DANGKOR district authorities have begun taking measures against landlords who rent their houses to unregistered tenants in a bid to cut down on robberies and other petty crime, officials said Thursday.

Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth said the scheme had begun in Dangkor but would soon be extended to the entire city.

"The law has been clear for a long time: The landlord must give the clear identity of their tenants, but some districts just don't do it, and now Dangkor district is the first to comply," he said.

"The unidentified renters make it very hard when crimes are perpetrated and we don't know how to find [suspects]. We want to prevent crimes and activities perpetrated by spoiled teenagers, and it is easy for us when we know their background."

He added that any landlords found flouting the law by harbouring unregistered tenants would be educated by police, but that "administrative measures" would be taken in the case of repeat offenders.

Soth Sath, the chief of Choam Chao commune, said the crackdown began Wednesday, and that it would proceed at the rate of one or two villages per day.

"Before, my district was safe, but after we had a lot of newcomers come to rent houses it made my village unsafe because of spoiled teenagers," he said.

"So we are doing things like this to ensure security."