Moving to Bali Checklist: The First 30 Days for Renters
Nest team · Last updated:
Use your first month in Bali for a short, flexible stay and in-person viewings, and sign a long-term lease only once you have seen the home, met the person renting it out and read the contract. Around that, this moving to Bali checklist covers the admin week by week: getting around, a phone that works, money, your visa's end date, reporting your address, the banjar (the local community council) and utilities.
It is written for renters arriving from abroad. The rules below come from official Indonesian pages as of October 2026; they change, so check anything about your visa with a licensed immigration agent.
Your moving to Bali checklist, week by week
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| Before you fly | Book a short stay of a few weeks. Write down your visa type and the date it ends. |
| Week 1 | Sort out transport, a phone that works on a local SIM, and how you will pay. |
| Week 2 | View homes in person in two or three areas. Put your visa deadline in your calendar. |
| Week 3 | Pick a home, check who is renting it out, agree utilities and fees in writing, meet the banjar. |
| Week 4 | Sign, pay against the contract, move in with a written inventory, save the emergency numbers. |
Why book a short stay before you commit?
Because a home that looks right in photos can be wrong in ways you only notice in person: a busy road, a building site next door, damp, weak water pressure or slow internet. Bali Home Immo, a real estate agency in Bali, puts it simply: "Photos rarely reveal the issues that become frustrating in month two."
So arrive with a few weeks booked in a guesthouse or a monthly rental, ideally in the area you like most, and use it as your base for viewings. Don't pay a deposit or DP (down payment) for a long-term home from abroad, before you or someone you trust has seen it. On Nest, being asked to pay before a viewing or a contract is one of the reasons you can give when you report a listing as a scam.
Week 1: how do you get around, get connected and pay?
Getting around
Ride-hailing apps are a simple way to reach viewings in your first days. Before you ride a scooter or drive, sort out your licence. Indonesia's police regulation on driving licences (Perpol No. 5 of 2021) defines a driver as a person driving or riding a motor vehicle on the road who holds a licence (SIM), and states that an international driving permit issued in another country is valid in Indonesia under the United Nations Convention on Road Traffic or other international agreements. Foreigners can also apply for an Indonesian licence: the requirements include immigration documents and, for foreigners who work in Indonesia, a work permit.
A phone that works on a local SIM
To use a phone from abroad with an Indonesian SIM card, register its IMEI, the phone's 15-digit identity number, with Indonesian customs (Bea Cukai), so that it can connect to local networks and is not blocked. The Denpasar city government's radio explained the steps in July 2025, quoting Bea Cukai Denpasar:
- register on beacukai.go.id/register-imei or in the Mobile Bea Cukai app, then show the QR code you receive to customs officers at the arrival airport;
- bring your passport, your ticket or boarding pass and the phone;
- registration is possible up to 60 days after the arrival date on your passport and ticket, at a Bea Cukai office if not at the airport;
- registration that isn't done at the airport on arrival no longer gets the tax exemption;
- any import duty and tax is paid through Bea Cukai's billing, never by transfer to a personal account or in cash.
Bea Cukai's own page for arriving passengers lists IMEI registration for a phone that will use an Indonesian network among the cases in which a passenger can be sent through the red channel for a physical check. Check its site for the current rules before you fly.
Money
Arrive with a card that works abroad and some cash for the first days. Bank Indonesia says international visitors can pay at Indonesian merchants that support cross-border QRIS, the national QR payment code, by scanning it with a participating payment app. It says cross-border QRIS is currently used for payments with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and China, so check whether your own payment app takes part.
Rent and deposits are different: you agree and pay them directly with the owner or agent. Pay only into an account in the name of the person who signs the contract, and keep every transfer receipt (bukti transfer).
Week 2: what does your visa allow, and when does it end?
A lease doesn't extend your stay in Indonesia; only your visa or stay permit does. Check your visa or e-visa and note the exact end date.
As of October 2026, the Ngurah Rai immigration office's page for foreigners says:
- a visa on arrival allows a 30-day stay and can be extended once, at the immigration office for the area where you live;
- an electronic visa on arrival is extended online on the official e-Visa site, evisa.imigrasi.go.id; the form asks for the address where you are staying, and an email then calls you to the immigration office for a photo and interview;
- foreigners should extend before the permit ends to avoid an overstay fine, which the office lists as "Rp 1.000.000,- per hari" (Rp 1 million a day).
Other visas, and stay permits such as the limited stay permit (ITAS), have their own conditions, listed on the same page. Set a reminder two weeks before your end date. This is general information, not legal advice: check your own situation with a licensed immigration agent.
Do you need to report where you live?
Two rules matter here.
