NovCambodia News
Phnom Penh penalised 107 property owners after checks on foreign resident registration
The figures cover two different periods
On August 5, the Phnom Penh Municipal Administration released results from inspections of residential complexes and shared-accommodation properties. During the first half of 2026, authorities inspected 17,491 locations and recorded 116,700 foreign nationals from 75 nationalities.
The landlord-penalty figure covers a longer period. For the 12 months ending June 30, authorities said 107 property owners had been penalised for intentionally concealing 689 unregistered foreign residents. The combined administrative fines were reported at about 2.756 billion riel, or roughly US$689,000 in the authority's published conversion.
That total should not be turned into a per-landlord or per-tenant penalty estimate. The published figure is an aggregate enforcement total and does not establish one standard fine for every registration failure.
How FPCS fits into the registration system
FPCS, the Foreigners Presence in Cambodia System, is the government's digital system for recording where foreign nationals are staying. Cambodia's General Department of Immigration maintains the FPCS service, while the Ministry of Interior stated in February that owners and managers of accommodation can use it to report foreign occupants to the competent police authorities.
The ministry linked this reporting function to Article 18 of Cambodia's Immigration Law. That makes the Phnom Penh enforcement data relevant beyond the cybercrime context in which the August figures were announced: residential inspections also test whether foreign occupants are being properly recorded by the people managing the accommodation.
There is an important distinction, however. The August 5 municipal data describe the 107 owners as having intentionally concealed unregistered foreign residents. The source does not establish that the entire 2.756-billion-riel total was imposed under one single, uniform “FPCS fine.”
What a foreign renter should check
A foreign tenant in Phnom Penh can reasonably ask the landlord or property manager whether the stay has been entered under the correct address in FPCS. Owners may need passport and visa details to complete the record, so if the registration question has never come up, it is worth clarifying rather than assuming it was handled automatically.
This does not make the tenant automatically liable for a landlord's reporting failure, nor does an FPCS record replace a valid visa or other immigration requirements. The enforcement figures cited by Phnom Penh specifically concern property owners, while immigration status and address reporting remain separate compliance issues.
The system also appears to remain in active operational use. On September 18, the Ministry of Interior reported new police training on FPCS in Siem Reap, with no indication that the reporting system had been withdrawn after the August enforcement figures were published.
Sources
- Phnom Penh Municipal Administration / Agence Kampuchea Presse — August 5, 2026.
- Ministry of Interior of Cambodia — February 6, 2026.
- General Department of Immigration — Foreigners Presence in Cambodia System — checked September 2026.
- Cambodianess — FPCS Explained: A Practical 2026 Guide for Foreigners and Landlords — August 28, 2026.
- Ministry of Interior of Cambodia — FPCS training in Siem Reap — September 18, 2026.