Property Ownership in Bali: What Foreigners Can Actually Hold

Almost every question a foreign buyer asks in Bali reduces to one: what exactly will my name be on? Indonesian land law answers that precisely, and it answers it differently depending on who you are. This page sets out the titles that exist, which of them a foreigner can hold, and what each one is actually worth — naming the regulation behind every rule so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

None of this replaces a notary. Land status varies plot by plot, and the only document that matters is the one attached to the property you are buying. Treat what follows as the map, not the survey.

Hak Milik (freehold) — and why it is closed to foreigners

Hak Milik is the strongest title in Indonesian law: full ownership, no expiry. It is also reserved to Indonesian nationals. Article 21(1) of the Basic Agrarian Law (Law 5/1960) restricts it to Indonesian citizens, and article 26(2) goes further — any legal act that directly or indirectly transfers Hak Milik to a foreigner is void by operation of law, and the land falls to the state.

That word "indirectly" is the important one, and we come back to it at the end of this page. There is no version of a foreign buyer holding freehold in their own name in Indonesia. Any offer that appears to promise it is describing something else, and you should find out precisely what.

Hak Pakai — the one title a foreigner holds personally

Hak Pakai, the right of use, is the single land right a foreign individual may hold in their own name for a residence. Government Regulation 18/2021 (article 51) establishes it, building on articles 41 to 43 of the Basic Agrarian Law.

Its term runs 30 years, extendable by 20, renewable for a further 30. That is a maximum of 80 years reached in three separate steps, not a single 80-year grant — a distinction that matters, because each step is an application that has to be made properly and on time. Extension is applied for while the right is still running; renewal is a different application made after expiry. Whether an extension is granted as a formality is a question of administrative practice rather than of statute, so treat the 80 years as a ceiling that requires attention rather than a period you simply own.

Since Ministerial Regulation ATR/BPN 18/2021, a KITAS or KITAP is no longer required to buy a residence as a foreigner — a valid immigration document such as a visa, passport or stay permit is sufficient. This changed earlier practice, and it is an area where administrative habits at individual land offices can lag the rule; confirm the current requirement for your situation.

Conditions attach. Ministerial Decision ATR/BPN 1241/SK-HK.02/IX/2022 sets minimum purchase prices per province, and for Bali the minimum for a landed house is IDR 5 billion. The regulations also limit a foreign individual to one plot per person or family, cap the land area, and require the property to fall in the luxury category. Ask your notary to confirm the current area cap and category test against the regulation text in force on the day you transact — these figures are revised.

Hak Sewa (leasehold) — the common route, and the term that is not law

Most foreign-held property in Bali sits on a lease. Hak Sewa is established by articles 44 and 45 of the Basic Agrarian Law, and it is expressly available to foreigners. It lets you use another party's land for a building against payment, and the building itself is yours unless the contract says otherwise.

It is important to understand what it is not. Hak Sewa is a contractual right, not a registered land title in the way Hak Milik, HGB and Hak Pakai are. Your protection comes from the strength of the agreement and from who actually holds the underlying title, not from a certificate in your name. Sources differ on whether and how a lease can be annotated at the land office, so do not accept a general assurance on this point — ask your notary what specifically will be recorded for this plot, and get the answer before signing.

Here is a point rarely made plainly: the Basic Agrarian Law sets no maximum term for Hak Sewa. The familiar 25 or 30 years with an agreed extension is market practice, not a statutory limit. Academic commentary has criticised this silence in the law precisely because it leaves the buyer's position to be defined entirely by the contract. Practically, that cuts both ways — the term is negotiable, and so is everything about how the extension works. Read the extension clause more carefully than the price: whether it is a right or an option, what it costs, what happens if the landowner dies or sells, and what happens to your building at the end.

HGB and the PT PMA route

Hak Guna Bangunan, the right to build, runs on the same 30 plus 20 plus 30 shape as Hak Pakai under article 37(1) of Government Regulation 18/2021. It is held by Indonesian citizens and by Indonesian legal entities. A foreign individual cannot hold HGB personally.

A PT PMA — an Indonesian limited company with foreign shareholding — is an Indonesian legal entity, and that is why it may hold HGB. This is the route to a building right rather than a lease, and it is the structure behind most foreign-owned commercial and rental operations on the island. It is a company, with everything that implies: an investment threshold set by the investment agency (total investment above IDR 10 billion excluding land and buildings, per business classification per project location), licensing, reporting, tax filings and annual costs.

It also has to be real. Under the risk-based licensing regime, renting out property is a business activity requiring its own licensing; a dormant PT PMA used only to park a villa sits outside the design of the rule. The capital requirements themselves moved in 2025, when BKPM Regulation 5/2025 replaced the 2021 regime, and the reported paid-up figures vary between advisers — ask for the current number in writing from whoever will incorporate the company, rather than relying on any article, including this one.

Strata title on apartments

Foreigners may hold strata title — Hak Milik Sarusun — on commercial-category apartment units, over land held under HGB or Hak Pakai, under Government Regulation 18/2021 and Ministerial Regulation ATR/BPN 18/2021. Minimum price thresholds apply here as they do to landed houses, but published sources disagree on the current Bali figure for strata, so we do not state one. Have it confirmed against the decree before you rely on it.

What the 2025 reforms did not change

Indonesia consolidated business licensing in 2025, and the changes have been widely discussed in terms that sometimes suggest more than they deliver. To be clear: Government Regulation 28/2025 is a licensing reform. It consolidates business licensing under the OSS system and the single-reference principle. It does not create new land rights for foreigners, and it does not open Hak Milik. If you are told the rules on foreign ownership have fundamentally changed, ask which regulation and which article — the answer will tell you a great deal about who you are dealing with.

Nominee arrangements

A nominee arrangement puts an Indonesian national's name on the certificate while a foreign buyer provides the money and holds side agreements intended to give them control. It is common, it is openly discussed, and it does not work.

Such an arrangement is void from the outset. It fails the lawful-cause requirement for a valid agreement because it circumvents articles 21 and 26(2) of the Basic Agrarian Law, and the Supreme Court has ruled this way. Indonesian land law is monistic: the person named on the certificate is the owner, full stop. There is no doctrine of beneficial ownership to fall back on, and funding the purchase creates no right of any kind.

The practical consequence is simple and worth stating without drama. A nominee structure is unenforceable in the Indonesian courts. If the relationship breaks down, the money and the property are at the nominee's discretion, and the side agreements you were shown are the ones a court will decline to enforce. The legal routes above exist precisely so that this one does not have to be taken.

What to verify on the property in front of you

Everything above describes the system. A specific purchase turns on specific documents: which title the land actually carries and in whose name, how long it has left to run, whether the zoning permits what you intend to do, whether the access road is what it appears to be, and whether the building has the permits it should. A notary and PPAT verifies these for the individual plot, and that verification is the part of the process worth paying properly for.

Every listing on this site states its tenure openly, and we will put you in front of the documents rather than describe them. If a question here bears on a property you are considering, ask us and we will get you a straight answer or tell you we do not have one.