Buying Land in Bali: The Checks to Do Before You Pay

By Nest team · 13 October 2026 · Buying & land

Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia

Buying land in Bali safely comes down to a few checks before any money moves: which right you will actually hold, what the zoning allows on the plot, whose name is on the certificate, how the plot reaches a road, and, for a lease, its length and extension terms. On Nest Bali on 6 October 2026, the median asking price for a plot was about Rp 4.2 billion in total, and the median plot size about 1,000 m², and most plots that stated their tenure were leaseholds.

The rules below are quoted from official texts as of October 2026 (translations ours). This is general information, not legal advice: before you sign or pay, check your own case with a licensed notary (PPAT, the official who draws up land deeds).

What can you hold when buying land in Bali?

Freehold land carries a hak milik certificate (SHM), and the Basic Agrarian Law (UUPA, Law No. 5 of 1960) says: "Hanya warga-negara Indonesia dapat mempunyai hak milik", only Indonesian citizens can hold hak milik (Article 21(1)). Any deal meant to pass it to a foreigner, directly or indirectly, is "batal karena hukum dan tanahnya jatuh kepada Negara", void by law, with the land falling to the State (Article 26(2)).

A foreigner has three lawful routes, explained in our guide on whether foreigners can buy property in Bali:

• A lease (hak sewa), open to "foreigners domiciled in Indonesia" (UUPA Article 45).
• Hak pakai (right of use), open to foreigners under Government Regulation No. 18 of 2021 (PP 18/2021, Article 49), tied to a house with limits: in Bali, a landed house must cost at least Rp 5 billion (Ministerial Decision No. 1241/SK-HK.02/IX/2022).
• Hak guna bangunan (HGB, right to build), through a company set up under Indonesian law (PP 18/2021 Article 34).

What does the zoning allow on the plot?

Zoning decides whether you can build what you have in mind. Bali's provincial spatial plan (RTRW) is Regional Regulation No. 2 of 2023, running to 2043. Detailed spatial plans (RDTR) zone individual areas: Badung's plan for Petang, for example, uses codes such as R-3 for housing, K-2 for trade and services and P-3 for plantations. Not every area has an RDTR yet, so ask whether yours does.

Agency guides such as Emerhub's and Bali Villa Realty's describe yellow zones as housing, pink as tourism, red as commercial, green as agriculture (no villas) and orange as mixed use; a Rumah123 guide uses red for disaster-prone land. The national map rules (Ministerial Regulation No. 14 of 2021) set the symbols, but colours and codes vary by map: read the legend of the official map and ask the PPAT or the regency office.

Three official checks matter most:

• KKPR, the confirmation that a planned use matches the spatial plan (Kesesuaian Kegiatan Pemanfaatan Ruang): a Konfirmasi KKPR where an RDTR exists, a Persetujuan KKPR where it doesn't (Government Regulation No. 21 of 2021, Article 1(17)–(19)).
• Protected farmland (LP2B). Law No. 41 of 2009: land designated as sustainable food-farming land "dilindungi dan dilarang dialihfungsikan", is protected and may not be converted (Article 44(1)).
• Productive land. In July 2025 Governor Wayan Koster said that from that year no permits would be issued using productive land, Antara reported. A bill on its conversion was still with a provincial parliament committee in the latest report we found (January 2026).

A cheap rice-field plot can be cheap for this reason.

Is the certificate genuine, and whose name is on it?

Ask which certificate the plot has (SHM, HGB or hak pakai) and see the original. Before drawing up a deed that transfers a land right, a PPAT must check that the certificate's physical and legal data match the land office's electronic database, and make sure the plot is "tidak dalam sengketa", not in dispute (Ministerial Regulation No. 16 of 2021, amended Article 97(1)).

For a first check of your own, the ministry's Sentuh Tanahku app shows the land parcel map, and the ministry's BHUMI web map (bhumi.atrbpn.go.id) lets the public look up parcel data down to the land value zone, Antara reported in November 2024. Match the seller's ID with the name on the certificate; if there are several names, ask your PPAT whose signatures the deed needs.

