List your Bali villas and projects
Baliestate

Buying

How to Check a Bali Villa Developer Before You Buy Off-Plan

The company records, past projects, land and permits to check before paying a Bali developer, which of them you can look up yourself, and what to ask your notary to confirm.

Published 25 October 2026 · Updated 25 October 2026 · Rules checked 25 October 2026 · 5 min read

Looking for a home in Bali?

Tell the Baliestate assistant your budget and dates. It replies in minutes with homes that fit and books the viewings.

Ask AI

Start with the company that signs

The brand on the brochure is often not the company on the contract. Ask for the full legal name of the entity that will sign the sale agreement and receive your money, then check it.

What to checkWhere it is recordedWho can check it
The company exists, its deed of establishment, directors and shareholdersAHU, the Ministry of Law’s company registryYour notary; basic search online
Its business number (NIB) and licensed activities (KBLI codes)The OSS licensing systemYour notary or lawyer
Foreign ownership, if a PT PMAThe company deed and OSSYour notary or lawyer
Court cases involving the companyThe district court’s public case-tracking system (SIPP)Your lawyer, or a search by company name
Who signs: the director named in the deed, or someone with a power of attorneyThe company deedYour notary

Property for sale in Uluwatu

See all 141 →

The land under the project

A developer can sell what it controls, not what it hopes to buy. Ask for the land certificate number and the holder’s name. If the developer leases the land, ask for the lease deed: its term, when it started, whether it allows building, sub-leasing and assignment to buyers, and what happens at the end. Your lease can be no longer than the developer’s own.

Your notary checks the certificate at the land office against the holder, and confirms no mortgage (Hak Tanggungan) or seizure is registered. ATR/BPN’s Bhumi portal gives a first look at a plot’s registration, not a title check.

Permits for this design

The building permit, the PBG under PP 16/2021, approves a specific design on a specific plot, checked against the plot’s zoning (its KKPR). Ask for the PBG number and the approved drawings, and compare the drawings with the brochure: the same number of units, floors and floor area.

If the PBG is ‘in process’, the risk of a refusal or a changed design is still open, and it is yours if you pay. Under PP 12/2021 a binding pre-sale agreement (PPJB) cannot be signed until the PBG is issued.

The track record

Ask for a list of completed projects with addresses, then go. A finished project shows build quality after a wet season, which no render can, and its owners can tell you whether handover was on time and whether the SLF came with the keys.

  • How many projects has this company finished, and how many are under way at once?
  • Did completed villas receive their SLF, and are any let under a licence (an NIB with KBLI 55193 for a villa)?
  • Was handover on the contract date? If late, how late, and was the delay penalty paid?
  • Who manages the finished villas, and can you see a year of their bookings?
  • Is the same architect and contractor building this project?

Signs to slow down

None of these proves a developer dishonest. Each one moves a risk onto you that a careful developer would carry or remove.

  • Payments requested to a personal account or to a company other than the one that signs.
  • A ‘freehold’ unit offered to a foreigner: that is a nominee arrangement, void under Article 26(2) of the Basic Agrarian Law and prohibited from brokering under Bali’s Perda 4/2026.
  • A rental return quoted without its nightly rate, occupancy and costs, or described as guaranteed.
  • Pressure to pay a reservation before your notary has seen the title and the PBG.
  • A land plot in green belt or farmland zoning, or one that is still being bought.

What a careful developer publishes

The developers who sell to informed buyers publish the company name, the land title and holder, the PBG number, the payment schedule and their finished projects on every listing. On Baliestate, off-plan projects have their own pages by area, apart from completed homes, and each unit is shown against similar listings in the same area, which is the comparison a buyer will make anyway.

Common questions

How do I check if a Bali developer is legitimate?

Have your notary confirm the signing company in the AHU registry and its business number in OSS, check the land certificate and the PBG for this project, and visit a completed project of the same company. Ask whether those villas received their SLF.

Can I check a Bali developer’s court cases?

Indonesian district courts publish case records through their SIPP case-tracking system, searchable by party name. A lawyer can run and read the search for you.

What documents should a Bali developer show before I pay?

The company deed and NIB, the land certificate or the developer’s land lease, the PBG with approved drawings, the payment schedule, and the draft sale agreement. Your notary should see them before any reservation fee.

Looking for a home in Bali?

Tell the Baliestate assistant your budget and dates. It replies in minutes with homes that fit and books the viewings.

Ask AI

No market figures: this is a checklist. The registries named are the official ones as of 25 October 2026. Perda 4/2026 is described from press and law-firm reporting, as the nominee guide explains. General information, not legal advice: have your own notary (PPAT) run these checks before you pay anything.

Sources and further reading

Related guides

Browse these areas

Explore listings