Accommodation owners must report foreign guests. The immigration reporting system APOA (Aplikasi Pelaporan Orang Asing) states that owners or managers of accommodation must report the foreigners who stay with them to immigration officers. In July 2026, Bali immigration stressed the role of owners of guesthouses, hotels and villas and of individual accommodation providers, and said that under Article 72 of Law No. 6 of 2011 on Immigration every owner or manager of a place to stay must report the foreigners staying there through APOA; those who break the rule can face a jail sentence or a fine. When you move in, ask your landlord or agent whether they have reported you through APOA.
With a stay permit, an address change has its own procedure. The Ngurah Rai office lists an address change (mutasi alamat) for holders of the limited and permanent stay permits (ITAS, ITAP), submitted by the sponsor through the e-Visa site. One requirement is a domicile letter "minimal dari Banjar atau Kelurahan", that is, from the banjar or the urban village office (kelurahan) at the least.
Week 2 to 3: how do you view homes without wasting a month?
Narrow things down before you book viewings. On Nest you can see every rental listing on the map, and the page of villas for rent in Bali by area links to each area's page, with its typical monthly and yearly rent and its listings. Pick two or three areas and group your viewings by area.
At each viewing:
- go at the hour you would usually travel, to see the traffic and hear the noise;
- run the taps and the shower, switch on the air conditioning and look for damp;
- test the internet speed, and ask whether internet is included: one agency notes it often is for monthly rentals, but not always for yearly ones;
- ask what the rent covers: electricity, water, internet, pool and garden care, cleaning, any banjar fee;
- ask who owns the home and, if you are dealing with an agent or a tenant who sublets, what gives them the right to rent it out.
Week 3: why should you meet the banjar early?
A banjar is the local Balinese community council of a neighbourhood, part of the customary village (desa adat). Ask your landlord to introduce you to its head, the kelian banjar, in your first weeks. Two practical reasons:
- Paperwork. As above, an immigration address change asks for a domicile letter from at least the banjar or the kelurahan.
- Fees. Bali Home Immo notes that some neighbourhoods have a small community fee tied to the banjar. It isn't always charged to tenants, so ask before you sign whether there is one and who pays it. The agency gives no amount, so ask.
Week 3 to 4: how do utilities work in a Bali rental?
Settle these before you sign, and write the answers into the contract.
- Electricity. PLN, the state electricity company, has both prepaid and postpaid customers, so ask which kind of meter the home has. A prepaid meter is topped up with credit (token listrik); PLN's website lists tokens and payments, complaints and capacity changes among the services in its PLN Mobile app. Ask for the meter number and how the landlord has been topping it up.
- Water. Ask whether water comes from the regional water company (PDAM) or a well, and how drinking water is supplied.
- Internet. Ask who the provider is, whose name the account is in and whether it is included in the rent.
- Everything else. Gas, rubbish collection, pool and garden care: who pays, and who arranges it.
Week 4: how do you sign, pay and settle in safely?
- Sign with the right person. The contract should be with the owner, or with someone who can show written permission to rent the home out.
- Pay against the contract. Pay to an account in the name of the person who signed, and keep every receipt.
- Move in with a written inventory. Walk through the home with the owner or agent, note what is there and any damage, and take dated photos. Bali Home Immo describes opening a group chat with the tenant, the owner's side and the agent after the walkthrough, for questions during the stay.
- Save the emergency numbers. Bali's provincial government lists 112 for emergencies, 110 for the police and 118 or 119 for an ambulance.
- Keep your search open until you have the keys. If a deal falls through, a saved search means you don't start again from zero.
Your first month, in short
Arrive with a short stay booked and your visa's end date written down. In week one, get around, get your phone registered and set up payments. In weeks two and three, view homes in person, meet the banjar and pin down utilities. In week four, sign with the right person, pay against the contract and keep every receipt, with your visa reminder already set.
Sources
- Kantor Imigrasi Ngurah Rai (Directorate General of Immigration): Layanan WNA (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Kantor Imigrasi Ngurah Rai: Imigrasi Bali Gencarkan Patroli "Dharma Dewata" Sisir Titik Rawan Aktivitas Orang Asing (16 July 2026) (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Directorate General of Immigration: APOA, Aplikasi Pelaporan Orang Asing (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Direktorat Jenderal Bea dan Cukai: Barang Penumpang, Ketentuan Barang Bawaan dan Pembebasan Bea Masuk (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Radio Publik Kota Denpasar (Denpasar city government): Cara Registrasi IMEI Ponsel dari Luar Negeri (1 July 2025) (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Korlantas Polri: Peraturan Kepolisian Nomor 5 Tahun 2021 tentang Penerbitan dan Penandaan Surat Izin Mengemudi (PDF) (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Bank Indonesia: QRIS Antarnegara (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Bank Indonesia: Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) (accessed 6 October 2026)
- PT PLN (Persero): Home (accessed 6 October 2026)
- PT PLN (Persero): FAQ (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Pemerintah Provinsi Bali: home page (accessed 6 October 2026)
- Bali Home Immo: Your Guide to Long Term Rental in Bali Today (accessed 6 October 2026)