be drawn up	Not until registration is complete	Yes
Certainty of area	Needs survey, may differ from the document	Already surveyed and mapped
Usable as mortgage collateral	Generally not yet	Yes
What you carry up front	Lower price, cost and time follow later	Price already includes certainty of status

The table is not saying one route always wins. The discount on land with old paperwork is real, and for some buyers it is worth the trouble it comes with. The mistake is comparing the two prices without putting the cost, time and risk of registration on the cheaper side of the scale.

For buyers who take the registered-unit route, say an Emerald 70 house on Jl. Raya Perjuangan in Bekasi Utara, the legal work stops at the name transfer. That process was itself given a new time limit this year, and we break down its stages in the 10-working-day title transfer standard. How to read the certificate status through official channels is covered in the guide to BPN electronic certificates.

So if you are weighing two options right now and the price gap looks large, one question usually separates them: has this parcel been registered or not? Everything else can wait until that answer is clear.

Related reading on the Kingspoint Blog

• 8 Documents to Check Before Paying a Deposit
• Checking Land Legality Through Sentuh Tanahku
• Building on Your Own Plot vs Buying a Finished House in Bekasi