About
Who writes this
Bali Off Script is written by Kai, a property adviser based in Bali. Straight answers on buying, building and living here, with the regulation cited and the date it was last checked.
Kai
Bali property adviser, based in Bali. I advise foreign buyers on property here — what can actually be owned, what can legally be built and rented, and which structures fall apart when someone looks at them properly.
@balioffscriptWhy this site exists
Most Bali property information is published by people selling Bali property. That is not a conspiracy, it is just an incentive — and it means the honest answers to the hardest questions tend not to get written down.
Foreigners cannot own freehold land in Indonesia. Nominee arrangements, still the most commonly sold structure on the island, have been void since 1960 and criminal in Bali since February 2026. Advertised rental yields are gross figures that ignore platform commission, regional tax, management, staffing and — on a lease — the fact that the asset expires. None of that is secret. It is simply inconvenient to the sale.
This site publishes it anyway.
How these pages are written
- Every page cites the regulation it rests on, by number, where one exists
- Every page carries the date it was last checked, and that date is kept honest
- Where the rules are ambiguous, recently changed, or applied differently between regencies, the page says so instead of picking the convenient reading
- Where a figure is commonly cited but subject to revision, it is presented that way rather than as settled fact
- Nothing here is framed as a workaround for foreign ownership restrictions
What this is not
It is not legal advice, tax advice, or financial advice, and reading it does not create an adviser relationship. Indonesian regulations change often and are administered inconsistently between regencies and between individual offices. Before you sign anything or transfer any money, verify it with your own licensed Indonesian notary or PPAT, your own lawyer, and your own registered tax consultant — not the seller's. The full disclaimer is here.
I am also not a neutral party. I advise on property in Bali, which is how I know what goes wrong. If a page tells you a deal looks bad, that is not a sales technique — I would rather you walked away from a bad one and trusted the next thing I told you.
If you have a specific deal
Send it to me. Location, title type, the zoning, and any permits you have been shown — the intake list is here. I will tell you which link in the chain breaks first. There is no charge for that and I am not selling you the property.
Got a specific situation?
Send me the details — location, title type, zoning, and whatever permits you've been shown. I'll tell you what I'd check first.
Kai — Bali property adviser