What Happens to Your Bali Property If Your Visa Expires? Legal Implications Explained

Last updated: February 2026 · By Bali Property Rules Research Desk

Table of Contents

1. Is Your Property Title Linked to Your Visa Status?
2. What Is the Forced Divestment Timeline?
3. Does This Apply to All Types of Property Ownership?
4. What If You Renew Your Visa Before It Expires?
5. Can You Get Your Property Back If You Return?
6. What Happens to Mortgage or Loans on the Property?
7. How to Protect Your Property From Visa-Related Risks
8. Special Cases: Mixed Marriages, Inheritance, and Death
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. Sources

Is Your Property Title Linked to Your Visa Status?

Yes, if you hold property under Hak Pakai (Right to Use). Under PP 103/2015 and PP 18/2021, Hak Pakai for foreigners requires a valid residence permit (KITAS or KITAP). If your permit expires or is revoked, you are legally classified as “no longer domiciled in Indonesia” and must transfer or divest the property within a defined timeframe.

The legal foundation comes from Article 2(2) of PP 103/2015, which states that foreigners who may own a residential property are “those who hold a residence permit in accordance with statutory regulations.” This language directly ties your property rights to your immigration status.

Indonesia’s land rights system originates from the Basic Agrarian Law No. 5/1960 (UUPA), which establishes the principle that land rights are tied to nationality and residency. Foreigners cannot hold Hak Milik (freehold) under any circumstances. Hak Pakai is the strongest title available to individual foreigners — but it comes with a residency condition that many buyers underestimate.

It is critical to understand the distinction between the two most common property structures foreigners use in Bali:

• Hak Pakai (Right to Use) — A registered land title recorded at BPN (the National Land Agency). Requires a valid KITAS or KITAP. Tied to your personal immigration status. If you lose your visa, you lose your eligibility to hold this title.
• Hak Sewa (Leasehold) — A private contractual agreement, typically notarized but not registered at BPN. Does not require a residence permit. Any foreigner — even a tourist on a visitor visa — can enter a Hak Sewa lease. Your visa status has no effect on the lease.

If you hold Hak Sewa, your lease continues regardless of your visa status. If you hold Hak Pakai, the rest of this guide applies directly to you.

This distinction is the single most important factor in understanding visa-related property risk. If you hold Hak Sewa, you can stop reading — your lease continues regardless of your visa. If you hold Hak Pakai, the rest of this guide applies directly to you.

What Is the Forced Divestment Timeline?

If a foreigner holding Hak Pakai ceases to be a resident of Indonesia, they are required to transfer ownership of the property within 1 year. If they fail to do so, the government may auction the property. This obligation comes from Ministerial Regulation ATR/BPN No. 29/2016, which implements the provisions of PP 103/2015.

The term “transfer” in this context means one of three things:

1. Sell to an Indonesian citizen — The buyer receives the property under Hak Milik (freehold) or another appropriate title.
2. Sell to another eligible foreigner — The buyer must hold a valid KITAS or KITAP and meet the Hak Pakai eligibility requirements.
3. Transfer to a PT PMA — A foreign-owned Indonesian limited liability company (Perseroan Terbatas Penanaman Modal Asing) that can hold property under HGB or Hak Pakai as a legal entity.

The 1-year clock starts when your residency status is formally lost — meaning when your KITAS or KITAP expires without renewal, or when it is formally revoked by immigration authorities. In practice, this date is typically tied to the expiry date printed on your permit document.

What happens if you simply leave and do not return? The property does not vanish overnight. The physical asset remains, and your name stays on the Hak Pakai certificate — at least initially. However, your legal standing to hold that title has expired. You cannot legally sell, transfer, or renew the Hak Pakai without a valid residence permit. If the 1-year window passes without action, the government has the legal authority to auction the property, with proceeds returned to you minus administrative costs.

In practice, enforcement varies significantly by region and by individual BPN offices. As of early 2026, there are few documented cases of the government actively auctioning foreign-held Hak Pakai properties. However, the legal mechanism exists, and relying on non-enforcement is not a sound property strategy.

Does This Apply to All Types of Property Ownership?

No. Only Hak Pakai (Right to Use) is directly tied to your immigration status. Hak Sewa (leasehold) is a contractual agreement that does not require a residence permit and continues regardless of your visa status. PT PMA-held HGB (Right to Build) is held by the company entity, not by you personally — so your individual visa status is irrelevant to the company’s property rights.

