How to Vet a Bali Developer Before You Buy: Five Questions Every Investor Must Ask

Off-plan is where the biggest gains in Bali real estate are made. It is also where the worst outcomes happen. I have seen buyers double their money in four years and I have seen buyers hand over a deposit to a developer who then stalled construction for eighteen months. The difference between those two outcomes is almost never location or timing. It is the developer.

Most investors spend more time researching their next phone than the person they are about to hand $300,000 to. These five questions are the ones I ask on behalf of every client before we go anywhere near a purchase agreement.

Question 1: How many projects have you completed, and can I speak to buyers from those projects?

Track record is the single most important filter in this market. Any developer can produce polished renders, a convincing website, and a persuasive sales pitch. What they cannot fake is a list of completed projects with buyers you can actually contact.

The question to put to those buyers is specific: did the developer deliver on time, on spec, and at the agreed price? One completed project with a handful of contactable references is infinitely more trustworthy than a developer with better marketing and no delivery history. Two or three verified completions with satisfied buyers on record is the threshold I use before recommending anyone to a client.

In our Bali Developer Report 2026, we track over 80 developers specifically on this metric. Fewer than half have more than one verified completion on record. That statistic alone should tell you something about the importance of asking this question before you go any further.

Question 2: Can you show me the land title certificate and building permit?

This is non-negotiable, and any hesitation at this step is a red flag. The land title, either an SHM or SHGB depending on the legal structure, confirms who actually owns the land the development is being built on. The PBG, the Persetujuan Bangunan Gedung that replaced the old IMB building permit in 2021, confirms the development has received government approval to proceed.

A developer who cannot or will not show you these documents at the due diligence stage is not a developer you should buy from.

The title check also reveals whether the land is clean: no liens, no inheritance disputes, no encumbrances that could complicate your ownership position later. Your notary must independently verify this, not simply take the developer’s word for it. Any reputable developer will expect this and will cooperate fully. A developer who pushes back on independent title verification is telling you something important.

Question 3: What is the zoning of the land?

Bali has multiple land zone classifications and the difference between them is not administrative detail. It is the difference between a legally operating short-term rental and a property that cannot be rented out at all.

Tourism zone land can be operated as a short-term rental. Residential zone land carries restrictions. Agricultural zone land cannot be legally rented out in the short-term rental market under current regulations. A significant number of the disputes I have seen in Bali involve buyers who purchased a villa on agricultural land without understanding the zoning, operated it as a short-term rental for two or three years, and then faced regulatory enforcement.

Before you commit to anything, obtain and independently verify the RTRW classification for the specific land parcel. The RTRW is the spatial planning map that determines permitted land use. Your notary or legal advisor can pull this. If the developer cannot tell you the zoning off the top of their head, that is a problem. If they give you an answer that does not match the RTRW, that is a bigger one.

Question 4: What are the payment milestone triggers, and what happens if you miss them?

Off-plan purchases in Bali are structured on staged payments tied to construction milestones. The principle is sound: you pay as the building progresses rather than handing over the full amount upfront. But the specific trigger for each payment matters enormously.

A payment due on “roof completion” should be verified by physical inspection or a third-party construction report, not by the developer sending you a photo and asking you to transfer funds. The milestone should be defined clearly in the purchase agreement, and the verification process should be equally clear.

Equally important is what the contract says if the developer misses a milestone. A well-drafted development agreement includes penalty clauses for delays, timeline commitments, and a defined process for what happens if delivery slips. If the agreement has none of these protections, you are relying entirely on goodwill to enforce delivery. That is not a position any informed investor should accept. If a developer pushes back on including penalty clauses, ask yourself why.

Question 5: Who is managing the property after handover, and is there a rental performance track record?

The developer builds the villa. Someone else runs it. And the person running it determines whether your projected 12% yield actually lands in your account or sits as a number in a marketing brochure.

Ask the developer directly: who is the property management company, how long have they been operating in Bali, and can you provide rental performance data from other villas currently under their management? Projected yields from a developer’s own materials are frequently optimistic. Actual performance data from an established operator, occupancy rates, average daily rates, monthly disbursements, is what you should be underwriting.

If the developer cannot name a management company, or if their current portfolio is unmanaged while they “figure out operations,” factor that into your risk assessment. A great building managed poorly will underperform a good building managed well. The management question is not a secondary consideration. It is the variable that most directly determines your return.

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These five questions will not guarantee a perfect outcome. No checklist does. But they filter out the majority of problematic developers before money changes hands. The developers who give you clear, confident, documented answers to all five are the ones worth backing. The ones who deflect, delay, or tell you not to worry about it are the ones to walk away from, regardless of how good the renders look.

For a full breakdown of the 80+ developers we track and their verified delivery records, the Bali Developer Report 2026 is the most complete independent dataset on the market. If you want to talk through a specific developer or project before you commit, book a call.