cheynewalk wrote
So how does a person married/getting married to an indonesian guarantee their continued use of the house? Can the house be put in the indonesian spouses name and immediately be leased back to the bule partner at peppercorn rent for say 25 years? In this scenario the bule is protected by the lease agreement in the event his indonesian partner passes away and the local family cannot get their hands on the property.
First, under Indonesian law a foreign spouse of an Indonesian will inherit the property if the WNI passes away, so long as there was no will giving the property to the foreign spouse (bizarre outcome, but I have seen the legislation). The catch of the inheritance is that the foreign spouse has to dispose of the property within one year, or it becomes property of the Indonesian state. One possibility might be for the surviving foreign spouse to convert the property to a hak pakai title (which resident foreigners can hold, sort of a long term lease where the state is the ultimate owner), the upside of which is the possibility to re-convert to hak milik (freehold) and therefore sell on at a later date to an Indonesian citizen at full value. The downside is that there are restrictions on size (I believe 20 are is the maximum land size for hak pakai) and also conversion fees. See a notaris for the full details on conversion of land to hak pakai.
Second, the lease idea is interesting, although the tax authorities may have something to say about a 'peppercorn' rent, since they expect 10% of the value of the lease from the lessor in lieu of income tax. So there is risk of a sham transaction in which tax will be imputed on whatever the tax office thinks that the lease is worth. And say what you will about the authorities in this country, the people are working in the tax office are generally in the top tier intelligence wise, such as it is. No different from anywhere else I suppose.
I'd recommend discussing the issue with a good notaris (or perhaps a lawyer) to see what can be done. No doubt they would recommend a solution with the greatest protection and least risk to all parties.
