Renting a house or villa long term in Bali: contracts, payments, utilities and reporting in 2026

This guide is for expats, digital nomads and long-stay visitors who plan to rent a house or villa in Bali for a year or more. Most rentals are settled by contract rather than by statute, so the paperwork matters more than the listing. Two things changed recently: immigration officials in Bali have been pushing accommodation operators to register foreigners in the online reporting system (APOA), and Bali has stepped up enforcement against villas without permits and against nominee-owned land. Rules change often, so confirm the details with the relevant authority or a licensed professional. This is general information, not legal advice.

The short version

• Confirm who the owner is before paying, and whether the person you deal with has the owner's written authority.
• Use a written contract that works in both languages, with stamp duty paid on it.
• Settle deposit, extension, sale, repairs, banjar fees and utilities in writing, because no standard rule fills the gaps.
• Your stay should be reported to immigration through the lodging system, and you must update immigration if your address changes.
• Treat missing permits, payment to unrelated accounts and pressure to pay cash as red flags.

Check who you are renting from

Many Bali rentals involve an owner, an agent and sometimes a middle tenant who re-lets the house. Each link needs to be clear.

• Ask for the owner's identity and a copy of the land certificate, or a written authority from the owner to the person who signs. Under the Civil Code a tenant may not sublet or hand over a lease without permission unless the contract allows it, so a person who is only a tenant can promise you less than he or she appears to.
• A lease is only as good as the lessor's right to the land. Government Regulation 18/2021 (Article 90) lets an interested party ask the land office to note a lease or a sale-and-purchase binding agreement over registered land in the register and on the certificate. For a long lease, ask whether this can be done.
• Ask whether a villa that is run as a rental business has a tourism business licence and a building approval (PBG). Bali's tourism office said in late 2025 that it would begin enforcement with rental villas, and a 2024 Badung assessment, reported in 2025, found 226 rental villas operating under permits for luxury private homes. A house that is ordered closed or demolished ends your use of it.
• Be careful with a property that a foreigner appears to own through a local name. Bali's regional legislature passed a regulation on 29 December 2025 against nominee land transfers and farmland conversion, and in September 2026 the governor led the demolition of a villa in a Buleleng forest area, citing signs of foreign funding behind local names.

The contract

Language

Presidential Regulation 63/2019 (Article 26) says agreements involving an Indonesian individual or private institution must be in Indonesian. If a foreign party is involved, the agreement must also be written in that party's national language and/or English, which serves as an equivalent or translation. If the readings differ, the language that the agreement itself names applies. In practice that means a bilingual contract with a clause stating which version prevails. Consider having the English text checked by a sworn translator or a lawyer, since Indonesian is the mandatory language for agreements with Indonesian parties.

Written, signed and stamped

• A written lease ends by law on the agreed date (Civil Code, Article 1570). A lease that is not written does not end on a fixed date. It ends only after notice, with the notice period customary in the area (Article 1571). Written is safer.
• If a tenant stays on after a written lease ends and the landlord does not object, the lease is presumed to continue on the same terms for a period set by local custom (Article 1587), which is another reason to put renewal terms in writing.
• Stamp duty (bea meterai) is Rp 10,000 per document under the 2020 Stamp Duty Law. It applies to agreements, becomes due when the document is signed, and for a two-party document each party owes it on the copy it receives. The stamp can be paper or electronic. A missing stamp can be fixed afterwards through a later-stamping procedure, and a document used as court evidence needs it. Receipts stating payment of more than Rp 5 million are in scope too, though the government can change that threshold.
• A notarial deed is an option, and for a lease of several years it is worth asking a notary to draft or review it. A PPAT deed, which is used to transfer land rights, is not part of an ordinary rental.

Who does what

Unless the contract says otherwise, the Civil Code makes the landlord responsible for handing over the property, keeping it fit for its use and letting the tenant enjoy it peacefully for the term (Article 1550). Small everyday repairs fall on the tenant by default, but the landlord pays when repairs are needed because the property was damaged or because of force majeure (Article 1583). If the property is completely destroyed by accident the lease ends by law, and if only part is destroyed the tenant can ask for a rent reduction or cancel (Article 1553). These are defaults, and the contract can change them.

