Amendments to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Housing Relations have come into force, changing the management structure of apartment buildings. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to Duman Bakytbekov, director of the company «Upravdom Kazakhstan», the legislative changes are aimed at strengthening control over the spending of owners' funds and digitalizing the housing and communal services sector.
Under the new amendments, the management form «simple partnership» has been completely removed from the legislation. Now apartment owners are obliged to choose one of two forms: direct joint management (NSO) or association of property owners (OSI). The term of office of the OSI chairman has been extended to 3 years.
«The exclusion of simple partnership is a strategic step towards transparency. Now residents need to choose NSO or OSI, and the increase in the chairman's term to 3 years will allow chairmen to implement long-term plans for home modernization without being distracted by annual paper bureaucracy,» commented the director of «Upravdom Kazakhstan».
Requirements for large properties have been introduced. If a building has more than 36 apartments or non-residential premises, owners are obliged to engage a professional management entity based on a meeting protocol. Such entities, according to paragraph 1 of Article 51-4 of the Law, include management companies and cooperatives of apartment owners (KSK). All existing KSKs, due to the entry into force of the new amendments, are obliged to undergo re-registration in the justice authorities at their location.
Strict professional and financial frameworks have been introduced for management entities. Services can only be provided if the staff includes employees with a document recognizing professional qualifications (in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Professional Qualifications»). Managers are obliged to notify the housing inspection in writing within 3 working days about the start or termination of activities for a specific property.
«New requirements for employee qualifications will improve the quality of service. Management companies will no longer be able to work uncontrollably: they must notify the housing inspection within 3 working days, confirming their professional status,» emphasized Duman Bakytbekov.
All legal forms (OSI, KSK, management companies) are obliged to maintain strict separate accounting for each building, opening separate current and savings bank accounts for this purpose. Residents' meetings must mandatory approve annual expenditure estimates and the amount of the monthly tariff.
Local executive bodies (akimats) have been assigned enhanced supervisory functions. Housing inspections have received expanded tools for maintaining registers of apartment buildings and checking the correctness of opening savings accounts for capital repairs. If owners cannot choose a form or management entity for 2 or more months, the housing inspection has the right to forcibly appoint a temporary management company.
To simplify residents' adaptation to the new requirements, the company «Upravdom Kazakhstan» (together with the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan) has implemented a full cycle of digital interaction in the «UpravDom» application. The system is integrated with state databases and ensures compliance with information security requirements.
«We have created an ecosystem that makes interaction between residents and management structures simple and transparent. Our joint project with the Ministry of Justice allows for legitimate online voting and registration of new legal forms in electronic format in just a few minutes,» said Duman Bakytbekov.
With the help of the application, owners and chairmen can: - select and change the management form through online voting; - create and register KSK, OSI or a management company; - maintain and store meeting minutes; - monitor accounts and payments.
Today, the platform covers 20 regions and 25 cities of Kazakhstan. Over 16,200 houses, more than 3,000 OSIs, KSKs and management companies are registered in the digital system, and the total number of users exceeds 250,000 people. More than 2,000 government services have already been provided through the application.