It is a common knowledge in Cambodia’s real estate industry that foreigners cannot own land property in the country. Under Article 44 of the Cambodian Constitution, “only natural persons or legal entities of Khmer nationality shall have the right to land ownership.” 

Yet, since Cambodia is a country that attracts a lot of foreign investors, the question is “are there ways for foreigners to own or have the rights to land properties in the Kingdom?”  

Luckily, THERE IS, be it for residential, commercial, or agriculture purposes, a foreigner can legally own or have a right to a land property under these methods: 

Yes, they can. Although Cambodian law prohibits foreigners from owning land, they can legally own properties, be it condominiums, apartments, or offices, as long as it is not located on the ground floor of a building (and at least 30% of the other properties in the building are Cambodian owned). Such properties are commonly “strata-title.” The title is also protected with certain provisions that ensures that the property cannot be demolished or replaced without the foreigner’s consent or appropriate level of compensation. 

Investors must make sure that any land they intend to develop has been registered with the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. A land that has not been registered will not be subject to the same legal protections which could result in investors losing control over the land without any legal recourse.

A company is considered to be “foreign” if it has a registered office in Cambodia and a foreigner owns the majority (51% stake) or 100% stake of the company. Likewise, a company is considered “local” or Cambodian if it has a registered office in Cambodia and a Cambodian national owns the majority (51% stake) or 100% stake of the company.  

Yes, we do. We are one of Private Limited Liability Companies registered with ministry of commerce of cambodia on October 21,2021. It does Real estate activities with own or leased property, Buying, selling, renting and operating of self-owned or leased real estate.

We are specializing on land purchase, land conversion and can hold the land for your foreign company. Presently, we are seeking investors who can invest with us on; municipal water supply, Solar Energy, Smart City, and Agri-industrial Hubs 4.0.

Any party wishes to enter a signed MOU to record the agreement in principle and obligations up to the establishment of a SPV together with all the necessary consents, approvals and licenses from the authorities of Cambodia subject to the provisions herein appearing.

Our party shall be responsible in:

(a) Securing all governmental consents, approvals, licenses and permissions relating to the establishment of the project from the relevant authorities of Cambodia. This include all necessary land and construction alienation matters, and specified documents as follows:

i. Govt’s Parent ministry – Project Approval or license.

ii. CDC Tax incentive and tax free of import materials.

iii. Local authority for conversion of land for solar power generation.

iv. Others ministries approvals, such as: Fire, environment, construction order approvals, and not limit to any others, as required.

(b) Purchase land, and rightful ownership, such as hard title of land, and transfer to SPV company.

(c) Set up a SPV company for operation, agreed on JV equity, terms of participation, responsibility and scope of works.

(d) Provide appointment and term of compensation agreement to your party.

Your party shall be responsible in:

(a) Provide detailed Project Proposal and assist to provide information for getting approvals mentioned.

(b) Provide financial statement to project.

(c) Introduce Financial and EPC Parties.

(d) Secure funding for this project.

(e) Provide assistance in securing EPC, audit and approve of design, construction implementation, material specification, schedule, costing.

(f) Provide business, operation and maintenance consultancy.

(g) Assist values contributing parities in forming an SPV and advise terms of collaboration.

(h) Option to own equity in SPV in case capital funding/investment raised from individual or corporation.

(i) Appoint EPC for the following:

i. Provide Engineering, Procurement, construction to this project.

ii. Provide installation and commissioning.

iii. Provide system commissioning approval from Govt’s parent ministries.

iv. Provide maintenance support proposal

v. Provide operation and management outline

vi. Provide training, operation procedure, and management consultancy.