NovRepairs and maintenance
While the apartment stands empty, repairs are your concern and your budget. Once a tenant lives there, every breakage becomes a question of who pays, and the middle of a dispute is a late moment to answer it. The boundaries are set not by fairness but by what is written in the lease and in the building's documents.
Three zones of responsibility
| Zone | What it covers | Who is responsible |
|---|---|---|
| Building common property | Lifts, roof, facade, risers, corridors, pumps, generator, security | Management company, from the service charges |
| The apartment and its equipment | Plumbing, electrics inside the unit, air conditioners, built-in appliances, furniture on the inventory | Owner |
| Day-to-day use | Consumables, bulbs, filter cleaning, blockages caused by the occupant, damage from misuse | Tenant |
This split is market practice rather than a rule of law: we could not confirm a single Cambodia-wide rule. So it must be written into the lease explicitly, with examples. Where the contract is silent, the argument is settled by negotiation, and usually not in the owner's favour.
Where disputes actually happen
Three situations account for almost all conflict, and all three are solved by one sentence in the contract.
- The air conditioner stops cooling. Filter cleaning and routine servicing usually fall to the tenant; replacing a compressor to the owner. State the servicing interval and who pays for it.
- A blockage. Caused by what was flushed — tenant. A riser or a design fault — management company. This is exactly why the source is established before a plumber is called.
- An appliance from the inventory fails. Wear — owner; damage — tenant. Distinguishing them is impossible without an inventory recording condition at move-in.
A leak: what to do
A leak is the most expensive of household incidents because it reaches the neighbours. The order is:
- Shut off the water and tell the building's management. That is the first call, not the second.
- Record the source with photographs and video before anything is dismantled. The source determines who pays.
- If neighbours are affected, record the damage and notify management in writing.
- Keep every invoice and technician's report: without them an insurer will not engage.
- Check whether your policy covers liability to third parties. Damage to neighbours usually costs more than your own repair.
Do not allocate the bill before establishing the cause
A wet wall shows where damage appeared, but not necessarily the source or cause. Before allocating cost, obtain a short written technical finding: the failed component's location, tests performed, what was found after opening up, whether the component belongs to the unit or a common system, and whether the evidence points to wear, misuse, installation defect or an external event.
Keep records before dismantling and after opening the construction, identify the removed part, retain relevant readings and record the proposed permanent remedy. Then compare the finding with the lease, building rules, warranty and insurance. A technical report establishes facts; it does not by itself create the legal basis for liability.
Close a repair only after testing the result
A contractor's message saying the work is complete does not close the request. Test the same function that failed: operate the air conditioner normally, run water under working conditions, test the outlet with suitable equipment, or inspect after rain where the defect depended on weather. If an immediate test is impossible, keep the request under observation until an agreed review point.
The completion pack should include the work carried out, photographs, parts used, invoice, payment evidence, warranty terms and callback contact. If the fault returns, reopen the original reference rather than creating an unrelated request. This exposes failed repairs and preserves the trail for a warranty callback.
Approving works when you are not in the country
The remote owner's main problem is not money but speed. While you are replying, a small fault becomes a large one and the tenant becomes unhappy.
The working solution is a limit. Set an amount in the management contract below which the manager acts alone and reports afterwards, and a threshold above which your written approval is required. That removes both extremes: replacing a bulb does not wait a day, and replacing an air conditioner does not appear in the report as a fait accompli.
Check the contractor and disclose conflicts
Before significant non-emergency work, define the scope, required outcome, materials, programme, price, payment terms and warranty. Check suitable experience and any relevant licences, qualifications or insurance. The number of quotations should reflect the value and risk of the work; no single quote count is appropriate for every request.
The manager should disclose in advance whether the contractor is connected to the firm or its staff, whether a markup applies, and whether anyone receives a referral benefit. RICS Property agency and management principles requires managers within its scope to use due diligence when selecting contractors and disclose a referral fee or other benefit. It is a professional benchmark that should be written into the agreement with the particular operator.
Agree three further things: photographs before and after, a supporting document for every cost, and same-day notification of any incident regardless of amount.
Separate damage control from the permanent repair
In an emergency, remove the immediate threat first: isolate water, de-energise an unsafe circuit, restrict access and contact building management or an emergency specialist. Evidence matters, but taking photographs must not delay a safe protective action. Article 603 of Cambodia's Civil Code provides that the lessee must not obstruct a lessor's act necessary to preserve the leased object.
Once the incident is stable, open distinct stages for diagnosis, temporary reinstatement, approval of the permanent solution, completion and reinspection. Give each stage its own date, responsible person, evidence and cost. A temporary patch cannot then be mistaken for a closed repair, and the question of who funds the permanent root-cause work remains visible.
