HOA Chairperson: What They May and Must Do Under the Law

Owners elect the chairperson of a homeowners' association (HOA — an ОСИ under Kazakh law) at a general meeting, and for most owners that is where their involvement ends. From there the chairperson acts alone: signing contracts, opening bank accounts, reporting to the building council. Few owners know exactly what the role requires — and fewer still know that some of the chairperson's powers are strictly limited by law.

The chairperson's status is set out in Article 51-1 of the Kazakh Law "On Housing Relations" — a standalone provision added to the law specifically for this role. It settles three things at once: who can be chairperson, what they may do without a power of attorney, and which 17 functions they must perform on an ongoing basis.

This is the first article in the ZhKH 24 series on the HOA chairperson. The second covers their annual calendar of duties; the third covers liability under the Administrative Offences Code, the Criminal Code and the Civil Code.

Who the HOA chairperson is

The HOA chairperson is an owner of an apartment or non-residential unit in the building, elected by the owners' meeting. This is not a hired manager or an employee of a management company: the chairperson must be one of the building's owners and simultaneously serves as a member of the building council.

The chairperson's legal status is defined by Article 51-1 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Housing Relations" of 16 April 1997 No. 94 (Z970000094_, Art. 51-1).

Key parameters of the role:

• elected by the meeting of apartment and non-residential unit owners;
• term of office — 3 years;
• a family member of an owner (spouse, children, parents) may also be elected, provided they permanently reside in that unit;
• simultaneously serves on the building council — the chairperson and the council work in tandem, not separately.

How the chairperson is elected and re-elected

Electing, re-electing and early termination of the chairperson's powers fall within the competence of the owners' meeting (subpara. 3, para. 5, Art. 42 of the Law). The meeting also sets the chairperson's remuneration (subpara. 20 of the same paragraph) — the role can be either unpaid or paid, and owners decide which.

The meeting can be held in person or in absentia — a written poll, or voting through a digital housing-and-utilities platform. The chairperson themselves may initiate it.

In practice, it is more effective to combine formats rather than choose between them: a paper ballot in the entryway for owners who don't use a smartphone, alongside voting through a digital platform for everyone else, with votes from both channels counted automatically. This kind of hybrid "offline + online" format is supported by digital housing-and-utilities platforms such as eKnot (eknot.me) — it removes the chairperson election's biggest pain point: chronic quorum shortfalls because some owners simply cannot gather in one place at one time.

What the chairperson may do

The law describes the chairperson's rights briefly, but one of them is fundamental: the chairperson represents the HOA without a power of attorney. They need neither a meeting resolution nor a power of attorney to represent the association in court, before government bodies, or before any organization (para. 2, Art. 51-1). This is a key difference from, say, a building council member — the chairperson acts on the HOA's behalf directly, by virtue of the office itself.

This gives rise to their practical powers:

• signing contracts on the HOA's behalf — with utility providers, contractors, and employment contracts with building staff;
• entering into an employment contract with an apartment-building manager if owners decide to hire a professional manager (para. 7, Art. 51-1);
• opening the HOA's current and savings accounts at second-tier banks;
• applying to court and government bodies — the housing inspectorate, the akimat — on the association's behalf;
• keeping the HOA's seal (if one exists) and using it.

What the chairperson must do

The law splits the chairperson's duties into two blocks: safekeeping obligations (para. 3, Art. 51-1) and ongoing operational duties (para. 5, Art. 51-1, 17 subparagraphs).

Block 1. Safekeeping documents, property and valuables

The chairperson is responsible for the safekeeping of (para. 3, Art. 51-1):

• building documentation — technical passport, condominium documents;
• financial documentation — primary accounting records, reports, current and savings account documents;
• meeting minutes;
• contracts concluded with utility providers;
• acceptance certificates for building management services rendered;
• monthly and annual management reports;
• seals (if any);
• keys to non-residential premises forming part of common property;
• electronic access codes to common-property equipment;
• inventory items purchased with owners' contributions;
• other equipment needed to operate the building. When the chairperson changes (or the building switches to direct joint management), all of this must be handed over to the successor under a transfer certificate within 10 working days (para. 4, Art. 51-1). If there is no successor, the documents go to the housing inspectorate. Missing this deadline carries a separate fine under Article 320 of the Administrative Offences Code, covered in the third article of the series.

Block 2. The chairperson's ongoing work — 17 functions

The full list of what the chairperson must ensure under para. 5, Art. 51-1:

1. state registration and re-registration of the HOA;
2. compiling the list of owners of apartments, non-residential units, parking spaces and storage units;
3. a set of measures ensuring safe and comfortable living conditions;
4. organizing owners' meetings;
5. concluding utility contracts for maintaining common property;
6. concluding employment contracts;
7. carrying out decisions of the meeting and the building council;
8. drafting the annual expense budget and annual report — and submitting them to the building council;
9. submitting a monthly management report to the building council;
10. opening the current and savings accounts within 15 calendar days;
11. monitoring owners' payment of current, capital and targeted contributions;
12. providing owners, on written request, with copies of financial documentation, reports and meeting decisions within 1 month;
13. monitoring the quality and continuity of utility services;
14. posting monthly and annual reports and meeting/council decisions in publicly accessible places and on digital housing-and-utilities platforms;
15. preparing engineering systems and equipment for the heating season — elevators, lifts for people with limited mobility, smoke-removal systems, fire alarms, internal fire water supply;
16. providing data as required by the rules on digital housing-and-utilities platforms;
17. other functions related to building management. Items 8 and 9 reveal an important detail: the chairperson does not approve the budget and reports alone — they prepare drafts and submit them to the building council, which then puts them before the meeting. The council's decision is binding on the chairperson (para. 5, Art. 51 of the Law): the chairperson answers to the building council rather than acting unilaterally.

Deadlines for each of these items are set out separately in the chairperson's calendar, the second article of this series.

If the chairperson cannot perform their duties

If the chairperson is temporarily unable to work — due to illness or another reason — for longer than 15 calendar days, the building council elects an acting chairperson from among its own members, for up to 6 months, until a new chairperson is elected (para. 6, Art. 51-1).

The acting chairperson does not have the right to:

• carry out state registration or re-registration of the HOA (subpara. 1);
• conclude utility contracts for maintaining common property (subpara. 5);
• open the current and savings accounts (subpara. 10). Only operational functions are reserved for the acting chairperson — the weightiest powers remain locked until a permanent chairperson is elected.

Who cannot be chairperson or oversee them

The law separates roles to avoid conflicts of interest: the chairperson's family members cannot be elected to the building council (para. 1, Art. 51); family members of either the chairperson or council members cannot be elected to the audit commission (auditor) (Art. 45).

The audit commission or auditor is a separate body that reviews the building's financial documentation at least once a year, with the report considered at the meeting (Art. 45).

Prepared by the ZhKH 24 analytics desk based on the direct text of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Housing Relations" of 16.04.1997 No. 94 and the ZhKH 24 registry of regulatory acts. Prepared in September 2026.