Retirement property in Bali: rent, lease or Hak Pakai

Rent first: the route most retirees should start with

A long-term rental is a tenancy agreement for a fixed period at a monthly rate. It needs no visa, no company and no title transfer, and a foreign individual can sign it. For a retiree it does the one thing a purchase cannot: it lets you test the island, the village and the clinic run for six months before any money is locked in.

At Core Villas in Seseh, Munggu, Bali, ten of the seventeen homes open for monthly and long-term rent from Q3 2027. Pricing becomes available when we open.

Buying a leasehold villa

A leasehold is a long hak sewa: a lease of the land and the home for a fixed number of years, paid up front. It is the common way foreigners buy villas in Bali, and it needs no visa to hold. The lease is not a registered title, so the quality of the written agreement is everything: the term, the extension mechanism, who holds the building permit, and what happens at expiry.

The villas for sale at Core Villas are leaseholds of 25 years from handover, with a pre-agreed extension to 2084. Prices start from Rp 6.45 billion, about US$360,000 or A$501,000 at the site's reference rates, for a three-bedroom home with its own pool. Buyers pay in rupiah; the other currencies are a guide.

Hak Pakai: the title in your own name

Hak Pakai, the right of use, is the one registered title a foreign individual can hold in Indonesia. On privately owned land it runs up to 30 years and is renewed by a fresh deed with the landowner; on state land the pattern is 30 years, a 20-year extension and a 30-year renewal. To hold it you need a valid Indonesian immigration document, which the regulation's own explanatory note counts as a visa, a passport or a residence permit, so a stay permit is not a precondition. The home also has to clear the provincial price floor set by a 2022 ministerial decree, which in Bali is Rp 5 billion for a house and Rp 2 billion for an apartment.

Hak Pakai matters to retirees for one more reason: it is the only property that counts towards the Second Home visa. A leasehold does not, however valuable.

Which route fits the visa you will use

The retirement stay permit (E33F) is the usual route from 55, with practitioners reporting 60 for some nationalities. It asks for proof of pension or income, quoted by agents at USD 1,500 to 3,000 a month depending on the office, proof of accommodation, and health insurance. A villa lease counts as proof of accommodation, so renting or buying a leasehold fits it well.

The Second Home visa (E33) has two financial routes that agents describe: a deposit of Rp 2 billion in a state bank, with about 90 days to place it after approval, or property worth about USD 1 million held on a Hak Pakai title. One deposit covers a spouse, children and parents on family permits. If you want the property route, only Hak Pakai qualifies. Rules change often, so confirm the current version with a licensed immigration agent before you plan around it.

Where in Bali: north, Sanur, Ubud or the west coast

Searches for retirement living in north Bali are common, and the north coast around Lovina is the quietest part of the island, but the hospitals are in the south. Sanur is flat, settled and home to Bali International Hospital, with an older crowd and a calm beach. Ubud is green and inland, with no sea. The west-coast villages of Seseh, Munggu and Cemagi put Canggu's clinics about a quarter of an hour away and the beach at the end of the lane, with village quiet in between. For most retirees the honest trade is a quiet lane within reach of a clinic.

Retirement villages versus a private villa

Bali has a handful of purpose-built retirement villages, mostly in the north, and we know of no nursing-home care aimed at foreigners. Retirees here live in private villas, either alone or in a managed compound. Core Villas is the second kind: seventeen private homes in one compound with a team on site for the house, pool and garden, and neighbours on long tenancies rather than holiday guests. It is not a care facility and has no medical staff; the clinics are a short drive away.

What a retirement home here needs

Choose it by the ordinary day: a bedroom with its own bathroom on the ground floor, a guest room for family, a clinic within a quarter of an hour, a supermarket closer than that, and quiet at night. From Seseh and Munggu, Canggu Medical in Pererenan is about 11 minutes and Siloam Medika in Canggu about 13, measured by car, so treat them as approximate; Pererenan also has a 24-hour walk-in clinic. Bali International Hospital in Sanur, open since June 2025, is a planned appointment rather than an emergency stop.

Every Core Villas home has a ground-floor garden suite without stairs, three or four bedrooms each with their own bathroom, and a team on site for the house, pool and garden.

Checks before you sign anything

Use an independent property lawyer alongside the notary who prepares the deed. The notary serves the transaction; the lawyer serves you. Read the land certificate and the building permit, confirm who the landowner is, and have the extension mechanism written as a fixed obligation rather than a promise. Never buy freehold through an Indonesian nominee, however normal it looks.

If you are buying for retirement, test the home for a season first. Our six-month test stay guide explains how, and the cost guide covers what living here runs to.

The downsides, plainly

Family is a long flight away, and the visits get rarer than planned. Complex medical treatment still means Sanur, Singapore or home. Visa rules change often and the figures agents quote differ from office to office. A leasehold ends, so the extension mechanism has to be in the agreement. The rainy season from roughly November to March is real, and traffic near Canggu is worse than the photographs suggest. Rent for six months first and find out which of these matter to you.