Give one fault one reference and one history
Assign a permanent reference to every request. Record when and how it was reported, who found it, the room and equipment, symptoms, urgency, access availability, interim action, appointed technician, diagnosis, approval, cost, completion date and reinspection status.
Tell the tenant in advance where and how to report a problem. Article 611 of Cambodia's Civil Code requires the lessee to notify the lessor without delay when the object needs repairs, unless the lessor already knows. The lease should turn that duty into workable contacts, a backup channel and an emergency-access procedure.
Planned maintenance
Prevention is cheaper than repair, and in a tropical climate that is not a figure of speech. A sensible minimum: scheduled air-conditioner servicing with cleaning, checks of plumbing and seals for leaks, inspection of windows and seals after the rainy season, and a review of furniture and appliances at each change of tenant.
Keep an equipment, service and warranty register
For air conditioners, water heaters, pumps, fitted appliances, smart locks and other material equipment, record the model, serial number, purchase or installation date, manual, warranty evidence, service contact, work history, replaced parts and next review. Transfer the register with keys and documents when the manager changes.
Base servicing on the manufacturer's instructions, warranty terms, usage, age and observed condition rather than one universal timetable. RICS Planned preventative maintenance recommends using warranties and manufacturer information and connecting each item to its location, condition, recommendation, priority, budget and photograph. That is a management method, not a mandatory Cambodian service interval.
Once a year ask for photographs of the whole apartment even if there are no complaints. It costs less than any inspection and reveals what the tenant does not mention.
Plan maintenance by risk, not only by date
Classify future work by consequence: danger to people or further damage, loss of an essential function, risk to warranty or insurance, necessary cyclical maintenance, and cosmetic improvement. For each item record the location, condition, recommended action, basis, priority, planned period, budget allowance and internal photo or request reference.
The owner can then see why one task is immediate, another belongs in the next budget and a third can wait until the tenancy changes. Photographs help track visible change, but they do not replace technical inspection where a defect is concealed, safety-related or dependent on measurements.
Renovation in a condominium: what needs approval
Any work touching common property or structural elements requires approval from the management company. Usually that means an application, permitted working hours and a deposit against damage to common areas. House rules often restrict noisy work by day and hour.
Obtain a written decision on the private-common boundary
Where a fault touches a riser, facade, roof, common wiring, service shaft, external unit, shared waterproofing or a system passing through the apartment, ask building management for a written response. It should identify the component, responsibility boundary, access required, permitted work, responsible party and treatment of the cost.
Cambodia's law on foreign ownership in co-owned buildings distinguishes private units from common areas and requires compliance with internal rules and participation in common-area maintenance. Yet the location of damage does not always settle liability for a particular loss: cause, building rules, contracts, maintenance and insurance also matter. A verbal answer from security or a technician is therefore not enough to close the issue.
This includes replacing windows, anything affecting the facade, relocating air-conditioner units, and altering water or waste pipework. Doing it without approval means a notice and paying to put it back.
What we help with
NovAsia connects a rental management partner who handles routine maintenance, calling out technicians and reporting on costs. Availability and terms are confirmed for the specific property — in some projects these functions are covered by the building's management company or by the income-programme operator.
Not sure who should pay? We can review your lease and the house rules and suggest how to draw the boundaries so the next breakage does not become an argument.
Ask about your propertyor on TelegramFrequently asked questions
Who pays for repairs, the owner or the tenant?
The general practice: the owner is responsible for the apartment and its equipment working, the tenant for consumables and for what they break. But that is market practice rather than a rule of law, and the parties agree it in the contract. Where the contract is silent, the argument is settled by negotiation, and usually not in the owner's favour.
What falls to the management company?
The building's common property: lifts, roof, facade, risers, corridor lighting, pumps, generator. If a leak comes from a common riser it is the management company's responsibility, not yours. That is why the source is established first in any incident — it determines who pays.
What spending limit should a manager have?
Sensible practice is to set an amount below which the manager acts alone and reports afterwards, with anything above it requiring your written approval. That avoids both extremes: a minor repair does not wait a day for your reply, and large spending does not appear in the report as a fait accompli.
Sources
Practice supporting owners in Phnom Penh · NovAsia corpus on ownership and management · checked July 2026. A statutory Cambodian allocation of repair costs between owner and tenant is not confirmed in this review — market practice is described and should be fixed by contract. This content is for general information only.
Templates: repair log — the work history for the unit; repair approval matrix — who decides at which amount. Both are CSV tables that open in Excel and Google Sheets. They are working drafts, not legal documents: the fields and thresholds should be adjusted to the specific unit and contract terms.