Buying
Yearly Tenant or Nightly Guests? Letting a Bali Villa Long-Term or Short-Term
A yearly tenant pays a year up front with no licence and little work; nightly letting needs a company and licences and keeps far less of each rupiah. How the two compare.
Updated 18 October 2026 · 7 min read
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The two side by side
The rows are the rules and ranges the linked guides publish. Neither option is better in general: a long-term let trades upside for certainty and almost no work; a nightly let can earn more in a strong location and costs much more to run and to set up lawfully.
| Yearly tenant | Nightly guests | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is in law | A lease of the building | An accommodation business |
| Licences | None beyond the building’s own permits | NIB with KBLI 55193, Sertifikat Standar, PBG and SLF, PBJT registration |
| Structure for a foreign owner | A lease that allows subletting; see below | A PT PMA holding the licences |
| Income tax | 10% of gross rent, final, with NPWP; 20% without | 22% on the PT PMA’s net profit |
| Other tax | None on the rent itself below the VAT threshold | PBJT hotel tax up to 10%; VAT once turnover reaches IDR 4.8bn |
| Who pays electricity | The tenant, metered | The owner |
| Management | An agent to find the tenant; lease commission reported at 5–8% | 15–25% of gross revenue, plus platform fees |
| Occupancy | Twelve months, paid in advance | Reported 45–65% island-wide; 70–85% for the best-run villas |
| Wear | One household | A turnover every few nights |
What a yearly tenant pays
Long-term rentals in Bali are normally paid a full year in advance, with a deposit of one to three months on top and electricity metered and paid by the tenant. Pool and garden service are often included on a standalone villa; the contract should say so.
Listing rents are often monthly-term prices. On 6 October 2026 the median asking rent for a 2-bedroom villa was IDR 40 million a month, across 234 priced listings, and 144 of the 156 listings that state a minimum term accepted a single month. The rental guides report the premium for paying monthly at 10–30%, so the same villa let for a year paid up front lands at roughly IDR 31–36 million a month, or IDR 369–436 million a year, before tax. Ask agencies what yearly tenants in your area are paying for villas like yours; that figure, not the monthly listing price, is your yearly income.
What a nightly let keeps
Before anything else comes out, a manager takes 15–25% of gross revenue and a platform 3% to 15–18%. At 20% management and a 10% blended platform fee the owner keeps 70% of what guests pay, so to match a yearly lease’s gross rent the villa has to gross about 1.43 times as much — and that is before cleaning and linen, the electricity and water the owner now pays, PBJT, the PT PMA’s accountant and filings, and more wear.
The yield guide runs a fuller example in which an advertised 10% gross yield ends near 2–2.5% net. Occupancy is the assumption that moves the answer most, and the easiest to inflate: Canggu’s reported occupancy fell from over 65% in 2022 to around 50% in 2023. Ask for the villa’s own twelve months of bookings, or a manager’s actual figures for similar villas nearby, before comparing either option.
Can you let it at all? The lease and the structure
Start with your own lease. A leasehold villa may be let only if the deed allows subletting, and a deed that is silent is not permission. Hak Pakai is for residence and does not support letting at all.
For nightly letting the position is settled: the accommodation licence cannot be held by a foreign individual, so it sits in a PT PMA, with the company’s capital requirement and running costs. For a long-term lease by a foreign individual it is less clear-cut. The rental-tax guide sets out the 10% final tax an individual landlord with an NPWP pays; the PT PMA guide takes the stricter view that a PT PMA is the only structure that lawfully earns rental income from a Bali villa. Which applies to you depends on your visa, your lease and how the letting is arranged, so ask an Indonesian lawyer before the first tenant moves in, not after.
Which suits which owner
Neither is a default. Choose against the villa, its location and how much of your time it can take.
- A yearly tenant suits an owner abroad who wants a known income, no licences and little management, or who holds the villa for later use.
- Nightly letting suits a villa in a strong short-stay location, with a manager on the ground, a PT PMA already in place or planned, and an owner who can carry months of low occupancy.
- A yearly let also suits a villa whose licences are not yet in order: since 1 August 2026 unlicensed short-stay listings have been delisted by the Ministry of Tourism.
- Either way, get the villa’s permits (PBG and SLF) in order first; they matter for insurance and for selling as well as for letting.
Common questions
Is it better to rent a Bali villa long-term or short-term?
It depends on location, occupancy and how much running you can take on. A yearly tenant pays twelve months in advance with no accommodation licence and little work; a nightly let can gross more, but after 20% management and a 10% platform fee it keeps 70% of gross before cleaning, utilities, hotel tax and company costs, so it needs about 1.4 times the yearly rent just to match on those lines.
Do I need a licence to rent my villa to a long-term tenant in Bali?
Not an accommodation licence: a long-term lease is taxed as rent, at 10% final with an NPWP. Your own lease must allow subletting, and whether a foreign individual may let without a PT PMA is worth confirming with a lawyer. Nightly letting needs an NIB with KBLI 55193 through a PT PMA, a PBG, an SLF and PBJT registration.
How much tax do I pay on long-term rental income in Bali?
A final 10% of the gross rent if you hold an Indonesian tax number (NPWP), or 20% if you do not. The tenant withholds it if they are a business; otherwise you report and pay it.
How much can I rent my Bali villa for per year?
Ask agencies what yearly tenants pay for similar villas in your area. As a reference, a 2-bedroom asked a median IDR 40 million a month on 6 October 2026, mostly on monthly terms; with the reported 10–30% monthly premium, a year paid up front works out at roughly IDR 31–36 million a month.
Who pays electricity when a villa is let long-term?
Almost always the tenant: it is metered by PLN and billed separately in nearly every long-term contract. On a nightly let the owner pays it.
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Tell the Baliestate assistant your budget and dates. It replies in minutes with homes that fit and books the viewings.
Rents are medians over priced villa rentals listed by Baliestate’s partner agencies on 6 October 2026, as the rent-by-area guide publishes them; the yearly figure applies the 10–30% monthly premium the rental guides report and is an estimate, not a listing median. Management, platform, occupancy and commission figures are industry-reported, as the linked guides state. General information, not legal or tax advice.
Sources and further reading
Related guides
- Villa rental yield in Bali: the arithmetic people skip
- Rental income tax in Bali: what actually applies
- Bali Airbnb Licensing in 2026: What the Rules Actually Require
- Villa Management Companies in Bali: Cost and What You Get
- Long-term rental contracts in Bali: what to read twice
- How Much Does a Villa Cost to Rent in Bali per Month? Area by Area
- PT PMA: when you need one, and when you do not
- Is Bali's villa market oversupplied? What the data shows