Buying Land in Bali: Titles, Zoning and What to Check

Buying land in Bali: which titles foreigners and Indonesians can hold, how prices per are work, the farmland rules, and the checks and costs before you pay.

Buying land in Bali as a foreigner never means freehold, because Hak Milik (freehold) is reserved for Indonesian citizens. The legal routes are a long lease, a foreign-owned company (PT PMA) holding HGB (right to build), or Hak Pakai (right of use) for a house. Here is how each works, how land is priced, and what to check and budget before you pay, as of October 2026.

Buying land in Bali: the routes compared

Leasing land

A lease is a Civil Code contract: the owner keeps the certificate and lets you use the land for an agreed term, and the whole price may be paid upfront (UUPA, the Basic Agrarian Law, art. 44). A sale or the owner’s death does not end it (Civil Code arts. 1575–1576), but a written lease ends on its end date (art. 1570), so the extension clause matters as much as the price. See our guide to leasehold vs freehold in Bali.

Buying through a PT PMA

A PT PMA, an Indonesian company with foreign shareholders, can hold HGB but never Hak Milik. On freehold land, the owner grants HGB over it by a PPAT deed (PP 18/2021 art. 38(3)), or the title is changed into HGB. Besides at least IDR 2.5 billion in paid-up capital, it needs an investment plan above IDR 10 billion per business line and location (BKPM Regulation 5/2025), and since May 2026 Bali has closed 18 business lines, including renting out property, to new foreign-owned applications. See our PT PMA guide.

Hak Pakai: written for a house

Hak Pakai lets a foreigner with an immigration document own a home: a “luxury house” on one plot of up to 2,000 m² per person or family (unless the minister allows more), for living in, costing at least IDR 5 billion in Bali (Kepmen ATR/BPN 1241/2022). The rules we checked do not say whether a land office will grant Hak Pakai on an empty plot for a house you have yet to build, or how the minimum is then assessed, so ask a PPAT first. See our guide to Hak Pakai in Bali.

Indonesian buyers: Hak Milik

Indonesians can buy Hak Milik, which has no end date (UUPA art. 20). If you are married to a foreigner, you need a notarial separation-of-property agreement, so that the land is not joint marital property (PP 18/2021 art. 70).

How land for sale in Bali is measured and priced

Land in Bali is measured and priced in are: 1 are is 100 m², and a hectare is 100 are (10,000 m²). To compare plots, divide the price by the size in are. For leasehold land, divide again by the years left, because a lower price can simply mean fewer years.

Prices depend on the zone, title, access, size and shape of the plot, and distance to the beach. We found no reliable, dated public source for land prices in southwest Bali, so compare live listings: our land for sale shows the price per are, and per are per year for leasehold.

Certificates and uncertified land

The certificate (sertipikat) shows the right, the holder, the plot size and the boundaries. Old tax notes such as a girik, letter C or pipil are not certificates: they are only an indication of an old customary right, and PP 18/2021 (art. 96) gave holders five years from February 2021 to register them, a window that closed in February 2026. Buy or lease only certified land.

Checks before you pay

Do these checks before any deposit, and make the deal conditional on them.

Zoning comes first

The certificate proves the land right, not what you may build. Have the regency’s public works and spatial planning office (Dinas PUPR) confirm in writing what the zone allows for your plan; for a business, the formal check is a KKPR (confirmation that the use fits the spatial plan) in the OSS licensing system. Our Bali zoning guide explains the steps and which plans apply.

Farmland and green zones

Many plots in southwest Bali are rice fields or other farmland, the “green zone” of everyday talk. In December 2025 a governor’s instruction told the regencies to stop converting farmland until a provincial regulation was in place (Instruksi Gubernur 5/2025). That regulation, Perda Bali 4/2026, has applied since about late February 2026: it strictly controls the conversion of productive land and bans nominee ownership. Converting LP2B land (farmland protected for food production) can bring up to five years in prison and a fine of up to IDR 1 billion (UU 41/2009, as amended).

Setbacks, height and temple zones

Some limits apply whatever the zone and can take a large share of a plot, so ask where the lines run:

• Beaches: at least 100 m from the highest tide line; the regency plan sets the exact line (Perpres 51/2016).
• Rivers: for a river without embankments, at least 10 to 30 m from the bank inside urban areas, depending on its depth, and at least 50 m (small river) or 100 m (large river) outside urban areas; beside an embanked river, at least 3 m from the outer foot of the levee inside urban areas and 5 m outside them (Permen PUPR 28/2015). Ask the public works office where the line runs for your plot.
• Temples: zones of at least 5 km around Sad Kahyangan temples, the island’s most important, and 2 km around Dang Kahyangan temples (1994 Bhisama, a religious ruling); ask the regency what may be built inside.
• Height: generally 15 m at most.

Access and boundaries

Compare fences and markers with the certificate; if they differ, ask your notary to have the land office measure the plot before you sign. Then ask:

• Does the plot reach a public road? If access crosses a neighbor’s land, is it agreed in writing and binding on future owners?
• If you buy part of a larger plot, when will it get its own certificate (pecah sertipikat), in whose name, and who pays? Make the split a condition.

Mortgages, disputes and the seller

Only a PPAT can request the official certificate check at the land office (official fee IDR 50,000). It compares the certificate with the land office records, where mortgages, blocks (blokir) and seizures (sita) are recorded; a block or seizure means stop, and a mortgage needs a written payoff plan. Check that the seller may sell, including a spouse’s consent and the heirs where needed. Our due diligence guide has the full checklist.

We list land across southwest Bali and review the certificate and permits with the owner before a listing goes online, but that review does not replace the official check, which only a PPAT can request.

Costs on top of the price

As of October 2026. Regencies set some rates, so confirm them with your PPAT.

Fee caps are maximums, not typical prices. Owners also pay the yearly land and building tax (PBB-P2), capped at 0.5% and lower for food-production land.

Leasing land to build: what the lease must say

On leased land, the lease is the legal basis for your building: the Buildings Law requires a written agreement between landowner and building owner (UU 28/2002 art. 35, as amended), and the building approval (PBG) application asks for proof of the land right. The lease should cover:

1. Permission to build: what you may build, and the owner’s promise to provide the certificate and sign what the permits need.
2. Term: long enough to justify the building, with time for design and permits.
3. The buildings: who owns them during the lease, and whether they are handed over, removed or paid for at the end.
4. Extension: length, price or formula and notice deadline, fixed now.
5. Subleasing and transfer: the right to both; otherwise each needs the owner’s consent (Civil Code art. 1559).
6. Taxes: who bears the owner’s 10% lease tax and the yearly PBB.
7. Form: a notarial deed, which you can ask the land office to record on the register or certificate (PP 18/2021 art. 90).

Buying land to build a villa

Before you buy, check that the zone, setbacks and height limit leave room for your design. The PBG must be approved before construction starts; building without it can bring a stop order and even demolition. A rental villa also needs a business license, which requires the PBG and an SLF (certificate of fitness for use). Our guide to building a villa in Bali covers permits, contractors and costs.

Mistakes to avoid

• A nominee “owner”: void, and courts have left such land with the person on the certificate.
• A deposit before the checks, without a written refund if they fail.
• Part of a plot without a split plan, or access by a neighbor’s goodwill.
• A lease silent on building, or on the buildings at the end.

Browse our land in Pererenan, Seseh, Cemagi and Munggu, or tell us what you need.