The following comparison table breaks down how each ownership structure interacts with visa requirements:

Ownership Type	Requires Visa?	Affected by Visa Expiry?	Max Duration	Registration
Hak Pakai (individual)	Yes (KITAS/KITAP)	YES — must divest within 1 year	30 + 20 + 30 = 80 years	BPN registered
Hak Sewa (leasehold)	No	NO — contractual, not tied to visa	Negotiable (typically 25-30 years)	Notarized only
PT PMA + HGB	No (company holds title)	NO — company is Indonesian legal entity	30 + 20 + 30 = 80 years	BPN registered
PT PMA + Hak Pakai	No (company holds title)	NO — company is Indonesian legal entity	30 + 20 + 30 = 80 years	BPN registered

As the table illustrates, the visa-expiry risk is specific to individual Hak Pakai holders. If your property is structured through a PT PMA, the company — as an Indonesian legal entity — holds the title independently of any individual’s immigration status. Similarly, Hak Sewa is a purely contractual arrangement — the landowner (typically Indonesian) retains the underlying title, and you hold a usage right governed by the lease contract, not by land registration law. For a detailed comparison of all three structures, see our foreign ownership comparison guide.

What If You Renew Your Visa Before It Expires?

If you renew your KITAS/KITAP before it lapses, your Hak Pakai continues uninterrupted. The critical issue is the gap — if there is any period where you have no valid residence permit, your eligibility to hold Hak Pakai is technically suspended. In practice, short administrative gaps during the renewal process are generally tolerated by BPN offices.

The practical reality differs from the strict legal reading in important ways. BPN (the land office) does not actively monitor visa status in real-time. There is no automated system that flags Hak Pakai holders whose KITAS has expired. The risk materializes at specific trigger points: when you try to sell the property, transfer it to another party, or renew the Hak Pakai term at BPN. At those moments, BPN will request proof of a valid residence permit.

This means the risk is largely transactional. If you are simply living in your Hak Pakai property and your KITAS renewal is two weeks late, it is unlikely that anyone will come knocking. But if you need to sell during that gap, you may face complications. The safest approach is to begin the renewal process at least 60-90 days before your current permit expires, ensuring continuity of your residency documentation. Add visa renewal dates to your property due diligence checklist.

Can You Get Your Property Back If You Return to Indonesia?

There is no automatic mechanism to reclaim a Hak Pakai property once the divestment period has been triggered. If you obtain a new KITAS/KITAP and return within the 1-year transfer window, you may be able to retain the property by demonstrating renewed eligibility to the land office (BPN). However, this is not guaranteed and depends on BPN discretion.

The practical scenarios break down as follows:

Returning within the 1-year window

If you return to Indonesia and obtain a new KITAS/KITAP before the 1-year divestment period expires, you can approach BPN with your new residence permit and request to maintain your Hak Pakai registration. Since you are once again an eligible holder, most BPN offices will accept this — though the process may require legal assistance and is not automatic. You may need to provide documentation showing the gap was temporary and that you have re-established residency.

Returning after the 1-year window

If the 1-year divestment period has passed without any transfer, the legal situation becomes significantly more complicated. The government technically has the authority to auction the property. Even if it has not been auctioned, your legal standing to hold the Hak Pakai has expired. Reclaiming it would likely require legal proceedings and is far from certain. Legal counsel is essential in this scenario.

An important additional consideration: if your Hak Pakai was granted over Hak Milik land (meaning an Indonesian landowner converted part of their Hak Milik to Hak Pakai for you), the underlying Hak Milik may revert to the original Indonesian landowner once your Hak Pakai expires or is forfeited. This means you could lose both the Hak Pakai and the underlying land rights simultaneously.

What Happens to Mortgage or Loans on the Property?

Indonesian banks do not typically lend to foreigners holding Hak Pakai because banks require Hak Milik (freehold) as collateral. Most foreign-owned Hak Pakai properties in Bali are purchased with cash or financed through offshore lending, home-country equity releases, or private lending arrangements.

If you have financing through a private lending arrangement, the loan obligation continues regardless of your visa status. Losing your visa does not extinguish your debt — you still owe the money even if you lose the legal right to hold the property. This creates a particularly difficult situation: you may be forced to sell the property at a disadvantage within the 1-year window while still carrying the loan balance.

Some PT PMA structures can access Indonesian bank financing under certain conditions, since the company (as an Indonesian legal entity) may be eligible for commercial lending. However, this is a separate structure from individual Hak Pakai ownership and involves its own requirements and complexities.

