Cambodia strata title, explained: the one title a foreigner can hold.

What is a strata title in Cambodia?

It is the certificate of ownership of a private unit of a co-owned building, issued by the Cadastral Authority under the Law of 24 May 2010. Article 19 applies the general registration and certificate rules to special co-ownership, with the sample certificate set by Prakas of the Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.

The framework it sits on is Sub-Decree No. 126 of 12 August 2009 on the Management and Use of Co-Owned Buildings, which Sub-Decree No. 82 cites in its preamble. A building has to be registered as a co-owned building before any unit inside it can carry a strata title. A readable English text of Sub-Decree No. 126 itself could not be located for this page.

So the first question on any Cambodian unit is not about the unit. It is whether the building is registered as a co-owned building at all.

Whose name goes on a Cambodian strata title?

The foreign owner's own name. This is not a nominee structure and not a lease dressed up as ownership. The Cadastral Authority issues the certificate of ownership of the private unit to the foreign owner, under the Law of 24 May 2010, Article 5, and Sub-Decree No. 82, Article 3.

On the script the name is written in: IPS Cambodia reported in July 2026 that the ministry's modernised Cadastral Information System allows a foreign owner's name to be recorded in Latin characters matching the passport, alongside the Khmer text, rather than only as a Khmer transliteration. That is a reported practice change from one named publisher. No ministry instrument, number or date was found for it, so treat it as reported rather than as a cited rule, and confirm the name format on the draft certificate before completion.

Why it matters at all: a name mismatch between passport and certificate is the kind of thing that surfaces years later, when you sell.

What does a Cambodian strata title state?

One entry on it is set by statute. Sub-Decree No. 82, Article 3, requires the Cadastral Authority to write on the certificate the proportion of that unit's surface size against the total surface size of all private units in the building. That single line is what makes the 70 percent cap checkable.

IPS Cambodia describes the certificate as also carrying the co-owned parcel number, the address and name of the co-owned building, the unit's total surface area, the floor number and the owner's details. That list is from a named commercial publisher rather than from an instrument, so read it as a description of the document, not as a statutory contents list.

Two of those entries are the ones to read first, because they map onto the two hard rules: the floor number, and the unit's percentage of the building.

• Floor number tests the Article 6 rule: first floor and up, never the ground or underground floors.
• Surface-size proportion is your input to the 70 percent building cap.

The cap and how to work it: Cambodia's 70 percent foreign ownership cap.

How is strata title different from hard title and soft title in Cambodia?

Strata title is the unit-level title inside a registered co-owned building, and it is the foreign-ownership route. Hard title is the nationally registered title for land and property. Soft title is recorded only at commune or sangkat level, not on the national registry, and is not a foreign-ownership route.

The title classes above are described by named Cambodian property publishers rather than set out as a list in one instrument, so treat the comparison as orientation and check the actual certificate in front of you.

Why does registration matter if you have already paid?

Because payment is not the operative act. Article 8 of the Law of 24 May 2010 provides that a transfer of special co-ownership by agreement is not effective unless it has been registered under the registration rules. Until registration, you have a contract, not a title.

There is one hard gate in front of that registration, and it is a tax gate. Law on Taxation, Article 163, provides that where the transfer tax is unpaid, the Cadastral Administration shall not issue or transfer a land title or title of possession. Article 160 puts the transfer tax on the transferee, meaning the buyer, and Article 162 gives three months to file and pay.

Article 21 of the 2010 law also polices the authority's own conduct: a violation by the cadastral authority of the law's provisions on registration or on issuing a certificate is penalised as stated in Article 264 of the Land Law.

What the 4 percent is charged on, and the costs that could not be sourced: Cambodia property buying costs.

What does a Cambodian strata title not give a foreign owner?

Three things. Not the land parcel under the building, which Article 6 keeps out of special co-owners' ownership entirely. Not undivided ownership of the common areas, only the right to use and enjoy them. And not freedom from the building's internal rules, which bind you by statute.

The asymmetry is in the definitions. Article 4 defines special undivided ownership so that foreigners have the right to use and enjoy the common areas while Khmer citizens have undivided ownership rights over them, and Article 15 repeats that special co-owners have only the right to use and enjoy. Article 9 makes the switch explicit both ways: a Khmer seller loses undivided ownership of the common areas when selling to a foreigner, and a Khmer buyer acquires it when buying from one.

On the obligations side, Article 14 gives special co-owners the same obligations and burdens as Cambodian co-owners and binds them to the building's internal rules. Article 17 requires co-owners to participate in maintaining the common areas, divided in proportion to the value of each lot unless the internal rules say otherwise, and Article 20 penalises refusal as stated in Article 258 of the Land Law. No typical service-charge figure per square metre could be sourced, so ask the building for its actual schedule.

Why the land sits outside the title at all: Cambodia's ground floor rule, explained.

Header photo: Eva Berlinson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. All credits: image credits.