Land Ownership & Permits in Berau

Updated: August 2026

Indonesia land ownership for foreigners works through a hierarchy of land titles, not through names on a certificate: freehold (Hak Milik) is reserved for Indonesian citizens, while foreign investors operate through a locally incorporated company that holds a right to build (Hak Guna Bangunan), a right to use (Hak Pakai) or a registered lease. In Berau Regency, where the Derawan Archipelago sits, that title question is only half the work — a coastal or island project also needs a tourism business permit, spatial-plan conformity, environmental clearance and, for anything built over water, a marine spatial approval.

This page is the regulatory layer of the invest in Derawan category. It sits underneath the broader Derawan investment guide and alongside Derawan resort investment, and it deals with one question only: what you may legally hold and build across the nine destinations of the archipelago, and in what order the approvals arrive. Everything below is general information for orientation, not legal advice.

Indonesian land titles decide what a foreign investor can actually hold

Indonesian agrarian law separates the right to own from the right to build and the right to use. A foreign individual or a foreign-owned company cannot hold Hak Milik at all, so the practical question is never “can I buy this beach” but “which title can my structure legally carry, and for how long”.

Two consequences follow. First, the seller of a beachfront plot on Derawan Island usually holds Hak Milik, which means the transaction is a conversion into HGB or Hak Pakai in your company’s name, not a simple transfer — and that conversion is where deals stall. Second, terms are granted and renewed under conditions set by regulation, and those conditions are revised periodically. Verify the current term and renewal rules for your specific plot with a licensed Indonesian land notary (PPAT) before you sign anything.

Hak Pakai is the title most foreign buyers actually end up discussing

Hak Pakai is the right to use and collect from land that belongs to the state or to another party. It is the title Indonesian regulation points foreign individuals toward when they hold a valid residence permit, and it is also available to companies. For a Derawan project it typically appears in one of three ways: a manager’s or owner’s residence on the island, a use-right over state land where a commercial building right is not appropriate, or an interim position while a longer-term structure is being licensed.

• It is time-bound. The right is granted for a fixed period with defined extension and renewal steps — plan the exit and the renewal cost into the model from day one.
• It is conditional. Eligibility depends on residence status for individuals and on licensing status for companies; losing the underlying condition puts the right at risk.
• It is not a substitute for a business licence. Holding Hak Pakai over a plot does not entitle you to run paying guests through it. Commercial operation needs the tourism licensing chain described below.
• It must be registered. An unregistered agreement is a contract, not a title, and behaves very differently if it is ever contested.

A tourism business permit in Indonesia begins with the company, not the building

Indonesia licenses businesses through a risk-based online system. The sequence below is the one every accommodation, dive or boat operator in Berau follows, and skipping a step almost always means redoing the one before it.

Foreign-owned companies also face a minimum investment threshold per business classification and per project location, set by investment regulation and revised from time to time. Do not build a capital plan on a figure you read online, including this page — ask a licensed Indonesian corporate lawyer for the threshold that applies to your exact classification in the year you incorporate.

Building anything over water in Berau triggers a second approval chain

The water villa is the most requested product in the archipelago and the most heavily regulated. Anything that occupies sea space — an over-water bungalow, a jetty, a fixed pontoon, a permanent mooring block — needs marine spatial approval on top of the land-side permits, because the sea is administered separately from the shoreline. That approval tests your project against the marine zoning plan, and around the Derawan islands the zoning is not neutral: the waters carry regency-level conservation status covering the reef and island cluster.

Three specific sensitivities shape what is realistically approvable. Green turtle nesting beaches are protected in practice as well as on paper, which is why green turtle nesting is a due-diligence item and not a marketing feature. The landlocked lake system on Kakaban Island is a closed, fragile environment where construction is not the expected use. And the manta grounds around Sangalaki Island are managed as a wildlife site, so the viable business there is interpretation and marine operations rather than beds.

