New Villa Developments in North Bali: What to Check Before You Pay a Deposit

In Brief

New villa developments in north Bali are villas built together on one plot, or single new builds, sold before or soon after they are finished. A foreigner can buy one, and five checks made before the deposit show whether the deal is sound:

• the land certificate, checked at the land office
• the title you will hold
• the building approval, called the PBG
• the builder's finished work
• a payment schedule tied to building stages

The new builds on sale now are listed below, with their prices in the listings themselves. Under them, each check gets a few lines and a link to the Northbound guide that covers it in full.

Each check rests on an official source: the Buleleng land office, the public works ministry's SIMBG building system and Indonesia's 1960 land law.

New Villa Developments in North Bali at a Glance

• What counts: a single new villa, or a villa project of several villas on one plot, sold off-plan, under construction or newly finished
• Where: Lovina and Kalibukbuk, Seririt and Umeanyar, and the coast east of Singaraja from Bukti to Tejakula
• What a foreigner can hold: a lease, Hak Pakai (a right of use for a home) or a right to build through a PT PMA company
• What a foreigner cannot hold: Hak Milik, Indonesian freehold, which is for citizens only
• The five checks: certificate, title, PBG, the builder's finished work, staged payments
• Who reads the deed: your own notary and PPAT, the land deed official, never the seller's
• Prices: in the listings, refreshed daily, never fixed on this page

New-Build and Off-Plan Villas for Sale in North Bali Now

Each card opens the full listing, where the price and the land title the seller states are set out.

Read each listing with the five checks below in hand, since a listing states what the seller offers and the checks confirm it.

Villa Project, Development, Off-Plan, New Build: What the Words Mean

Sellers use four words for a new villa, and each tells you the stage you are buying at.

• Off-plan: sold before it is built, from drawings, a plot and a payment schedule. Your deposit pays for work still to come, so all five checks come before it.
• Under construction: the shell is going up, and you can walk the site and judge the work so far.
• New build: finished and never lived in. Ask for the SLF, the certificate issued through SIMBG when a finished building is declared fit for use.
• Villa project or villa development: several villas built together on one plot and sold one by one. Villa projects and villa developments in north Bali are the same thing under two names.

Among property developments in north Bali, a "development" for sale can also be land sold for building. That is a different purchase, with its own listings at land for sale in north Bali.

The Five Checks Before You Pay a Deposit

Make all five before any money moves.

Each gets a few lines here, and the guide linked under it holds the detail.

1. The Land Certificate, Checked at the Buleleng Land Office

The land certificate (sertipikat) is the land agency's record of who holds the plot and under which right. Every later step rests on it, so a flaw here undoes the rest.

Ask for a copy early. Have it checked at the Buleleng land office, which runs a certificate check to confirm the land record is correct and free of problems.

Leasehold vs freehold in Bali lists what else belongs in the file, and puts the certificate check before any deposit.

2. The Title You Will Hold, Named in the Deed

A foreigner holds a new villa by lease, by Hak Pakai for a home under Government Regulation 18 of 2021, or through a PT PMA company. Hak Milik, freehold, is for Indonesian citizens only, under Article 21 of the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law.

A listing that says Hak Milik or freehold describes the land's title today. Ask which right you will hold, for how many years, and whose name goes on the document.

The one shortcut to avoid is a nominee, an Indonesian holding freehold for you. Article 26 of the same law makes it void. Property ownership in Bali sets out the legal routes, and Hak Pakai in Bali covers a home in your own name.

3. The Building Approval: a PBG on SIMBG

The PBG (Persetujuan Bangunan Gedung) confirms a design meets the building standards and lets construction begin. Applications run through the public works ministry's SIMBG system under Government Regulation 16 of 2021, and the regency processes them.

Ask for it and scan its QR code. SIMBG says the link should open only on its official domain, simbg.pu.go.id.

A listing may mention an IMB, the older permit the PBG replaced. SIMBG treats an IMB issued before the 2021 regulation as valid for a building already built and unchanged. Where building had not yet started, the owner applies for a PBG.

Building a villa in north Bali walks through the PBG and the SLF that follows it.

4. The Builder's Finished Work, Seen in Person

A rendering shows what was designed, and a finished house shows what the builder delivers.

Villa Sunset in the hills above Lovina, as a concrete shell and finished, a Palm Living build. Photo: Palm Living.

Ask the developer for two or three houses they have completed nearby, and visit them. Ask the owners how the build went in its later months as well as its first. Stage four of the building guide covers choosing a builder by finished work.

5. Payments Tied to Finished Stages

A staged schedule pays the builder as each stage is finished, with a retention held back until defects are closed. Your money then follows work you can see.

The deed should also define what counts as complete, and what happens if completion slips. Have your own notary read those clauses before you pay the deposit. The building guide sets out stage payments and retention.

Where New Villas Are Going Up in North Bali

New builds in the listings gather along three stretches of the coast.

Lovina and Kalibukbuk

Kalibukbuk is the village whose beach most visitors know as Lovina Beach. The Buleleng tourism office describes black sand, traditional fishing boats lined up along it and relatively calm water. It is a village of Buleleng district and one of the string of villages known together as Lovina.

In the listings, off-plan villas in Lovina come as small projects of several villas near the beach, sold one by one. The hills behind the coast are where single villas are built to order. The Lovina area guide covers daily life on this stretch.

Earthworks on the Villa Sunset plot in the hills above Lovina, before the foundations. Photo: Palm Living.

Seririt and Umeanyar

Umeanyar is a coastal village in Seririt district, west of Lovina. Its beach, Puri Jati, is one of the detours in the Seririt guide.

The new builds listed here sit on the hillside above the village, with views over the sea, the mountains and the rice fields.

Villa Banyan at Umeanyar from the air, its roofs and pool among the gardens. Photo: Palm Living.

East of Singaraja: Bukti to Tejakula

Bukti is a village in Kubutambahan district on the coast road east of Singaraja, home to the Air Sanih spring. Further east, Tejakula is a fishing village that gives its name to a district.

New builds are fewer on this stretch. In the listings they are single finished villas rather than projects.

Les, the village beside Tejakula on the east coast. Photo: ronnie.muhadi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Off-Plan, Finished or Build Your Own: Decide How Much You See Before You Pay

The right route comes down to one question: how much do you want to see before you pay?

Asking it first sorts the listings for you, because each route trades certainty for choice.

Villa IzaJay in Kayuputih, a Palm Living build for a family who found the plot in 2016. Photo: Palm Living.

Building your own starts with land. Building a villa in north Bali runs from the certificate to the SLF. What it costs to build a villa in Bali explains how a build is quoted.

What a New Villa Earns: Work It Out, Do Not Take the Brochure's Number

The common mistake is buying on the return a listing quotes.

Some new-build listings state an annual return, and it is the easiest number on the page to trust. Ask whether it is gross or net, at what occupancy, and from whose books. Then work out the net figure yourself with rental yields in north Bali.

A villa let to guests is also a business. It starts with an NIB, the business identification number issued through the government's OSS system.

After Handover: the SLF, the Melaspas and the Right to Let

Three things turn a finished villa into a home or a business.

1. The SLF. The Sertifikat Laik Fungsi, issued through SIMBG, declares the finished building fit for use. Ask for it with the keys.
2. The melaspas. In Balinese understanding, a new building is not ready to live in until its melaspas has been held, as detikBali explains. A caru offering opens it, and mecaru describes both.
3. The right to let. Letting to guests runs through OSS as a business. Settle the NIB and licence before the first booking, as rental yields in north Bali explains.

How to Fit It In: See a Finished House Before the Project

Plan a viewing day in a set order.

Start with a house the developer has already finished, then walk the project site, and write your questions for the notary before you leave. The road from the south crosses the mountains, and getting to north Bali covers the routes.

