Kompasguides
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Cameroon edition

This guide is written in French (Cameroon edition). An English edition is in preparation.

Before you build to let, find out what your building will really earn.

The step-by-step guide to turning land into rental income: working out the yield, building permit, building work monitored from a distance, lease and taxes.

Get the guide for 4,900 FCFA Calculate my yield
  • 25 pages
  • 15 sources cited, including the 2008 decree on construction
  • Worked yield example, item by item
What counts is not the rent, but what is left after vacancies, costs and tax.

Rental projects rarely fail because of the concrete.

They fail because the starting figures were wrong, or because the building work got out of control. Three common situations:

Building work paid in advance

The money is paid, the contractor slows down, the budget runs out halfway up. You are funding building work you no longer control.

The imagined yield

People divide the rents by the price and forget vacancies, maintenance, management and tax. In the guide's example, the real yield is almost half as high.

The permit neglected

Building without a permit or with an incomplete file exposes you to a stop-work order and makes both letting and resale harder.

10.4% then 5.4%
gross yield, then net after vacancies, costs and tax, in the guide's worked example
versus
4,900 FCFA
to do this calculation on your project before laying the first stone

The 2026 Finance Act cut the withholding tax on rents from 15% to 10%. The guide includes this change. Source: Ministry of Finance (in French)

What you will be able to do after reading it

Every stage of the project, from market research to the first rent collected.

  • Work out the real yieldGross, net, after tax: the method and a complete example.
  • Choose the right neighbourhoodMarket research in one week, with the questions to ask.
  • Get the permitsTown planning certificate and building permit: documents, timescales and traps.
  • Pay for building work without losing controlComparable quotes, written contract, payment in instalments linked to progress.
  • Monitor the work from a distanceReports, dated photos, site log, independent checks.
  • Let and declareWritten lease, rent management, tax on property income.

Look inside

A real working guide: tables, worked examples, tick-box checklists. Here are three pages (in French).

Guide page: yield calculation table
The yield calculation, item by item
Guide page: building permit documents and timescales
The building permit: documents and timescales
Guide page: checklists before the permit, the building work and the letting
Checklists for each stage

This guide is for you if

  • you have land and want to make it pay;
  • you are comparing building with investing your money elsewhere;
  • you are building from abroad and need to manage the work from a distance;
  • you want to let without disputes or bad tax surprises.

It is not for you if

  • you are looking for architect's plans or a quote: the guide teaches you how to ask for them and compare them;
  • you want personalised tax advice: that is an accountant's job;
  • you are already a property developer.

Calculate your project's yield, for free

This calculator applies the guide's method. Change the figures: the result updates. The starting values are those of the guide's fictional example.

The complete guide

This guide is written in French (Cameroon edition). An English edition is in preparation.

Guide and Tips to Finance and Build a Rental Building (Cameroon edition)

  • Guide written in French (Cameroon edition).
  • 25-page PDF in A5 format, in large print for comfortable reading on a phone
  • Ten chapters, from market research to the landlord's dashboard
  • Complete worked yield example
  • Budget by item and essential clauses of the building contract
  • Checklists for each stage
  • 15 sources cited, including the decrees and the 2026 Finance Act
  • Bonus: the Kompasguides newsletter free of charge, with fully verified land and property listings every week
4,900 FCFA

Orange Money or MTN MoMo. Download as soon as the payment is confirmed.

Planning a complete project? All four guides: 9,900 FCFA instead of 19,600 FCFA.

Frequently asked questions

Does the guide give the building cost per square metre?

No, because prices vary too much depending on the city, the materials and the time. The guide teaches you to build a budget by item, to compare three quotes on the same basis and to plan for the unexpected.

I have land without a land title. Can I build?

The guide recommends securing the land before any building work: the certificate of ownership is required in the building permit file. The guide “Buying land” details the procedure.

Does this guide replace an architect or an accountant?

No. It helps you choose them, ask them the right questions and check their work.

I live abroad. Is the guide suitable?

Yes. A chapter covers monitoring building work from a distance: person in charge on site, payment milestones, dated photos, independent checks.

Is payment secure?

Payment by Orange Money, MTN MoMo. With Orange Money or MTN MoMo, the request goes straight to your phone: you approve it with your PIN, without leaving this site. Your PIN is never requested or stored by this site.

How it works

  1. Choose your guideClick “Buy”.
  2. Pay with your phoneApprove with your Orange Money or MTN MoMo PIN, or pay by card.
  3. Download the PDFThe guide is available as soon as the payment is confirmed.
  • Orange Money
  • MTN MoMo

For the next steps of your project