The scenario tends to go like this. You buy from a brochure — the unit isn't built yet, just a plot of land and a 3D render. The PPJB says handover no later than, say, December. December passes, the unit isn't ready. You ask, and you're told "material issues." Three more months slip by, and the answer changes to "waiting on permits." Your mortgage payments keep running, so does the rent on your current place, while the house you're paying for sits somewhere with no move-in date in sight. Off-plan houses that drag on like this are hardly rare on the ground, and plenty of buyers feel they have nothing to hold onto. They actually do.
This article breaks down your rights analytically: the legal basis that protects a buyer, the delay-penalty clause commonly written into a PPJB, and the concrete steps to take when handover slips. It's educational, not legal advice — but at least you walk into the negotiating table knowing where you stand.
The Legal Basis: A PPJB Is Not a Blank Sheet
Your first anchor is the PPJB — Perjanjian Pengikatan Jual Beli, a conditional sale and purchase agreement. It's the document you sign when a unit can't yet be moved to an AJB (deed of sale) because it's still under construction. For landed houses, the PPJB is regulated in fair detail through Ministry of Public Works Regulation No. 11 of 2019 on the preliminary sale and purchase system for houses. That rule forces the developer to spell out certain minimum items in the PPJB, including the handover date and what happens if it's missed.
On the next layer sits Law No. 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection. A house is a good, you are the consumer, and the developer is obliged to deliver what was promised. When that promise misses — a broken handover date, for instance — you have grounds to claim compensation. So when someone tells you "it's off-plan, delays are normal," that isn't fully true in legal terms. A delay can carry consequences, and those consequences are often already written into your own contract.
What matters most isn't the general regulation but the wording of your own PPJB. Two buyers in different developments can have very different penalty clauses. Before you demand anything, open your PPJB again and read the section on handover and delay sanctions word by word.
Delay Penalty: The 1-Per-Mille Figure Commonly Used
This is the part buyers wait for. Many PPJBs carry a delay-penalty clause of 1‰ (one per mille, or 0.1 percent) of the transaction value for each day the handover is late. So if the house is priced at Rp 700 million and the developer is 30 days late, the rough math is: Rp 700 million × 0.1% × 30 days = Rp 21 million. Not nothing.
But don't grab that figure as gospel. The 1-per-mille rate is common, not uniformly mandatory. Some PPJBs set a different rate, some cap the penalty (say, it stops accruing once it hits 5 percent of the transaction value), and others define a notice mechanism before the penalty even starts running. That's why "read your own PPJB" isn't filler — the rate that applies to you lives in your contract, not in this article.
Your Steps When Handover Slips
If the handover date has passed and the unit still hasn't been delivered, don't stop at verbal complaints over the phone. Build a trail you can use if you later need to pursue a claim. The order goes roughly like this.
Gather your evidence first
Keep everything: the PPJB, payment receipts, brochures, WhatsApp chats with the sales team, dated photos of construction progress. Proof of a missed handover date often hides in everyday conversations you never realized would matter.
Send a written demand letter
Once your evidence is complete, send a somasi — a formal demand letter — to the developer. It states that the handover date has passed, requests a firm new date, and cites your right to a delay penalty under the PPJB. A written letter carries far more weight than a phone call; it becomes proof that you formally raised the issue.
Calculate the penalty and submit it formally
Compute the penalty from the formula in your PPJB (transaction value × daily rate × number of days late), then submit the figure in writing. Many cases resolve here through negotiation — a developer usually prefers to pay the penalty or offer compensation rather than escalate to an open dispute.
BPSK or the courts as a last resort
If negotiation stalls, you can take the matter to the Consumer Dispute Resolution Agency (BPSK) — a body under the consumer-protection framework that mediates disputes between consumers and businesses outside the courts. Civil litigation is usually the very last option because it eats time and money. For either route, it's wise to be accompanied by a legal consultant so the steps are done right.
What to Check Before You Sign the PPJB
The cheapest way to avoid late-handover drama is to head it off before you sign. Before putting your name on any PPJB, go through these points — and don't hesitate to ask for time to read it at home first, rather than at the sales desk under pressure.
| What to check in the PPJB | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Delay-penalty clause | Whether it exists, the rate (1 per mille or otherwise), and whether there's a maximum cap on the penalty |
| A firm handover date | It should be a concrete date, not an "around" or "estimated" figure that's easy to walk back |
| Building specifications | Materials, floor area, and finishing written out in detail — so the finished unit matches what was promised |
| Two-way sanctions | Penalties shouldn't only apply if you pay late; there must be a sanction if the developer hands over late |
| Cancellation terms & scheme | What happens to your money if the project is cancelled or slips past a certain limit |
As for the costs that surface between the PPJB and the AJB — notary, PPAT, and their offshoots — we cover those separately so you aren't caught off guard at the cashier. Read up on the breakdown of notary & PPAT costs when buying a house in Bekasi before you reach signing.
Why a Ready-Stock House Cuts This Risk
There's one simple way to skip all the drama above: buy a unit that's already built. With a ready-stock house, the building stands complete before you pay, so there's no handover date left to slip — you can see, touch, and inspect exactly what you're buying. The BAST (handover minutes) also moves quickly because nothing is left to finish. The "unit not ready for months" risk practically disappears.
Take Rumah Emerald 70 at Kingspoint Residence — 2 storeys, land 47.25 m² / building 70 m², in the Rp 700-million range including VAT, instalments starting around Rp 5 million per month, on bored-pile foundations — built by Mandiri Development on Jl. Raya Perjuangan, North Bekasi (a flood-free area). It's 5 minutes to Bekasi Station and Summarecon Mall, 10 minutes to the Bekasi Barat toll gate, and near the planned MRT Phase 3 line (Harapan Baru & Karangsatria). For a buyer who doesn't want to bet on a future handover date, a unit that already physically exists offers certainty an off-plan house can't. If you want to understand the market timing for buying a finished unit, it's worth reading the ready-stock buying window for the second half of 2026 in Bekasi and browsing options on our house types page.
The bottom line: if you've already bought off-plan and the handover slips, you're neither alone nor without rights — the PPJB, the Public Works regulation, and the Consumer Protection Law stand on your side. But if you're still at the choosing stage, a ready-stock unit cuts all that risk out from the start. And for legal certainty on your specific case, always verify with a notary/PPAT and a legal consultant, rather than stopping at an article.
Want to confirm Emerald 70 is ready stock & ask about the BAST process?
The Kingspoint team can explain whether the Emerald 70 unit is already built (ready stock), how the BAST handover flows, and which documents you receive at handover — over WhatsApp, so you decide without guessing.
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