What documents do you need to buy property in Bali?

Buyers arrive expecting a large paperwork burden on their side. In practice what you need to supply is minimal. The serious document work is on the seller's side, and it is where transactions fail.

What you need to provide

Passport. Valid, with reasonable time remaining. This is the core identity document for a foreign buyer.

A visa or stay permit, depending on the route. For a straightforward leasehold, a tourist visa is sufficient — you can sign a lease on a visa on arrival. For Hak Pakai you need a KITAS or KITAP, because the title is only available to holders of residency. For a purchase through a PT PMA, the company is the buyer and the company documents carry the transaction.

NPWP, an Indonesian tax number, is required for titled transactions and for anything the tax office needs to see. Since 2024 the NPWP has been integrated with the national identity numbering, and Coretax now requires the linked identifier for filings. If you are buying through a company or taking a registered title, get this arranged early rather than at signing.

An Indonesian bank account, if you intend to pay domestically or receive rental income. Not strictly required to buy, and much easier to open once you hold a KITAS.

A prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, if you are married to an Indonesian citizen and intend to take a registered title in your own name. Without one, Indonesian marital property rules treat assets as jointly held, which collides with the rule that a foreigner cannot hold Hak Milik. This catches people, and it is not fixable retroactively without difficulty.

What the seller must produce

This is the part that decides whether the deal is real.

The original land certificate. Not a photocopy, not a photograph. The original, inspected by your notary, with the details checked against the land office record.

Proof of the seller's identity and authority. The name on the certificate must match the person selling. If it does not, you need to see exactly what connects them — a power of attorney, an inheritance document, a company resolution — and your notary needs to validate it.

PBB receipts. The annual land and building tax, paid and current. Arrears transfer with the land.

PBG and SLF for any building. The building approval and the certificate of fitness. If the building exists and these do not, you are buying an unpermitted structure and the cost of regularising it is yours.

Marital consent where the seller is married, since a spouse's consent is required to dispose of jointly held property.

Any existing lease, tenancy or management agreement affecting the property. These bind you.

What the notary produces

The AJB or the lease deed. For a transfer of a registered title, the Akta Jual Beli executed before a PPAT. For a leasehold, a notarial lease deed. Either way, in Bahasa Indonesia, and the Indonesian version governs regardless of what the English translation says.

A due diligence report, if you have asked for one, and you should. Title verification at the land office, zoning check against the spatial plan, encumbrance search, and confirmation the seller can sell.

Tax calculations. BPHTB for the buyer on a registered transfer, and the seller's income tax on the disposal.

What to translate and what to sign

Every operative document will be in Indonesian. Get a sworn translation of anything you are signing. A sworn translator's version is the one that carries weight if a dispute arises, and an agent's informal translation is not a substitute.

Read the Indonesian version's numbers yourself even if you cannot read the text. Dates, areas, sums and terms are legible in any language, and a mismatch between the English summary and the Indonesian figures is one of the more common problems in this market.

The sequence that works

Passport and visa in hand. NPWP arranged if you need it. Notary engaged and instructed independently of the agent. Seller's documents requested in full and verified at the land office before any money moves. Contract reviewed in Indonesian with a sworn translation. Then deposit, then completion.

The order matters. Money moving before verification is how most of the losses in this market happen.