**For a foreign-backed resort in Raja Ampat, Hak Pakai held by a PT PMA is usually the more bankable and exit-friendly route, while a customary (adat) leasehold is faster and cheaper to start but harder to finance and to sell. Most serious island projects end up using both layers — a community lease underneath, a registered title on top.** This is general guidance as of June 2026, not legal advice; confirm everything with a licensed Indonesian notary (PPAT) and counsel.
The two words get used loosely in Raja Ampat. “Leasehold” here almost always means a private agreement to use land that belongs to a clan or family under customary (hak ulayat) tenure. “Hak Pakai” (Right to Use) is a formal title registered at the land office (BPN) that a PT PMA — a foreign-owned Indonesian company — is legally allowed to hold. They are not interchangeable, and choosing wrong is one of the most expensive mistakes a developer can make in this region.
What exactly is a customary leasehold in Raja Ampat?
Most land and small islands across the Raja Ampat regency sit under adat control. A clan, a marga, or a village (kampung) holds collective rights that predate the modern land registry, and much of it has never been formally certified. A “lease” in this context is a contract — often notarised, sometimes only signed before the village head — granting you the right to build and operate for a set number of years in exchange for an upfront sum plus ongoing payments.
Typical features we see in deals as of 2026:
- Term: commonly 25 to 30 years, occasionally up to 50 by agreement, with renewal promised but rarely guaranteed in enforceable terms.
- Cost to enter: lower upfront than buying titled land; money flows to the clan rather than into survey, certification and BPN fees.
- Speed: can be agreed in weeks if the rights-holders are clear and united.
- Risk: depends entirely on whether the right people signed. Overlapping clan claims are common, and a signature from the wrong branch can void the deal in practice even if it looks valid on paper.
The honest weakness is that a customary lease is a relationship, not a registered asset. It is strong while the relationship is strong.
What is Hak Pakai, and can a foreigner’s company hold it?
Hak Pakai is a registered land right under Indonesia’s Basic Agrarian Law. It is the title most relevant to foreign-linked resort projects because a PT PMA can hold Hak Pakai over land, and an individual foreigner (with a residence permit) can hold Hak Pakai over a single home — though for a commercial resort the PT PMA route is what matters. Building rights (HGB — Hak Guna Bangunan) are the other common PT PMA title and are frequently combined with the land structure underneath.
Key features:
- Term: Hak Pakai is typically granted for an initial period (often cited at 30 years), extendable and renewable in further stages, subject to BPN approval and the underlying land status.
- Status: it is a certificate on the national register — a real, transferable, mortgageable asset.
- Precondition: the underlying land usually must be clean and certifiable first. On adat land that has never been registered, that is a project in itself.
This is the crux. You cannot simply convert a handshake with a clan into a Hak Pakai certificate overnight. The land has to be released or formalised through the proper process before BPN will issue title, and not all customary land qualifies easily.
How do the two compare on the things that decide deals?
| Factor | Customary leasehold | Hak Pakai (via PT PMA) |
|---|---|---|
| Legal nature | Private contract over adat land | Registered national title |
| Typical term | 25–30 yrs (up to ~50 by deal) | ~30 yrs initial, renewable in stages |
| Time to secure | Weeks to a few months | Many months, sometimes 1–2 years |
| Upfront cost | Lower | Higher (survey, release, BPN fees) |
| Bankability | Weak — hard to mortgage | Stronger — can be collateral |
| Exit / resale | Difficult to assign cleanly | Transferable as a titled asset |
| Main risk | Disputed/overlapping clan claims | Cost, delay, land may not certify |
Read the table as trade-offs, not a winner. Leasehold trades certainty for speed and cash flow. Hak Pakai trades time and money for an asset you can borrow against and sell.
Why does bankability matter so much here?
Resorts are capital-hungry. If you ever want a bank — Indonesian or offshore — to lend against the project, the lender needs security it can register and, in a default, recover. A registered Hak Pakai or HGB certificate can be mortgaged (hak tanggungan). A customary lease, however well-drafted, generally cannot serve as that kind of collateral.
The same logic governs exit. Imagine selling the resort in year 12:
- With Hak Pakai, you are selling shares in a PT PMA that holds a registered title with a known remaining term. A buyer’s lawyer can verify it at BPN. The deal is auditable.
- With a lease only, you are asking a buyer to step into your relationship with a clan, inherit any unresolved claims, and trust that renewal will happen. Most institutional buyers walk away; the pool of buyers shrinks to people comfortable with informal risk, which depresses price.
For a project positioned toward a $5M–$20M valuation, that difference in buyer pool is not a detail. It could become the whole exit.
So which should a foreign developer actually use?
In our experience as a concierge that connects investors to vetted local counsel and partners — not as the asset owner or a licensed adviser — the strongest structures in Raja Ampat usually stack both layers rather than picking one:
- Secure the customary layer first and properly. Identify every rights-holding clan, map overlapping claims, and document agreement with all of them, witnessed by the village and sub-district. This is the foundation; skip it and nothing above survives.
- Formalise toward registered title. Where the land can be certified, work through the land-release and titling process so a PT PMA can hold Hak Pakai or HGB on top of the cleaned-up base.
- Hold it inside a PT PMA. This is also what unlocks the legal right for foreign capital to participate, and it ties land tenure to the corporate vehicle you will actually sell or finance. The mechanics of setting up that company are covered on our PT PMA legal page.
A short due-diligence checklist before any money moves:
- Who, exactly, holds the customary rights — and are there competing branches?
- Is the land already certified, or does it require release and registration?
- What is the enforceable renewal mechanism, not just the verbal promise?
- Are there conservation-zone or marine-spatial-planning restrictions on the site? Raja Ampat is a heavily protected marine area, and zoning can override tenure.
- Does the structure let a future buyer or lender verify everything independently?
The honest bottom line
If you need to move fast, have limited capital, and trust your local relationships, a clean customary leasehold can get a small eco-property running. If you want financing, a defensible exit, and an asset a lawyer in Jakarta or Singapore can verify, you need registered title held through a PT PMA — and you’ll likely build the lease underneath it anyway.
Figures, terms and thresholds above reflect general practice as of June 2026 and are subject to change; conservation rules in particular evolve. None of this is legal, tax or financial advice, and no return is guaranteed. The final word on any title, lease or permit rests with the rights-holders and the relevant Indonesian authorities. Before committing funds, have the specific parcel checked by a licensed PPAT notary and qualified counsel — Bali Premium Trip can introduce vetted professionals, but the decision, and the risk, are yours.