Cambodia's constitution reserves land ownership for Khmer citizens. For two decades, foreign investors worked around that rule with nominee arrangements that offered no real protection. Since the Trust Law of 2019, there has been a lawful, regulated answer.
The problem the trust solves
A foreign buyer who pays for Cambodian land cannot appear on the title. Historically that produced two flawed workarounds: registering the land in the name of a Cambodian nominee — a person the buyer must trust indefinitely, with little recourse if that trust fails — or holding through a landholding company, which brings its own compliance burden and still leaves the foreign party in a minority position by law.
Both structures share a weakness: the person named on the title is not the person whose money is at stake. When relationships sour, markets move, or an owner passes away, the foreign investor discovers how little standing they actually have.
What a registered trust changes
Under Cambodia's trust framework, a licensed trust company holds the property as trustee. The trust is registered with the national Trust Regulator, the trustee is licensed and supervised, and the rights of the foreign investor — as settlor and beneficiary — are recorded in a trust deed with legal force.
The title sits with an institution rather than an individual. The institution is bound by fiduciary duty, by the deed's terms, and by a regulator with the power to sanction it. That is a categorically different position from relying on a nominee's goodwill.
What the deed governs
A well-drafted trust deed sets out who benefits from the property and in what shares, what the trustee may and may not do without instruction, what happens on sale, on the beneficiary's death, or if the beneficiary wishes to transfer their interest, and how the arrangement ends.
Because these terms are contractual and registered, they survive changes of circumstance that would break an informal arrangement.
Questions to ask before you commit
Is the trustee licensed by the Trust Regulator, and is the trust itself registered? What does the deed say about your exit — sale, transfer, succession? Who holds the original documents of title? How does the trustee report to you, and how often?
A licensed trustee will answer these questions in writing before asking for your signature. Treat reluctance to do so as the answer.