To weigh one stretch of coast against another, the best areas to invest in north Bali compares them. Why invest in north Bali sets out the wider case.

Practical Notes

• Choose your own PPAT. The Buleleng land office publishes its list of PPATs on its website.
• Get it in the deed. Finishes, the completion date and the payment stages belong in the deed your notary reads, rather than in a brochure or a chat.
• Keep both languages. Hold each document in Indonesian and in English, and ask which version governs.
• Keep the permits together. File the certificate check, the PBG and, at handover, the SLF in one place.
• Read prices in the listings. They change, so this page leaves them to the listings above.

When a listing passes the five checks on paper, the next step is a conversation with people who know the coast. Palm Living's team has worked with buyers and land owners in north Bali for over 24 years, and can give you current information.

FAQ

Can a foreigner buy a new villa in north Bali? Yes, through a lease, a Hak Pakai right of use for a home, or a foreign-owned company (PT PMA) holding a right to build. Freehold (Hak Milik) is for Indonesian citizens under the 1960 land law, so "freehold" on a listing means asking whose name will be on the certificate. Property ownership in Bali and Hak Pakai in Bali explain each route.

How do I know a new villa has its building permit? Ask for the PBG, the building approval issued through SIMBG, and scan its QR code. SIMBG says the link should open a page on its official domain, simbg.pu.go.id, and warns that an address with a different spelling or extension may be a fake. Building a villa in north Bali covers the permit in full.

What does off-plan mean in Bali? An off-plan villa is sold before it is built, from drawings, a plot and a payment schedule. Your deposit pays for work still to come. Check the certificate, the title, the PBG, the builder's finished work and the payment stages before it.

A listing says the villa has an IMB. Is that enough? The IMB was the building permit before the PBG replaced it in 2021. SIMBG says an IMB issued before Government Regulation 16 of 2021 stays valid for a building already built and unchanged. Where building had not started, the owner applies for a PBG, so ask which permit the villa was built under.

What should the contract say if the villa is finished late? The deed should define what counts as complete, and what happens if completion slips. Have your own notary read those clauses before you pay a deposit.

Do I need my own notary? Yes. Choose your own notary and PPAT, the land deed official, rather than the seller's. The Buleleng land office publishes its list of PPATs on its website.

Sources

• Kantor Pertanahan Kabupaten Buleleng (ATR/BPN), Info Grafis: Layanan Pengecekan Sertipikat Tanah (the certificate check at the Buleleng land office) and the office website (its list of PPATs), Indonesian, read October 2026
• Kementerian Pekerjaan Umum, SIMBG (PBG and SLF under Government Regulation 16 of 2021; the QR-code check and the warning on fake addresses; the FAQ on IMBs issued before the regulation), Indonesian, read October 2026
• JDIH BPK, Government Regulation 16 of 2021 on buildings, Indonesian, read October 2026
• JDIH BPK, Law 5 of 1960 on Basic Agrarian Principles (Article 21 on freehold for citizens, Article 26 on void transfers to foreigners), Indonesian, read October 2026
• JDIH BPK, Government Regulation 18 of 2021 (homes owned by foreigners on Hak Pakai), Indonesian, read October 2026
• Lembaga OSS, Online Single Submission (the NIB business identification number), Indonesian, read October 2026
• Buleleng Regency tourism office, Kalibukbuk Village (Lovina Beach, black sand, fishing boats, calm water), read October 2026
• Wikipedia (Indonesian), Kalibukbuk, Umeanyar, Bukti, Tejakula and Muncan (the district of each village), read October 2026
• detikBali, Mengenal makna-prosesi upacara melaspas di Bali (a new building is not ready to live in until its melaspas), Indonesian, read October 2026
• Palm Living's own listings on Northbound, villas for sale and land for sale in north Bali (live listings, refreshed daily, and the prices this page leaves out), read October 2026

Read next: building a villa in north Bali for the permits and the build, property ownership in Bali for the title routes, and the best areas to invest in north Bali for where on the coast.