UNTAET Land Policy

2004 ETLJ 2 UNAET LAND POLICY

Section 7 of UNTAET Regulation No 1 of 1999 on the authority of the Transitional Administration in East Timor provided as follows:

7.1 UNTAET shall administer immovable or movable property, including monies, bank accounts, and other property of, or registered in the name of the Republic of Indonesia, or any of its subsidiary organs and agencies, which is in the territory of East Timor.

7.2 UNTAET shall also administer any property, both as specified in section 7.1 of the present regulation and privately owned that was abandoned after 30 August 1999, the date of the popular consultation, until such time as the lawful owners are determined.

Pursuant to these sections, the UNTAET Land and Property Unit drafted and implemented a policy on the administration of immovable property of the Republic of Indonesia and private abandoned property. This policy provided for the granting of Temporary Use Agreements on immovable properties administered under section 7 (Guidelines for the Administration of Public and Abandoned Property by District Administrations). UNTAET Notification No 16 of 2000 on fees in relation to land, buildings and property provided for the payment of market value rentals for Temporary Use Agreements. As a result of the administration of this policy and of the implementation of Notification No 16 of 2000, hundreds of the many thousands (approximately 50 000) properties which fell under the administrative powers of UNTAET set out in section 7 were granted with Temporary Use Agreements (TUA’s). These TUA’s were granted to the peacekeeping forces, administrative agencies of UNTAET (including administrative agencies of the East Timor Public Administration), local and foreign businesses, and local and foreign citizens for residential purposes and, up to the dissolution of UNTAET on 19 May 2002, approximately $1 million per in revenues were being collected annually.

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