RE-EVALUATING DEVELOPER LIABILITY IN DOUBLE-SALE HOUSING DISPUTES: A DOGMATIC AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PALEMBANG DISTRICT COURT DECISION NO. 225/PDT.G/2024/PN PLG

Sari

Housing sale and purchase disputes arising from property developers' tortious acts—specifically the systemic practice of double sales—pose severe threats to legal certainty and consumer protection in Indonesia. This research critically analyzes Palembang District Court Decision Number 225/Pdt.G/2024/PN Plg, moving beyond trivial element-matching under Article 1365 of the Indonesian Civil Code to examine deep legal dogmatics surrounding competing property rights, protection of good-faith purchasers, and the legal dichotomy between binding sale and purchase agreements (PPJB) and official land deeds (AJB). Employing a doctrinal legal research methodology with statute, case, and conceptual approaches, this study utilizes grammatical, systematic, and teleological interpretation tools to evaluate judicial reasoning. The findings reveal that the developer's act of selling a single townhouse unit to multiple buyers constitutes an unlawful act (onrechtmatige daad) that directly infringes upon the first buyer's subjective possessory rights, rather than a mere contractual default (wanprestasi). The court correctly applied the principle of protecting good-faith buyers (SEMA No. 1/2017) and the doctrine of nemo plus juris. However, judicial reasoning exhibits critical shortcomings in quantifying immaterial damages and defining evidentiary thresholds for systemic developer fraud. To address these systemic gaps, this paper proposes actionable legal reforms, including mandatory digital PPJB registration within the land registry system, statutory implementation of escrow account mechanisms under Law No. 1/2011, and Supreme Court guidelines for standardizing moral damage awards in property torts.