Berau’s spatial plan decides what you may build before price is ever discussed

Every plot in the regency sits inside a spatial plan that assigns it a designated function. A plot zoned for village settlement, fisheries or conservation will not be re-designated because a buyer wants a resort on it, and a seller is under no obligation to tell you which zone applies. Checking zoning before negotiating price is the single highest-return hour in the whole process.

Note what the table implies about routing. The islands that generate the demand are frequently the islands where you may not build, so the beds get placed where access and services already exist. That is the same conclusion the logistics reach on how to get to the Derawan Islands, and it is why vessel-based capacity — set out on Derawan liveaboard — remains a legitimate way to serve the archipelago without a land title at all.

Customary (adat) claims are the largest hidden risk in coastal Kalimantan

A certificate at the land office and a community’s understanding of who owns a beach are two different records, and on remote Kalimantan coasts they do not always agree. Customary rights, informal boundaries drawn by long use, inheritance splits that were never registered and plots sold twice by different family members are all documented realities in Indonesian coastal land. None of it appears in an asking price, and none of it is cured by paying more.

• Trace the certificate history at the regency land office, including every prior transfer, not just the current holder’s document.
• Reconcile it with the village. Ask the village administration and neighbouring landholders who they recognise as the owner and where they believe the boundary runs.
• Check for adat claims over the plot and over the access route to it — a landlocked purchase with a disputed path is worth very little.
• Confirm inheritance consent in writing from all heirs where the title passed through a family, which is the most common source of a later challenge.
• Survey and stake the boundary physically before payment, and photograph the result with the neighbours present.

The due-diligence sequence that protects a Derawan land position

Run these in order. Each step is cheaper than the one after it, and each one can end the process before you have spent the next tranche.

• Zoning first. Confirm the spatial-plan designation and the coastal setback line for the exact plot, before price.
• Title second. Verify the certificate at the land office, check for encumbrances and mortgages, and confirm the plot is not in dispute.
• Community third. Validate ownership and boundaries with the village, and record who agreed to what.
• Structure fourth. Incorporate and licence the company for the correct business classification before any land payment leaves your account.
• Environment fifth. Screen for nesting beaches, reef proximity, erosion history and freshwater availability, since all four change what you can build and what it costs to operate.
• Instrument last. Execute through a licensed land notary (PPAT), with the conversion into HGB or Hak Pakai and the registration of that title as conditions of the final payment — never after it.

Transaction costs and taxes sit outside the purchase price

Budget these as a separate workstream. Indonesian land transfers typically attract an acquisition duty payable by the buyer (BPHTB) and a final income tax payable by the seller, with the buyer’s duty administered at regency level and calculated against an assessed value rather than the price you negotiated. Annual land and building tax (PBB) then runs for as long as you hold the asset. On top of that sit notary and PPAT fees, survey costs, conversion and registration fees, the environmental document, and legal opinions.

Rates and thresholds are set by national and regency regulation and are amended periodically, so treat any figure you find in an article — including the framing on this page — as a prompt to ask, not as a number to model. A licensed Indonesian tax advisor should confirm the current rates for Berau Regency, the assessed values that apply to your plot, and the corporate tax position of the company that will hold it, before you commit capital.

A site-inspection trip is the cheapest due diligence available

Nothing in a land file tells you what a two-hour road transfer from Kalimarau Airport (BEJ) to Tanjung Batu and a 30-minute speedboat crossing actually mean for a guest, or how the same trip feels on a windy morning in October. Travelling the archipelago in season — April to November — across the nine destinations Indonesia Juara routes is the fastest way to test a thesis before you spend on legal work.

The Private Trip Derawan 3D2N / 4D3N is priced per person and depends on group size and on whether you take the standard or premium tier, because fixed boat and guide costs are shared across the group. Selected group sizes are shown below; the minimum is 2 participants and the meeting point is Kalimarau Airport (BEJ) in Berau.

