NovAsia

Tenant Security Deposits in Cambodia: How to Receive, Hold, and Return the Money

NovAsia · updated July 20, 2026

Prepared by the NovAsia Editorial Team

A security deposit looks like one of the simplest lines in a residential lease.

The tenant pays an amount equal to one or two months' rent. The landlord holds the money. After move-out, the landlord deducts unpaid utilities or proven damage and returns the balance.

Most disputes begin because the parties understood that arrangement differently from the first day.

The tenant thought one month would automatically cover the final rent period. The landlord considered the entire amount to be security. The property manager kept the money in its operating account. No signed inventory was prepared. An old mattress was already worn, but the owner now wants the tenant to pay for a new one. The final electricity bill arrives three weeks after move-out, while the lease promises a refund within seven days.

A deposit should be treated as a separate, managed liability.

It is not rental income when received. It is money that the landlord or manager must account for and return, except for deductions that are authorized by the lease and supported by evidence.

A security deposit and prepaid rent are different funds

Security deposit

A security deposit may secure:

Prepaid rent

Prepaid rent pays for a specified future period of occupation.

For example:

The owner receives an amount equal to three months at move-in, but each part has a different legal and accounting purpose.

The lease and receipt should identify separately:

A receipt saying only “three months' deposit and rent” creates avoidable ambiguity.

The amount should reflect risk and market conditions

The Cambodian Civil Code provisions reviewed for this article do not establish a single cap of one month, two months, or a fixed percentage for ordinary residential leases.

The amount is generally a contractual matter, subject to the law's broader requirements and commercial reasonableness.

Market arrangements may include:

The landlord may consider:

An excessive deposit can make the apartment harder to rent and creates a larger client-money risk. A very small deposit may not cover a realistic default or damage scenario.

A reservation payment should not be confused with the lease deposit

Before a lease is signed, an applicant may pay money to have the apartment removed from the market.

A reservation agreement should state:

If the applicant fails the agreed screening, the refund should follow the written terms. A non-refundable agent fee should not later be relabeled as the tenant's security deposit.

Every deposit needs its own ledger entry

A practical deposit register should include:

A manager handling fifty apartments should maintain a separate internal balance for each tenancy.

A single line saying “tenant deposits — USD 40,000” is not sufficient without a supporting schedule and reconciliation.

The movement of money should be traceable

Preferred methods include:

If cash is unavoidable, good practice includes:

The deposit should not be sent to an individual agent's personal account unless the person's authority, custody obligations, and liability are expressly documented.

No mandatory Cambodian deposit-protection scheme was identified

Some countries require residential deposits to be lodged with a government or approved protection scheme, with statutory deadlines for return.

Those rules should not be imported automatically into Cambodia.

The Civil Code provisions and official materials reviewed for this article did not reveal a universal mandatory deposit-protection scheme for ordinary private residential leases.

Protection therefore depends heavily on:

International client-money standards can be useful as professional guidance, but they are not Cambodian residential tenancy law.

A separate account is sound risk management

Where a landlord holds one deposit, a separate bank account—or at minimum a clearly ring-fenced balance—can reduce confusion.

Where a manager holds deposits for multiple owners, a client account is substantially safer than an operating account.

Advantages include:

The Civil Code provisions on deposit and custody require the holder to follow the agreed handling arrangements and, unless otherwise agreed, do not necessarily require interest to be paid. They are not a special residential-deposit regime, but they reinforce the importance of written custody terms.

Interest should be addressed expressly

The lease or management agreement should state:

Article 684 of the Civil Code generally does not require a custodian to pay interest unless the parties agree otherwise. For a multi-year lease, the point should be written clearly rather than left to assumption.

Currency risk can create a separate dispute

A tenant pays USD 2,000. The manager converts it into Cambodian riel. The exchange rate changes before move-out.

What exactly must be returned?

The lease should specify:

Where practical, the safest arrangement is to hold and return the deposit in the same currency. The landlord should not speculate with the tenant's money.

The move-in inventory is the foundation of damage deductions

Before keys are handed over, the parties should record:

The record should be supported by:

It is sensible to allow the tenant 48–72 hours after move-in to report hidden or overlooked defects.

Without an initial condition report, the landlord may be unable to prove that deterioration occurred during that tenancy.

The original condition defines the return obligation

If the apartment was dusty, partly damaged, furnished with a worn sofa, or missing kitchen items, that condition should be recorded.

The landlord cannot reasonably require the tenant to return the apartment in better condition than it was received, except where the parties agreed on improvements.

A tenant should not pay for an old scratch. A generic statement that “everything is in good condition” is too weak to support a substantial deduction.

