Housing Charge in Azerbaijan: When It Is Due (the 5th and the 15th)

The short answer: unless your management contract says otherwise, the charge for each month is payable by the 15th of the following month, on payment documents presented by the 5th. That calendar is written into the Housing Code (art. 137.1), which is unusual. Below, what the bill consists of, who sets the amount, what happens when an owner does not pay, and what the Code does not say.

What is being paid

In everyday speech the monthly building charge goes by several names, including mənzil haqqı ("housing charge"). The Code calls it the charge for maintenance and repair of the premises and splits the owner's bill into two parts (art. 136.2):

1. the charge for maintenance and repair of the premises, which includes managing the building, maintaining it and current and capital repair of the common property;
2. the charge for utilities, which in the Code means cold and hot water, sewerage, electricity, gas and heat (art. 136.4).

Use the Code's meaning when you cite it: "utilities" in art. 136 is a narrower thing than the whole building charge. Each owner's share of the maintenance costs follows their share in the common property (arts. 38.2, 140.1). Not using the flat is no ground for not paying (art. 137.10).

The calendar

For the charge for a given month, the Code's default is:

• by the 5th of the following month, payment documents (ödəniş sənədləri) are presented;
• by the 15th of the following month, the charge is paid.

So for June, documents by 5 July and payment by 15 July. A management contract may set other terms. A change in the amount must be notified, with its legal grounds, 30 days before the first payment document carrying the new amount (art. 137.11).

Who sets the amount

• No owners' association: the general meeting sets the maintenance rate for at least one year, and owners pay the managing organization (arts. 138.4, 137.6).
• With an owners' association (MMMC): its management organs set the members' mandatory payments in line with the charter, and members pay it (arts. 137.4, 138.5).
• If the meeting sets no rate at all: the relevant executive authority sets it (art. 140.3).

There is no national tariff for building maintenance and no statutory minimum charge. The state does set tariffs for the utilities themselves, which is a separate regime outside the Housing Code.

If an owner does not pay

Two levers exist in law:

• Court. An MMMC may claim compulsory recovery of the mandatory payments and full compensation of the loss caused by non-payment (arts. 122.3-122.4). The Code gives this right expressly to the MMMC; a managing organization relies on its contract and general civil law.
• Administrative fine. Under art. 393-1.4 of the Code of Administrative Offences, evading payment of maintenance costs on time and in full is an administrative offence; on a repeat offence within a year the fine can reach 150% of the amount due (art. 116.1 requires the fine to be conditional on a first offence).

Also: the Housing Code has no statutory late-payment interest, and capital-repair obligations (not ordinary arrears) pass to the next owner of the flat.

What the Code does not require

It does not require a separate bank account for each building, and it does not make payments cashless-only. It also does not oblige a managing organization to publish its tariffs on a schedule: information on prices, tariffs, the amount of the charge and the list and quality of services is owed on a citizen's request (art. 145.3).

A monthly checklist for a manager

1. Issue payment documents by the 5th.
2. Show the two parts separately: maintenance and repair, and utilities.
3. State the due date: the 15th, unless your contract says otherwise.
4. Notify any change in the amount, with its grounds, 30 days before the first document that carries it.
5. Track who has paid and who has not after the 15th.

What Unitify does

Unitify gives managing organizations and MMMCs in Azerbaijan a resident app, reports for owners and Yigim integrated for payments, so the monthly cycle above can run on a schedule instead of a spreadsheet. At Avant Park in Baku, the share of payments made through the resident app rose from 19% to 74% in three months.

See Unitify for Azerbaijan, billing and pricing, or book a demo.

Sources: Housing Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan, consolidation in force from 26.12.2025, e-qanun.az/framework/46955, arts. 38, 122, 135-140, 145; Code of Administrative Offences, e-qanun.az/framework/46960, arts. 116.1, 393-1. Checked 10 September 2026; recheck for later amendments before relying on it.