Legal & Ownership
What Cambodian law actually permits — title types, the foreign-ownership rules, and the structures buyers use to hold property.
All legal & ownership research
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Escrow in Cambodia Property Deals: How Retention Accounts Now Protect Your Money
For years the honest answer to “is my deposit safe?” in Cambodia was “not really.” That has quietly changed: escrow is now a regulated, licensed service. How a retention account works, when to insist on one, what it costs, and what it does — and does not — protect.
The Landlord's Guide to Cambodian Tenancy: Leases, Deposits, and the Eviction Nobody Fast-Tracks
Cambodia has no landlord-tenant act — the Civil Code sets a thin frame and your contract does the rest. What the law actually fixes, the deposit and notice norms the market runs on, the tax the GDT expects, and why prevention is the only eviction strategy that works.
Repatriating Money Out of Cambodia: Sale Proceeds, Rent, and the Paper That Moves Them
Cambodia has no exchange controls — the 1997 law leaves transfers free through authorized banks. What stands between your sale proceeds and your home account is tax and paperwork: withholding, the 2027 CGT, and a source-of-funds file you should have started building on day one.
Residency Shoot-Out: Cambodia's CM2H vs Malaysia's MM2H vs Thailand's LTR vs the Philippines' SRRV
Four Southeast Asian residency programs, four different products: a $50k property purchase with a citizenship track, a deposit-plus-locked-property regime, a tax instrument priced in income, and a $15k refundable deposit that converts into a condo. Which one is selling what.
Strata Governance in Cambodia: Management Fees, Sinking Funds, and Who Runs Your Building
Sub-Decree 126 gives every Cambodian condo undivided common areas, value-shared costs, and internal regulations filed with your title — then goes quiet on sinking funds, audits, and when owners take over from the developer. The governance guide for the years after handover.
Buying Property With a Cambodian Spouse: Title, Prenups, Divorce, and Death
Marrying a Cambodian doesn't unlock land: title goes in your spouse's sole name; your protection lives in marital-property law, not the deed. The honest guide to community property, registrable prenups, lease-back structures, divorce maths, and what happens on death.
Citizenship by Investment in Cambodia: What the December 2025 Law Actually Says
Cambodia overhauled naturalisation from 1 December 2025: $1 million invested or a $3 million donation, enhanced vetting — and dual citizenship permitted for the first time. What that means if a property pitch is selling you a “pathway to citizenship”.
Inheritance in Cambodia: What Happens to a Foreign Owner's Property When They Die
Cambodia's Civil Code gives your heirs clear ranks, your spouse a guaranteed share, and your estate no inheritance tax — but a foreign heir cannot keep land, holographic wills must be handwritten, and heirs have three months to act. The estate-planning guide for foreign owners.
Can a Foreigner Buy Property in Cambodia in 2026? A Straight Answer
Yes — with limits. A foreigner can buy a strata-title condo outright but not land directly. Here is the plain answer, the buying process step by step, the costs, and the structures for landed property in 2026.
Cambodia’s Trust Law: How Foreigners Can Hold Land Through a Regulated Trust
Since 2019, a foreigner can hold Cambodian land as the beneficiary of a registered trust run by a licensed trustee. It is the regulated answer to the problem nominee structures only pretend to solve — but it is newer, and not a clean bypass. Here is how it works.
Property Rights in Cambodia: What Foreigners Actually Have
Beneath the title types and ownership structures sits a harder question: how strong are property rights in Cambodia really, and what happens when they are tested? An honest look at the law on paper, the reality in practice, and the gap between them.
How Foreigners Hold Land in Cambodia: Leases, Companies, Trusts, and Nominees
A foreigner cannot own land in Cambodia outright. The four structures used to hold it — long leases, land-holding companies, regulated trusts, and nominees — carry very different levels of risk. We rank them.
Cambodia’s Investor Residency: CM2H and the “Golden Visa” Question
Does Cambodia have a golden visa? Sort of. The Cambodia My Second Home (CM2H) programme offers long-stay residency for an investment — but it is not the citizenship-by-property scheme some marketing implies. What it actually offers, and how it compares regionally.
From Tourist to Resident: Cambodia’s Visa Process for Foreign Buyers
The practical path most foreigners take to live in Cambodia: arrive on a tourist visa, convert to an ordinary (E-class) visa, then extend it long-term. Here is the sequence, the documents, the costs you should expect, and the overstay risks to avoid.
Cambodia Property Titles Explained: Hard, Soft, Strata, and LMAP
The title type decides almost everything about a Cambodian property — how secure it is, how it transfers, and whether a foreigner can own it at all. Here is how the four main titles differ.
Cambodia Visas for Property Investors: E-Class, Retirement, and Long-Stay Options
Owning property in Cambodia does not give you the right to live there — that is a separate question answered by the visa system. Here is how Cambodia’s visa classes actually work for buyers and retirees, and how the country compares to its neighbours.
Which Cambodian Bank Is Right for a Foreign Property Buyer?
ABA, ACLEDA, Canadia and the rest — Cambodia’s banks differ more than their marketing suggests. A grounded comparison of the major banks on what actually matters to a foreign buyer: account access, digital quality, lending, and safety.
Banking in Cambodia: A Practical Guide for Foreign Property Buyers
Opening an account, moving money, the dollarised system, the Bakong payment network, and what tightening KYC rules mean in practice. A grounded guide to the banking side of a Cambodian purchase.
Can Foreigners Own Property in Cambodia? The Law, Plainly Explained
Foreigners can own strata-title units but not land. Here is what the law actually says — with citations — the structures used to hold landed property (lease, company, regulated trust, nominee), and where the real risk sits.
What the Common Reporting Standard Is — and Why Cambodia Sits Outside It
Cambodia is not a participating jurisdiction in the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard. Here is what CRS does, what Cambodia’s absence from it means in practice, and — importantly — what it does not change about your tax obligations.
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