Money: rent, deposit and tax

• Upfront payment. A 2019 expat guide, updated in 2021, said landlords usually want the full rent paid upfront and often seek contracts of two to three years. This is custom, not law. Paying a full year ahead leaves you exposed if the landlord, the permits or the property fail, so negotiate staged payments where possible.
• Deposit. No legal amount or return deadline was found in the sources reviewed. Write down the amount, what it covers, what can be deducted, who decides and the date it is returned. Attach an inventory with dated photos. The Civil Code uses a written inventory as the reference for the condition in which the property must be returned.
• Where the money goes. Pay by traceable bank transfer into an Indonesian account in the owner's name, or the account named in the authority letter. A 2025 report on rental villas flagged operators who accept online payments into accounts not registered in Indonesia as a concern. A transfer receipt is not proof of payment: in a September 2025 Denpasar case a tenant who moved into a villa on receipts for money that never arrived was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months, so expect owners to wait for cleared funds.
• Tax on rent. A 2026 tax summary says rent from land and buildings is subject to a 10 percent final income tax on the gross amount, and that companies, organisations and certain appointed individuals must withhold it. The landlord is the taxpayer. Agree in writing whether the quoted rent is gross or net of tax.
• Rent levels. This guide does not quote rent figures, because the sources reviewed were promotional. Compare several listings in the same area and season.

What yearly rent usually includes

There is no standard package. Ask for each item to be listed in the contract:

• Furniture, appliances and air conditioning, with an inventory.
• Pool and garden upkeep, cleaning and any staff.
• Banjar or community fees, security and trash collection.
• Water, internet and electricity, and who pays each.
• Repairs, pest control and insurance, and who arranges them.

Utilities

Electricity. Prepaid electricity runs on a 20-digit token that can be bought through PLN, the state electricity company, including in the PLN Mobile app. Ask whether the meter is prepaid or postpaid. Keep the customer ID and the meter number. If a token does not enter the meter, check the 20 digits and the customer ID first, then the monthly kWh limit, and call PLN's call centre on 123 or use the app. For reference, household tariffs for July to September 2026 included Rp 1,444.70 per kWh for 1,300 and 2,200 VA connections, and the government kept them unchanged for that quarter. Tariffs are reviewed every quarter, so check the current figure. Ask the landlord what power capacity the meter has and which tariff category applies.

Water. Ask whether the house uses a piped network or a well or borehole. A groundwater extraction permit was one of the missing permits cited when a Buleleng villa was demolished in September 2026, so ask whether any borehole is permitted.

Internet and trash. Fibre availability and speeds differ by street, so ask neighbours and check installation time and contract length before signing. Confirm who collects trash, how often and who pays.

Banjar, desa adat and community life

Bali has two parallel village systems: the official administrative village and the customary village (desa adat), which is divided into banjar. The Governor's Regulation 4/2020 defines the desa adat as a customary-law community with its own territory, temples and rules. It says the customary rules (awig-awig) apply to village members (krama desa adat, defined as Hindu Balinese who are registered members) and also to krama tamiu and tamiu, which are categories of residents and visitors who are not full members. Which category applies to a foreign tenant is a question for the banjar head.

• Fees and duties. Some villages and banjar collect regular contributions, for example for security, trash or ceremonies. Amounts are set locally and no official fee schedule was found, so ask the landlord what the banjar charges and who pays, and put it in the contract.
• Introductions. Introduce yourself to the banjar head (kelian banjar) or neighbourhood head. A 2019 expat guide, written about the neighbourhood head (RT) system used in much of Indonesia, gave the same advice and noted that civic duties were usually light. Local governments also record foreigners through village and neighbourhood heads under a Home Affairs regulation, as Denpasar reported in 2018 and 2019.
• Pecalang. The pecalang are customary village security officers. They patrol on Nyepi, the Day of Silence, when all activity in Bali stops for one day. On Nyepi in March 2026 a pecalang stopped a foreigner walking out with a bag in Gianyar and police helped arrange lodging for the day. Plan food and supplies ahead and stay on the property.

Registering your stay and reporting foreigners

Immigration status comes first. A stay permit such as a limited stay permit (KITAS) or a visa must be valid for the length of your stay. Reporting then works at two levels.