Normal wear and tear is different from tenant damage

Article 618 of the Civil Code requires the leased property to be returned in its original condition, allowing for deterioration from normal use. The tenant may be liable for damage caused through fault.

Normal wear may include:

Tenant damage may include:

The boundary depends on age, quality, lease length, number of occupants, intended use, maintenance history, and evidence.

The landlord should not improve the apartment at the tenant's expense

Suppose an old sofa had approximately one year of useful life remaining and the tenant damaged it. The owner purchases an expensive new sofa and deducts the full price.

That calculation gives the landlord a better asset than existed before the tenancy.

A reasonable deduction may consider:

Cambodia does not have one universal residential depreciation table for these situations.

An illustrative management calculation might be:

If the tenant destroys the refrigerator completely, deducting USD 600 may overstate the economic loss. This is an example, not a mandatory legal formula.

Age-related failure is not automatically tenant damage

An air conditioner that fails because of age should not automatically be charged against the deposit.

Owner or condominium responsibility may include:

The tenant may be responsible where the tenant:

Contemporaneous records and a technician's report can be decisive.

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Cleaning deductions require an agreed starting standard

If the move-in report states “professionally cleaned,” the move-out condition can be compared with that standard.

If the apartment was handed over only in reasonably clean condition, automatically charging for an expensive deep clean may be unfair.

The lease may usefully define expectations for:

An invoice should confirm that the work was actually performed. A fixed penalty unrelated to the apartment's condition creates a higher dispute risk.

Utilities require a final-account process

At move-out, the parties should record:

The final utility bill may arrive later. Possible approaches include:

It is rarely proportionate to retain an entire USD 3,000 deposit because the final electricity bill may be around USD 40.

Rent arrears should be calculated separately

If the lease permits it, the deposit may secure unpaid rent.

The final statement should show:

The deposit should not be reclassified as rent during the tenancy without an agreement.

If the tenant asks to apply it to the last month and the landlord agrees, the agreement should be confirmed in writing and the remaining security recalculated.

The final month is a common point of failure

A tenant stops paying rent because the tenant assumes the deposit will cover the final period. The owner is then left with no security for:

The lease should state that the deposit does not replace rent without written consent. The manager should remind the tenant before the final payment deadline.

A joint move-out inspection is usually best

A practical sequence is:

  1. Confirm the move-out date.
  2. Conduct a preliminary inspection.
  3. Give the tenant an opportunity to fix minor issues.
  4. Conduct the final inspection.
  5. Record meter readings.
  6. Count keys and access cards.
  7. Take photographs.
  8. Sign the handover report.
  9. Confirm the tenant's refund bank details.
  10. Prepare the final statement.

A preliminary inspection reduces conflict because the tenant can clean or correct simple issues before possession is returned.

Deductions should not be based on memory

Each deduction should be supported by an evidence package, such as:

Where an urgent repair is required, photographs should be taken before work begins. For a missing item, the inventory proves that it was present. If a contractor is paid in cash, a receipt should be obtained.

The refund deadline should be realistic and written

The Civil Code lease provisions reviewed for this article do not establish a universal seven-, fourteen-, or thirty-day deadline for returning every residential deposit.

The lease should specify:

A workable commercial clause might provide that:

Those periods are contractual examples, not universal statutory rules. A clause saying only “the deposit will be returned after checking” allows the process to continue indefinitely.

The refund should go to the verified payor or authorized recipient

The deposit may have been paid by:

The lease should state who is entitled to receive the refund.

Money should not be transferred to new bank details received in a single unverified message. The owner or manager should confirm the name, account, reason for the change, and the authority of any company representative.

Fraudulent requests to redirect a deposit often appear at the end of a tenancy.

A manager should not use the deposit to secure a disputed fee

If the property manager holds the deposit and believes the landlord owes management fees, the tenant's money does not automatically become security for that separate dispute.

The management agreement should cover:

The deposit relates to the lease, not to the manager's working capital.

Selling the apartment with a tenant in place

The deposit should appear separately in the closing statement.

Transfer to the buyer

The seller transfers the money to the buyer, and the buyer accepts the obligation to return it to the tenant.

Deposit retained by the seller

The seller keeps the obligation, but this is awkward because the new owner will control the eventual move-out inspection.

Continued custody by the manager

The manager confirms the balance in writing, recognizes the new owner, and continues holding the money under updated authority.

The tenant should receive notice identifying the new owner, the amount, the holder, and the refund process. The deposit must not become additional sale proceeds for the seller.

Changing property managers

The outgoing manager should transfer:

The incoming manager should sign a handover record. The tenant should be notified of the new holder and any payment-detail changes.

If the former manager refuses to transfer the funds, the owner should use contractual and legal remedies. The tenant should not be asked to pay a second deposit while the first remains unresolved.

