The Validity of Land Purchase Agreements by Credit in Indonesia: A Case Study of Judges' Consideration in East Kalimantan

Sale and purchase agreements of land in Indonesia are, normatively, subject to the clear and cash principle as recognized in national land law, which requires that the transfer of land rights be carried out openly before the Land Deed Official and followed by full payment of the land price in order to issue a Sale and Purchase Deed. However, in practice, land sale and purchase transactions are still found to be carried out privately with a credit payment mechanism without issuing a Sale and Purchase Deed, thus raising issues regarding their legal validity. This article aims to analyze the validity of private land sale and purchase agreements carried out using the credit payment method and examine the judge's considerations in deciding disputes arising from this practice. This research employs a normative legal research method with a statutory and conceptual approach, and refers to Decision Number 25/Pdt.G/2024/PN.Sgt and Decision Number 218/PDT/2024/PT.SMR, which are land dispute cases that happened in East Kalimantan Province, as the object of analysis. The results show that judicial interpretation still plays a significant role in resolving land purchase disputes by credit due to the ambiguity of norms regarding the validity of transactions conducted privately. On one hand, Article 1320 of the Civil Code emphasizes the principle of consensualism, which recognizes the validity of agreements based on the consensus of the parties. On the other hand, land law, through the principle of clear and cash, requires payment in full and the transfer of rights before a Land Deed Official. These differences in legal construction create room for interpretation that has the potential to impact legal certainty in land purchase practices in Indonesia.