• Your own duty. Under the Immigration Law (Law 6/2011 as enacted, Article 71), a foreigner must report changes of identity details, civil status, job, sponsor or address to the local immigration office. Failing to do so can lead to up to three months' confinement or a fine of up to Rp 25 million (Article 116).
• The lodging owner's duty. Article 72 of the same law requires the owner or manager of a place of lodging to give data on foreigners staying there when immigration asks, with the same maximum penalty if they do not (Article 117). The implementing regulation (Government Regulation 31/2013 as issued, Article 188) lists the minimum data: full name, place and date of birth, sex, phone number, nationality and passport number.
• The APOA system. Immigration runs the Aplikasi Pelaporan Orang Asing (APOA) for owners and managers of accommodation to report foreigners. A 2021 report said lodging accounts cover property types including rented house, guest house, boarding house and villa. On 28 August 2026 the immigration directorate asked accommodation operators in Bali to register foreigners actively in APOA, as joint patrols continued in Canggu, and the head of immigration said 66 foreigners were detained in the second patrol period (15 July to 16 August 2026).

Whether a private long-term rental counts as a place of lodging is not spelled out in the sources reviewed. The August 2026 report did not say landlords are legally required to report. Ask the landlord and the local immigration office, and expect a landlord or agent to ask for your passport and visa pages. No system named SIPORA could be confirmed from official pages, so APOA is the verified channel.

Practical steps: give your landlord clear copies of your passport and visa, keep proof of any report, tell immigration if you move, and keep your stay permit current.

Subletting and short-term re-letting

Under the Civil Code (Article 1559), a tenant who sublets or hands over the lease without permission risks cancellation of the lease plus costs and damages. If the tenant lives in a house, he or she may sublet part of it at their own risk unless the contract forbids it. Renting out a villa short term on booking platforms is a business activity that needs the right registration, and Bali officials have been targeting unlicensed rental villas. If you want that flexibility, agree it with the owner in writing and check the licence position.

Red flags

• The person cannot show an identity document, a certificate copy or written authority from the owner.
• Pressure to pay a full year in cash, to an account abroad, or to a name that does not match the owner.
• The same villa is advertised by several agents, or is "already rented", and nobody can show the existing lease.
• No building approval (PBG), no business licence for a rental villa, or a building on rice fields, a cliff edge, the beach or state land.
• A foreign owner who appears to hold the land through local names.
• No contract, a contract in a language you cannot read, or a contract with "no refund for any reason".
• No inventory, no receipts and no way to contact the owner directly.
• A listing that cannot be visited in person before payment. A villa association reported more than 100 open villa fraud cases in January 2026.

What to put in writing

• Parties and authority. Names, IDs, and the owner's authority if an agent or manager signs.
• Term and extension. Start and end dates, a renewal option, the notice period, and a fixed price or a cap on the increase if the option is used.
• Rent and payment. Amount, currency, schedule, bank account, and whether the rent is gross or net of tax.
• Deposit. Amount, permitted deductions, return date and inventory.
• Sale clause. The lease continues if the property is sold. The Civil Code default is that a sale does not end a lease unless that was agreed, so check the contract does not say otherwise, and require the owner to tell any buyer.
• Force majeure and closure. What happens to rent and the deposit if the property is destroyed, becomes unusable or is closed by authorities, and a refund of unused rent.
• Permits. The landlord states that the building and any rental use are properly permitted, and refunds unused rent if the property is shut for lack of permits.
• Costs. Utilities, banjar fees, trash, repairs and taxes, and who pays each.
• Subletting and early exit. Whether either is allowed and on what terms.
• Language, law and disputes. Which language prevails, Indonesian law, and where disputes go.
• Reporting. The landlord helps with immigration reporting and gives any data needed.

Where to get it done

• A licensed notary to prepare or review a lease deed and, for long leases, to advise on noting it at the land office.
• A licensed property lawyer for contract review and for checking the owner's title and permits.
• A sworn translator for a certified Indonesian or English version.
• The local immigration office for APOA and address-change questions, and the immigration reporting FAQ for how to report.
• The banjar head (kelian banjar), the customary village head (bandesa adat) and the neighbourhood head for local rules and fees.
• PLN customer service, through the PLN Mobile app or call centre 123, for meters and tokens.
• The tax office for questions about rental income tax and withholding.