Death of the owner

The deposit remains a liability of the estate.

The executor, administrator, or authorized representative should establish:

Heirs should not treat the money as free estate assets. The obligation should be transferred expressly during inheritance administration or a later sale.

Deposit accounting and rental income should not be mixed

A refundable security deposit is not necessarily rental income when received, but its accounting and tax treatment depends on what later happens.

If the deposit is:

its accounting and tax character may change.

The owner should retain the receipt, liability ledger, application date, and advice from a tax professional. Calling a payment a “deposit” does not determine its tax treatment by itself.

The disputed amount can be separated from the undisputed balance

Example:

The landlord may be able to return USD 1,400 and retain only the disputed USD 400, subject to the lease and supporting evidence.

Holding the entire USD 2,000 unnecessarily escalates the conflict. A partial refund demonstrates good faith and narrows the dispute.

Example final statement

ItemAmount
Deposit receivedUSD 2,000
Unpaid rent−USD 500
Electricity−USD 120
Missing access card−USD 30
Proven tenant-caused repair−USD 250
RefundUSD 1,100

Evidence should be attached to the statement. If a repair estimate later changes, the lease should explain how the final reconciliation will be made.

Common landlord mistakes

Common tenant mistakes

A strong deposit clause answers twelve questions

  1. What is the amount?
  2. In which currency?
  3. What obligations does it secure?
  4. Who holds the money?
  5. In which account?
  6. Does interest accrue?
  7. Can it be applied to rent?
  8. Which deductions are permitted?
  9. How is the inventory prepared?
  10. What is the refund deadline?
  11. How is the final utility bill handled?
  12. How is the obligation transferred after a sale or manager change?

The more unanswered questions, the greater the likelihood of a dispute.

Conclusion

A tenant security deposit is a refundable liability, not automatic rental income.

Cambodia's Civil Code requires the tenant to return leased property at the end of the agreement and distinguishes normal wear from damage caused by the tenant. General custody provisions also support the need for clear handling arrangements.

At the same time, the Cambodian framework reviewed for this article does not establish one universal residential deposit cap or a separate mandatory state protection scheme comparable to those in some other jurisdictions.

Protection therefore depends heavily on the contract and the evidence.

Landlords should separate deposits from prepaid rent, maintain an individual ledger, document the apartment's condition, avoid improving old assets at the tenant's expense, return undisputed funds promptly, and transfer the liability properly when the owner or manager changes.

This article is for general information only and is not legal, tax, accounting, or client-money advice. Deposit terms and deductions should be adapted to the specific lease and current Cambodian requirements with qualified local advisers.

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Sources

  1. JICA Legal and Judicial Development Project — Civil Code of Cambodia. Articles 600–611 and 618–621 were considered in relation to use of the premises, duty of care, repair notices, rent, return of property, and damage.
  2. JICA Legal and Judicial Development Project — Civil Code of Cambodia. Articles 670–690 were considered in relation to custody and return of property, including money.
  3. General Department of Taxation of Cambodia — Prakas No. 169 on Tax on Income from Immovable Property Rental, listed as effective. Used for the record-keeping and tax context; the treatment of a deposit depends on the specific facts.
  4. RICS — real estate agency and management principles effective from 1 January 2025. Used as professional guidance on client money, documentation, disclosure, and reporting.
  5. RICS — materials on client-money handling and protection. Used only as comparative professional controls, not as mandatory Cambodian residential tenancy law.
  6. RICS — consumer materials and deposit guidance. Used for comparative approaches to inventories and evidence without importing foreign statutory deposit schemes into Cambodia.

Frequently asked

How many months of security deposit can a landlord request in Cambodia?

The Civil Code provisions reviewed for this article do not establish a universal one- or two-month cap for ordinary residential leases. The amount is set by contract and market practice, but it should be reasonable and proportionate to the risk.

Can the tenant use the deposit as payment for the final month?

Only if the lease or a separate written agreement permits it. Otherwise, the tenant must continue paying rent, while the deposit remains security until the final inspection and settlement.

Must the landlord keep the deposit in a separate bank account?

The sources reviewed do not identify a separate mandatory Cambodian residential deposit-protection scheme. Even so, separate accounting and a segregated client account are sound practice, especially when a property manager holds the money.

What may be deducted from the deposit?

Subject to the lease and supporting evidence, deductions may include unpaid rent, agreed utilities, missing keys, and tenant-caused damage beyond normal wear and tear. The deposit should not be used simply to replace old furniture with new items at the tenant's expense.

Who returns the deposit after the apartment is sold?

At closing, the deposit should either be transferred to the buyer or separately credited with a clear obligation for the new owner to return it. The tenant should receive written notice identifying the amount and the person holding it.

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