Law 26/2007 in English: spatial planning, article by article

The statute every Bali zoning answer sits under: which plans exist, how long they last, and what happens when a permit and a plan disagree.

Law 26/2007, the articles a buyer meets, in order

Every zoning answer on this site — the colour on the Badung map, the 15-meter height rule, the KKPR a villa needs — sits under this statute. It decides which plans exist, how long they last, how a plan becomes binding on a parcel, and what happens when a permit and a plan disagree. Law 6/2023 rewrote large parts of it; the articles below are the amended text.

The plans, and which one decides your parcel

Plans run in tiers: the national, provincial and regency/city spatial plans (RTRW), with detailed plans below them — the regency/city RDTR (Law 26/2007 art. 14(2)-(3), as amended by Law 6/2023). A detailed plan is made where the general plan cannot yet be used as the basis for using and controlling space, or covers too wide an area at too coarse a map scale (Law 26/2007 art. 14(5), as amended by Law 6/2023) — which is the situation across most of Bali, where regency maps are drawn at a scale too coarse to decide one plot. How KKPR works where there is an RDTR and where there is not.

A provincial plan lasts 20 years, reviewed once in every five-year period (Law 26/2007 art. 23(3)-(4), as amended by Law 6/2023) and is set by a provincial by-law, within two months of the central government's substantive approval — failing which the governor, then the central government, sets it (Law 26/2007 art. 23(6)-(9), as amended by Law 6/2023). The review cycle matters to a long lease: over 25 or 30 years the plan your villa was built under will be reviewed several times. What Bali’s current provincial plan says.

KKPR: when the permit and the plan disagree

The 2023 amendment made conformity of space use — KKPR — the hinge of the system. Control of space now runs through the KKPR rules, incentives and disincentives, and sanctions (Law 26/2007 art. 35, as amended by Law 6/2023), and a KKPR approval is issued by the central government (Law 26/2007 art. 37(1), as amended by Law 6/2023).

Article 37 then sorts out what happens when a KKPR is wrong. Obtained without the correct procedure, it is void by operation of law (Law 26/2007 art. 37(3), as amended by Law 6/2023) — not merely cancellable. Obtained correctly but contrary to the plan, it is canceled by the central government, and compensation may be claimed from the issuing agency (Law 26/2007 art. 37(4)-(5), as amended by Law 6/2023). A use made non-conforming by a later change of plan may be canceled by the central government with fair compensation (Law 26/2007 art. 37(6), as amended by Law 6/2023). And officials are prohibited from issuing a KKPR approval that does not conform to the spatial plan (Law 26/2007 art. 37(7), as amended by Law 6/2023).

For a buyer the useful distinction is between “void” and “canceled”. A permit bought outside procedure is worth nothing from the start and comes with no compensation route in article 37; a permit issued properly but wrongly at least points to the agency that pays. Ask how a KKPR was obtained, not only whether it exists.

Your rights and duties under the plan

Everyone has the right to know the spatial plan, enjoy the added value it brings, be compensated for losses from conforming development, demand action against non-conforming development and the cancellation of a non-conforming KKPR, and sue for damages (Law 26/2007 art. 60, as amended by Law 6/2023). Everyone must comply with the spatial plan, use space according to it, comply with the KKPR conditions, and give access to areas the law declares public (Law 26/2007 art. 61, as amended by Law 6/2023). Breaching the plan so the function of the space changes brings administrative sanctions (Law 26/2007 art. 62, as amended by Law 6/2023) and is a criminal offense, with heavier penalties where it causes loss of property or death (Law 26/2007 arts. 69-71, as amended by Law 6/2023).

The first right is the one to use before buying: knowing the plan. The spatial plan is public. The duty that bites a villa owner is the second — using space according to the plan — because a house in a residential zone run as a tourist business is a change of use the plan may not allow. Renting a villa out.

What we do not print

Articles 69 to 74 set prison terms and fines. We do not reproduce the amounts: the 2023 Criminal Code restructures penalties written in other laws, and we have not mapped how it applies to these.

This is commentary, not legal advice. The official Indonesian text on JDIH BPK is the authority.

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