Renting a house in Bali

Moving to Bali and renting a house is quite easy and often affordable. Here are some of the things you might want to think about if you are planning on renting a house / villa in Bali.

• Price:
Everybody wants a beach-front place, or at least one with close access to the beach. You’ll pay more for this than one slightly away from the beach. You’ll find that rents are cheaper as soon as you get across a main road (eg. Jl. Seminyak) from the beach, with most of the tourist villas and hotels on the beach side. Also driving a couple of kms out of town will also being the prices down.

• Finding a house:
Houses for rent come on the market at a moment’s notice. Expats and local owners will often post handwritten notes on bulletin boards in cafes and shops. These rentals can be for 1 month, 3 months, 1 year and so on. Exploring the small lanes on motorbike is the best way to find place for rent.

• Pricing
Don’t be afraid to knock on your neighbour’s door and ask how much they pay for rent, it will give you an idea.

• Duration
The longer you rent a place for the lower the overall price will be. Problem is how so you know you’ll still want the house after 6 months. Here in Bali many things can happen after you’ve rented a house including leaking roofs, disfunctional drainage, bad staff, etc. The way to handle this is to rent the place for a week, if you like it try it for a year. After that year you’ll know what the place is like, then you can go for a 5 year lease if that appeals.

• Security
Houses in Bali are open-plan, with parts of the living area adjacent to the garden. This obviously presents security issues. It is important to get a feel of how trustworthy the gardener, pembantu are and also know that your doors have some degree of security, as many doors have flimsy locking structures.

• Noise
Don’t like roosters at 4am, or party scene overflow all night long? You need to sleep in a place for a while to see how that works.

• Curve-balls
Flooded driveways in the wet season, bird-sized mosquitoes, Balinese cock-fighting over your back wall, aggressive local dogs, these are all extra things you need to think about before committing long term.

• Contract
Do not move into a place before it meets your standards. If the owner says you can move in and he will fix the roof, walls, pool, driveway, don’t believe it. Get a signed contract and pout it in a safe place.