How to Protect Your Property From Visa-Related Risks

The most effective protection strategies are: (1) maintain continuous residency by renewing your KITAS/KITAP well before expiry, (2) structure ownership through a PT PMA, (3) use Hak Sewa instead of Hak Pakai if you do not plan to maintain continuous residency, or (4) designate a power of attorney for emergency property management.

Strategy 1: Maintain Continuous Residency

The simplest approach — and the one most Hak Pakai holders rely on — is to ensure your KITAS or KITAP never lapses. Begin the renewal process 60-90 days before expiry. Set calendar reminders. Use a visa agent who provides advance notice. The cost of a KITAS renewal (typically IDR 10-25 million per year depending on the sponsor type) is negligible compared to the total cost of property ownership it protects.

Pros: Low cost, simple, no structural changes needed.
Cons: Requires you to maintain Indonesian residency indefinitely. If your life circumstances change (health, family, work relocation), this strategy fails.

Strategy 2: Structure Through a PT PMA

A PT PMA (foreign-owned Indonesian company) can hold property under HGB or Hak Pakai as a legal entity. Since the company is an Indonesian legal entity, its property rights are not affected by any individual shareholder’s visa status. This is the most robust structural protection against visa-related property risk.

As of October 2025, under PP 28/2025, the minimum paid-up capital requirement for a PT PMA is IDR 2.5 billion (approximately $165,000 USD). The company must also have a legitimate business purpose — property holding and rental management are generally accepted activities under the relevant KBLI business classification codes.

Pros: Complete insulation from personal visa risk. Company continues to hold title regardless of your location or immigration status. Enables bank financing in some cases.
Cons: Higher setup cost (IDR 2.5 billion paid-up capital). Annual compliance obligations (tax filings, corporate reporting). Ongoing administrative costs.

Strategy 3: Use Hak Sewa (Leasehold) Instead

If you do not plan to maintain continuous Indonesian residency, Hak Sewa may be a more practical choice than Hak Pakai. A leasehold contract is not tied to your visa status — it continues for the agreed term regardless of where you live or what visa you hold.

Pros: No visa requirement. Simple contract-based structure. Lower entry cost than PT PMA.
Cons: Not registered at BPN (lower legal protection). Fixed term with renewal dependent on landowner agreement. You do not hold a registered land title.

Strategy 4: Power of Attorney

Designating a trusted person (typically an Indonesian lawyer or notary) with a power of attorney (Surat Kuasa) allows them to manage property transactions on your behalf if you are unable to be in Indonesia. This does not solve the underlying eligibility issue — you still need a valid visa to hold Hak Pakai — but it ensures someone can initiate a sale or transfer within the 1-year window if you cannot return in person.

Pros: Emergency safety net. Relatively low cost to establish.
Cons: Does not prevent the divestment requirement — only facilitates compliance. Requires a high degree of trust in the appointed person.

Note on Second Home Visa: Holders of Indonesia’s Second Home Visa (introduced in 2022) also qualify for Hak Pakai. However, the Second Home Visa is subject to the same expiry and renewal requirements as other residence permits. If your Second Home Visa lapses, the same forced divestment rules apply.

Special Cases: Mixed Marriages, Inheritance, and Death

If a foreign Hak Pakai holder dies, the property can be inherited by eligible heirs — either Indonesian citizens (who can convert it to Hak Milik) or foreigners with valid residence permits. In mixed marriages without a prenuptial agreement, marital assets are jointly held — which creates complications since a foreigner cannot hold Hak Milik. PP 103/2015 includes specific provisions for mixed-marriage property.

Inheritance

When a foreign Hak Pakai holder passes away, the same 1-year transfer rule applies to the heirs. If the heir is an Indonesian citizen, they can apply to convert the Hak Pakai to Hak Milik. If the heir is a foreigner, they must hold a valid KITAS/KITAP to retain the Hak Pakai — otherwise the 1-year divestment clock begins. Estate planning is essential for foreign property owners in Bali. For a comprehensive guide, see our article: Inheritance and Bali Property: What Happens When a Foreign Owner Dies?

Mixed Marriages

In Indonesian law, if a foreign national marries an Indonesian citizen without a prenuptial agreement (perjanjian pranikah), all marital assets become jointly held. Since a foreigner cannot hold Hak Milik, this joint ownership creates a legal conflict — the Indonesian spouse cannot hold Hak Milik on property that is jointly owned with a foreigner. A prenuptial agreement establishing separate property is the standard solution. For detailed guidance, see: How Foreign Couples Handle Bali Property When One Spouse Is Indonesian.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides