Samdech Techo asks developers to delay real estate payment for workers

• 10 March 2020
• Local News
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Covid-19 respiratory infections have caused negative effects on the economy and in particular in the property sector. In response, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen requested real estate companies to provide workers with compensation and delay payments as much as possible.

The request was made at the opening ceremony of National Road 55 and National Road 10 on the morning of 9 March 2020, when he referred in particular to especially workers in guesthouses and hotels.

“I request the owner of the house or the owner who sells the house to the workers and those employed at hotels or factories to delay the payment period and to not end the contract based on late payment,” Samdach Techo said.

He added, “This is because, according to the contract, if it is late to pay the house fee or the instalment, it was a one-off deal, and the contract will be terminated. Therefore, please be highly considerate on this issue.”

In accordance with the request of Samdech PM, the Ministry of Economy and Finance issued a call on 9 March 2020 to real estate developers to help ease the conditions of payments for housing payments and to request them to reduce the price of housing for workers affected as much as they can.

Ath Thun, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, said at RFI that, “the case that workers owing the microfinance’s money is another thing, but the private loan is another thing else. For this matter, I have no comments on what their decision would be.”

“In fact, many of the workers do not have enough documents to borrow from banks or microfinance institutions. Therefore, it is only the private sector that might have the problem” he said. “In addition, the down payment is low but most workers pay on the land, both formally and informally, and some pay directly with the developers, so whether they agree or not is not yet clear”, Thun added.

Facing this Covid-19 crisis, Prime Minister Hun Sen has also put in place a number of urgent measures to facilitate the real estate market and construction including the release of the one-year stamp duty exemptions for property under US$70,000. (Read more)

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