Hello,

Not sure if anyone on here has been through this process before. My partner and I are in the process of buying some land with a soft title. We are having difficulty as we are not sure whether the process being explained to us is legitimate.

We have obtained some documentation from the commune level, and were told that we could take this to the tax office to pay a tax and then take it to the district land management office. I am aware that previously you didn't have to pay a 4% tax for soft title but I read somewhere that this has changed so we were going to pay it.

When my partner went to the tax office they told her she had to have the land measured first.

I was not under the impression that this was necessary for soft title, i.e. it's optional and can be done at a later stage. My main concern is that measurement is not a simple thing and could be a reason for significant 'tea money'.

Does anyone have knowledge of this- i.e. is it necessary to have the cadastral measure the land in order to process a soft title?

The process you describe sounds more like the process for a hard title. It may be that they are telling you how to convert to hard title. I have done hard and soft titles before in Siem Reap. For soft title I never went to the land office only to the commune office. I never paid a tax for the soft title but that may have changed now. Ask them to show you a sample of what the final document looks like. If it has a diagram of the land on it then it is a hard title. Buying land in Cambodia is perilous and its best you consult a lawyer.

PSD-Kiwi wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 4:04 pm I agree with Samrong01's assessment...what you describe is not the standard process for purchasing Soft Titled property, but indicates the process towards obtaining a Hard Title

I agree as well. Sounds like you already have the soft title issued by the Sangkat.

samrong01 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 11, 2020 1:57 pm The process you describe sounds more like the process for a hard title. It may be that they are telling you how to convert to hard title. I have done hard and soft titles before in Siem Reap. For soft title I never went to the land office only to the commune office. I never paid a tax for the soft title but that may have changed now. Ask them to show you a sample of what the final document looks like. If it has a diagram of the land on it then it is a hard title. Buying land in Cambodia is perilous and its best you consult a lawyer.

Thanks for your reply. I agree that previously the soft title could be issued at the commune level. I'm not sure if that is still the case and whether its now necessary to have the District level involved. And whether, if you want to get your soft title stamped at the district level, you also need to pay tax, and also have it measured by the cadastral office (land management).

We have been around and around, asking so many different levels of authorities, honestly it is all so confusing. I am still trying to assimilate all of the information and if I figure it out, I will let you know.

My partner asked them clearly about a soft title (not hard title), so if they are trying to get her to pay tax, and it's actually not necessary, then it's a kind of scam.

For now, we decided not to bother with the district level land management, and are just trying to solidify our documents from the commune level.

PSD-Kiwi wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:04 am Why not just apply for the strongest form of title straight away, the LMAP Hard Title, don't waste time on soft titles.

The land had no documentation whatsoever, I mean literally nothing. This was a first step to get some kind of documented tenure. Second, the seller had little patience for all of this. They just wanted to get it over with and get their money. We could now pursue getting a hard title, but it sounds as if it is rather expensive. (I read rubber baron's recent report of how he got hard title).

According to your experience, what is the cost of getting an LMAP Hard title?

PSD-Kiwi wrote: ↑Fri Oct 16, 2020 4:10 pm Sorry, can't advise on cost.

We have never paid for any Hard-Titles, always negotiated that the seller would bear all costs associated with obtaining the Hard-Title, even when purchasing property which only had Soft-title .

Also never paid for an LMAP Title, have been issued free of charge as part of the countrywide systematic issuing of correct land titles.

In Ratanakiri they try to charge 500r / M2 for the hard title, but the whole process has been paid for by the World Bank / ADB already.

If some piece of land land currently has a soft title and you really want a hard title look for another plot.

In some areas you can't obtain hard title anyways as they don't issue it to one titles they'd have to do a whole area as the borders need to be agreed upon by all involved. I don't understand how you could buy it with zero title. Was it woodland or something?