Does the plot have road access?

We found no rule that a plot must touch a public road. The Civil Code lets the owner of land enclosed by others' land demand a way out from the neighbours, but "dengan kewajiban untuk membayar ganti rugi", against compensation (Article 667, as explained by Hukumonline). That is a dispute to avoid. Ride the route to the plot and check its width for building trucks, compare it with the parcel map, and if the access crosses someone else's land, get a written right of way from that owner, drawn up by your notary, before you pay.

If you lease: how long, and what happens at the end?

We found no maximum lease term in the UUPA; the contract decides. Emerhub's leasing guide says Bali leases typically run 25 to 30 years, and the 28 land listings on Nest that stated a lease had a median of 28 years (the middle half between 26 and 30).

• Extension. There is no legal right to extend. Lawful contracts bind the parties like a law (Civil Code Article 1338), so count only on the extension your contract states, with a price or a formula.
• The end. At expiry the land goes back to the owner unless an extension has been agreed, Emerhub notes. Say in the contract what happens to the buildings.
• Recording. A lease of registered land can be recorded at the land office (PP 18/2021 Article 90). It is optional; ask your notary.

More in our guides on how a land lease works and lease years and extensions.

What taxes and costs come on top of the price?

• BPHTB, the duty on acquiring land rights, owed by the buyer as the party acquiring the right (Law No. 1 of 2022, Article 45(2)): at most 5%, with the rate set by the regency, charged on the acquisition value above a tax-free amount of at least Rp 80 million (Articles 46 and 47).
• Income tax on the transfer: 2.5% for land and buildings other than simple houses and flats (PP 34/2016, Article 1(1), as the tax office's site and the Cabinet Secretariat explain), owed by the seller on the income from the sale.
• Leases: income from renting out land and buildings carries a final 10% income tax on the gross rent (PP 34/2017). How it applies to a lease paid in one lump sum for decades isn't spelled out on an official page we found: ask a tax adviser.

PPAT and notary fees come on top: ask for a written quote of every tax and fee before you agree a price.

What does land cost in Bali?

Nest had 87 plots of land for sale on 6 October 2026. These are total asking prices; the price per are (100 m²) is the median of each plot's own price per are, so it isn't the total median divided by the size median.

Asking prices, with tenure as the listers gave it; a property listed by several agents counts once.

Rows can mix freehold, leasehold and plots that don't state their tenure (in Seseh and Uluwatu, none of the plots stated it), and a leasehold's price is the total for the whole term, not a price per year. Areas are map boxes that can overlap, and rows with 5 to 7 plots are thin.

By tenure, Bali-wide:

Asking prices, with tenure as the listers gave it; a property listed by several agents counts once.

Leaseholds dominate the two areas with the most land: 21 of Kedungu's 26 plots and 25 of Tabanan's 37 state a lease, with a median of 28 years in both. Freehold and leasehold plots are different plots, so the gap between their medians is not the price of the title alone. What a lease costs per are per year, worked out for each plot from its price, size and stated lease: on 13 October 2026 the median was about Rp 13.8 million Bali-wide (28 leasehold plots) and about Rp 11 million in both Kedungu (21 plots) and Tabanan (25 plots).

Where to look for land, and how to check a listing before a site visit

Bukit Vista's 2023 guide lists the usual channels: property portals, Bali property groups on Facebook, agents' and developers' Instagram accounts, local agents, and "Dijual" (for sale) signs on the plots. Wherever you find a plot, ask before you drive out for the exact location pin, a copy of the certificate and the name on it, the size, the lease years and extension terms, the zoning, and how the plot reaches the road. Don't pay a booking fee before you have seen the land and the original documents.

Before you pay

Know which right you are getting, get the zoning in writing, have a PPAT check the original certificate, confirm the road access, and for a lease, put the term, extension and buildings in the contract. Then pay only against signed documents, to an account in the name on the contract.

To follow new plots, open the map of all Nest listings or the land page for your area, save the search and turn on alerts: the Nest Android app then sends you a daily alert when a new listing matches.