Building permits · Bali
Building permits in Bali
Every building permit your Bali property needs, handled for you. We act as your agent across the whole chain, from zoning and the PBG to the SLF, the groundwater permit, and the rental license.
Overview
What building permits in Bali cover
Building a villa in Bali, certifying it, and renting it out each need their own permit, and they come in a set order. A building has to be approved before it can be certified, and certified before it can be licensed for rentals, so skipping a step blocks everything after it.
And Bali now enforces this closely, so a missing permit has gone from a quiet risk to a costly one.
The chain
The order the permits come in
From bare land to a licensed rental, this is the sequence. Not every property needs every step.
| Stage | Permit | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Zoning | KKPR | Confirms your land use matches the spatial plan, the gate before you can apply to build |
| 2. Environment | SPPL, UKL-UPL, or AMDAL | An environmental approval sized to the scale of your project |
| 3. Build approval | PBG | Approves your building plans before construction, replacing the old IMB |
| 4. Fitness to use | SLF | Certifies the finished building is safe and fit for its intended use |
| 5. Water | SIPA | Permits groundwater use from a well or borehole, which most villas rely on |
| 6. Business | NIB | Your business number, registered through the OSS system |
| 7. Rental license | Pondok Wisata, Villa, or TDUP | Lets you legally rent the property to guests |
Your situation
Which permits apply to you
What you need depends on what you are doing with the property:
| Your situation | What you need |
|---|---|
| Building a new villa | KKPR, an environmental approval, and a PBG, then an SLF once it is built |
| Buying a villa that is already built | Confirm the PBG and SLF exist and are valid, and have them transferred |
| Renting your villa to guests | A valid SLF, an NIB, and a Pondok Wisata, Villa, or TDUP license |
| Using a well or borehole | A SIPA groundwater permit, plus the local groundwater tax |
Most rental villas touch all of these. A new villa built to rent out needs the full chain, from zoning through to the rental license and the groundwater permit, which is why it helps to plan them together rather than one at a time.
In depth
The main permits
Each of these has its own page with the process, documents, and timelines.
Before you build
PBG building approval
The approval of your building plans before construction, filed through the SIMBG portal. It replaced the old IMB.
PBG guideAfter you build
SLF certificate
The certificate that the finished building is safe and fit to use, and the one platforms check before a rental goes live.
SLF guideTo rent it out
Pondok Wisata licence
The license to rent your villa to guests, and the rules on why a foreigner holds it through a company, not in person.
Rental license guideAlong the way
Other approvals in the process
Alongside the main permits, a few others come up, and we handle these as part of the same process:
- KKPR, the zoning conformity approval that has to be in place before a PBG can be filed.
- An environmental approval, an SPPL, UKL-UPL, or AMDAL, depending on the size and impact of the project.
- NIB, your business number from the OSS system, which the rental license is built on.
- SBKBG, the building ownership certificate issued together with your PBG.
- RTB, a demolition plan, if you are clearing an existing structure before you build.
- A desa adat or banjar recommendation, the customary village sign-off that in practice is often expected alongside the formal permits.
For foreign owners
Foreigners apply through a PT PMA
A foreigner cannot apply for these permits in their own name. The applicant has to be the party that holds the land rights, which for a foreign owner means a PT PMA holding the land under an HGB title. A leasehold on its own is not enough to apply, so the usual route is for the PT PMA to take an HGB over the leased land and apply as the company.
The Pondok Wisata licence is the exception. That one is restricted to Indonesian citizens regardless of the structure, which is why a foreign-owned rental runs through a different accommodation license held by the PT PMA, or through a licensed Indonesian operator. The Pondok Wisata detail page lays out both routes.
Common questions
Building permit FAQs
Specific questions about the Bali building permit chain.
Do I really need all these permits?
Not every property needs every step, but every rental villa touches most of the chain. The minimum for a new villa built to rent is KKPR, an environmental approval, a PBG, an SLF, an NIB, an accommodation license, and a SIPA if you use a well. Skipping any one of them blocks the steps that follow, and the platforms now check the SLF before a listing goes live.
My villa was built without a PBG. What now?
You apply for a PBG and the SLF retrospectively. This is common with older villas in Bali, and there is a route for it — provided the building meets the current standards. Where it does not, the first step is an honest assessment of what needs to be put right before it can pass. The cost and timeline are higher than a permit applied for from the start, but it is a fixable problem rather than a dead end.
What is the old IMB, and is it still valid?
The IMB was the predecessor to the PBG, replaced by Government Regulation 16/2021 in 2021. IMBs issued before that change remain valid for the building they cover, but any new build, extension, or major change now uses the PBG. If you are buying a villa with an IMB, the IMB still proves the original build was approved; you do not need to convert it, but the SLF requirement still applies.
Can I rent my villa under a Pondok Wisata as a foreigner?
No. The Pondok Wisata licence is restricted to Indonesian citizens, and that restriction applies to foreign-owned companies too. The compliant routes for a foreign owner are either a tourism business registration (TDUP) under an accommodation code the PT PMA is entitled to, or letting a licensed Indonesian operator run the rental under their own license. The Pondok Wisata detail page walks through both.
How long does the full chain take?
A new build, applied for as a complete package, is usually a 4 to 8 month process from KKPR to SLF, depending on the size of the project and the environmental category. The bottleneck is rarely the paperwork — it is the construction in between. A retrospective application for an existing villa is shorter on paperwork but longer if remediation is needed before the SLF will pass.
Do you handle everything yourselves?
We act as your agent across the whole chain — KKPR, environmental, PBG, SLF, SIPA, NIB, and the rental license — and coordinate the certified architects and engineers whose signatures the building permits require. The certified parties are independent, but we sit between them and the SIMBG, OSS, and local Dinas portals so you deal with one party, not seven.
Need permits for a Bali property?
Talk to our Bali team
A free, no-obligation consultation: thirty minutes with our Bali team to walk through which permits your property needs, the sequence to apply for them, and what the timeline looks like.
Emailbali@emerhub.com
Phone+62 812 3659 9997
OfficePertokoan Sunset Indah, Sanur Kaja
Jl. Sunset Road Kavling 4
Kuta, Badung Regency
Bali 80361, Indonesia
Jl. Sunset Road Kavling 4
Kuta, Badung Regency
Bali 80361, Indonesia