Building a villa in Bali: the permits, in the order the law sets

Most of Bali's villa licensing trouble is built in: a building put up before its approval, on a plot whose use does not allow it, with a function on paper that does not match what it does. The permits come in a fixed order, and each one depends on the one before.

Eight steps, in order

Each step, and what it decides

The plot: KKPR

Spatial conformity is the first basic requirement: a confirmation where a detailed plan is on OSS, issued or refused automatically; an approval after review where it is not. It states the activity, the building coverage and floor area ratios and the building rules. Zoning and the KKPR.

Protected farmland

Land designated as sustainable food farmland is protected and may not be converted; an individual who converts it faces up to 5 years and IDR 1 billion (UU 41/2009, Pasal 44, 72).

The building approval: PBG

A business that will construct a building must hold the environmental approval and the PBG (PP 28/2025, Pasal 11(3)); construction begins after the PBG (PP 16/2021, Pasal 263). The function written on it — house or business — follows the building through its life. The PBG and its levy.

The certificate of function: SLF

The SLF certifies the building fit for its function and is one of the basic requirements of the license (PP 28/2025, Pasal 12); it is renewed every 5 years for buildings other than houses. The SLF.

The business license

A villa is medium-low risk: the license is an NIB and a standard certificate, the certificate being the business's own statement, with a self-assessment document and a health certificate under the villa standard. The standard.

Then guests

For low and medium-low risk activities the business may operate once it holds its license (PP 28/2025, Pasal 11(4)).

Design for the function you will use

The function written on the PBG follows the building: it appears on the PBG, the SLF and the building ownership certificate (PP 16/2021, Pasal 11(1)), and changing it later needs an amended PBG (Pasal 11(2)). A villa built as a house and let to guests is the most common mismatch in Bali. The levy reflects the choice: Denpasar's PBG formula weights a business building at 0.7 against 0.15 to 0.17 for a house — roughly four times — and in Badung the levy covers the PBG and the SLF. Building as a house to save on the levy, and letting it anyway, buys a change-of-function application later, with sanctions for the mismatch in between.

Where a step can stall

Where a detailed spatial plan is integrated with OSS, the KKPR is issued or refused automatically; where it is not, the approval route adds registration, review, assessment and a state fee payable within seven days of the payment order (PP 28/2025, Pasal 17-19). Plots outside a detailed plan therefore take the slower path before any building approval can start.

An older villa

An IMB stays valid until it expires; a building with neither IMB nor PBG goes through the SLF route first (PP 16/2021, Pasal 346). The old IMB.

What this page does not cover

• Any regency's spatial plan. Read through the KKPR, not here.
• Construction contracts. Hiring a builder: licenses, the contract and the 10-year liability.
• Environmental approval in detail. SPPL, UKL-UPL and the 2025 wastewater rules; a bore well's license and tax.

Common questions