These are starting points converted from a rupiah base at 16,300 IDR to the US dollar, not fixed rates, and the written list of what is included and excluded is confirmed by email before booking. An inspection route can be shaped around the plots and islands you want to evaluate rather than the standard highlight loop — the existing bed stock is listed on Derawan islands resort options, the standard routing is on Derawan trip, and the arrival logistics are on Derawan via Berau. To arrange one, email sales@indonesiajuara.asia.

Indonesia Juara has operated Indonesian destination tourism under Juara Holding Group since 2015 and runs the private Derawan itineraries published on this portal. We are a tour operator, not a law firm, a notary or a land agent — what we can give an investor is season-tested operational access to the nine destinations and the seven properties currently used on our itineraries.

Disclaimer: this page is general information about land and licensing in Indonesia and in Berau Regency. It is not legal, tax, financial or investment advice, and it is not an offer of any property, security or investment product. Indonesian land rules, licensing procedures, capital thresholds and tax rates change. Verify every point with a licensed Indonesian legal, notarial and tax advisor, and conduct independent due diligence before committing capital.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a foreigner own land in Indonesia?

A foreigner cannot hold Hak Milik, Indonesian freehold title, which is reserved by law for Indonesian citizens. Foreign investors instead hold land through a locally incorporated company under a right to build (Hak Guna Bangunan) or a right to use (Hak Pakai), both granted for fixed, extendable and renewable terms. A registered lease (Hak Sewa) is a further option for smaller projects. Nominee arrangements, where an Indonesian citizen holds title for a foreign beneficiary, are legally fragile and should be treated as an unsecured risk.

What is Hak Pakai and who can hold it in Berau?

Hak Pakai is the right to use and collect from land owned by the state or another party, granted for a fixed term with defined extension and renewal steps. Indonesian companies can hold it, and so can foreign individuals who hold a valid residence permit. In the Derawan Archipelago it typically covers an owner’s or manager’s residence, or a use-right over state land where a commercial building right is not the appropriate instrument. It does not by itself authorise commercial operation — that requires separate tourism licensing.

What permits does a tourism business in Berau need?

A tourism business permit in Indonesia starts with company formation and a business identification number issued through the national risk-based online licensing system, which fixes the business classification you may trade under. Beyond that, an island project in Berau typically needs spatial-plan conformity for the plot, an environmental document scaled to the project, a building approval and function certificate, and — for jetties, over-water villas or permanent moorings — a separate marine spatial use approval. Accommodation, diving and boat charter are licensed as distinct activities.

Can you build an over-water villa in the Derawan Islands?

Any structure occupying sea space in Indonesia needs a marine spatial use approval in addition to the land-side building permits, because sea areas are administered separately from the shoreline. Around the Derawan islands that approval is tested against marine zoning that carries conservation status over the reef and island cluster, so approvability depends on the specific location. Turtle nesting beaches, the Kakaban lake system and the manta grounds off Sangalaki are the three sensitivities most likely to constrain a design.

What is adat land and why does it matter on Derawan?

Adat land is customary land held under community rules that may never have been formally registered at the land office. It matters on remote Kalimantan coasts because the official certificate and the community’s understanding of who owns a beach can disagree, and a challenge from heirs, neighbours or the village can surface years after payment. The defence is procedural: trace the full certificate history, confirm boundaries physically with neighbours present, obtain written consent from all heirs, and verify the access route as well as the plot.

How long does it take to secure land and permits in the Derawan Archipelago?

There is no reliable published timeline, because the schedule is driven by the condition of the underlying title rather than by the paperwork itself. A plot whose certificate is clean and whose zoning already matches the intended use moves through conversion and licensing far faster than one requiring inheritance consents or a re-designation, which may never complete at all. Build the sequence — zoning, title, community verification, company structure, environmental screening, then notarial execution — into the schedule, and treat any promise of a fast track as a warning sign.