PP 24/1997 in English: land registration, article by article

Every Bali purchase that ends in a certificate runs through this 1997 regulation — what is registered, what the certificate proves, and when the official must refuse to make the deed.

PP 24/1997, the articles a buyer meets, in order

Every Bali purchase that ends in a certificate runs through this regulation. It decides what gets registered, what the certificate proves and for how long it can be challenged, who makes the deed, and when that official must refuse. Here are the articles this site relies on, in the regulation’s order.

Three things PP 24/1997 settles that listings get wrong

A lease has no certificate

Article 9(1) lists what is registered: land held under hak milik, HGU, HGB and hak pakai, hak pengelolaan land, wakaf land, strata units, mortgages and State land. Hak sewa is not among the objects of land registration. A “leasehold certificate” is therefore not a thing this regulation produces — what can exist is a record of the lease on the owner’s certificate, which is a later rule.

Uncertified land is a different process, not a formality

Where a parcel has never been registered, the right is proven by written evidence, or a sufficiency finding (PP 24/1997 art. 24(1)) or, without documents, by physical possession for twenty consecutive years (PP 24/1997 art. 24(2)). That is a registration to be completed before anything can be sold on a PPAT deed. Buying land that is not yet certified.

The certificate is strong, not absolute, until five years pass

A certificate is strong evidence, so far as it matches the register (PP 24/1997 art. 32(1)). For a good-faith holder in possession, challenges close after five years (PP 24/1997 art. 32(2)). A certificate issued last year is inside that window; one issued in 2015 is not.

The PPAT’s part: the deed, the refusals, the seven days

A transfer is only registrable on a PPAT deed (PP 24/1997 art. 37(1)), with a narrow exception between individual Indonesian citizens only (PP 24/1997 art. 37(2)) that never reaches a foreign buyer. Article 39 then lists when the PPAT must not act — among them when the original certificate is not produced, or does not match the land office's registers, when a party acts under an absolute power of attorney that is in substance a transfer, and when the land is in dispute over its physical or legal data. After signing, the PPAT lodges the deed within 7 working days of signing (PP 24/1997 art. 40(1)) and tells the parties in writing.

The regulation is dated 1997, but its implementing rules are not: the PPAT’s pre-deed check was rewritten in 2021 to require an electronic match with the land database (PMNA 3/1997 art. 97(1), as amended by Permen ATR/BPN 16/2021). What the check covers.

What the register holds, and who may look

The register is four records: the registration map, the land list, the survey certificate and the land book. PP 24/1997 art. 34(1) gives any interested person has the right to know the physical and legal data held in them; the list of names is open only to certain government bodies. The terms for getting the information are set by the minister, which is where the land-registration statement (SKPT) and the electronic land-information service come in — and the same statement reappears in the file for extending a hak pakai (Permen ATR/BPN 18/2021 art. 125(1)(b)(2)).

What this means for a buyer is simple and often ignored. The paper certificate the seller hands over is a copy of a record the State keeps. The record is what counts: the certificate is strong evidence, so far as it matches the register, and article 39(1)(a) tells the PPAT to refuse a deed when the paper does not match the land office’s registers (PP 24/1997 art. 39(1)(a)). A check against the register is not an extra step; it is the only check that tests the thing that matters.

When the evidence is not a certificate

For land never registered, the implementing rules set tiers of acceptable evidence: a certificate, or one of the listed alternatives, or a witnessed statement of physical possession (Permen ATR/BPN 18/2021 art. 114(1)(b)(1)). Each tier down is weaker, and PP 24/1997 itself falls back on possession for twenty consecutive years where documents run out. A listing that describes land as “girik, certificate in process” is describing a place on that ladder, not a right you can buy today.

How it sits with PP 18/2021

PP 18/2021 did not replace PP 24/1997. Article 102(b) keeps it still in force so far as it does not conflict, and article 103 removed only two of its provisions. PP 18/2021 also adds to it — the recording of leases and PPJBs on a certificate is PP 18/2021 article 90, not PP 24/1997. PP 18/2021, article by article.

This is commentary, not a translation, and not legal advice. We quote the operative words of the articles we cite; the official Indonesian text on JDIH BPK is the authority.

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