Kazakhstan ОСИ Written Survey: Voting Sheet and Deadlines

Getting every owner into one room is hard: someone is away, someone will not come, and the ОСИ has no hall that would hold the owners of two hundred apartments. So the ОСИ more often runs an absentee meeting, which means a written survey. The law gives it a fairly detailed procedure. Here it is step by step: who starts it, what goes on the sheet, how long it runs, how to count and what to sign.

A written survey is an absentee meeting

The law allows a meeting in two formats: in person, and absentee. The absentee format is a written survey and (or) voting through a digital object, in the manner set by articles 43 and 44 (art. 42, para. 2 of the Law on Housing Relations). The decision of such a meeting binds all owners, like any other, and is recorded in a protocol (art. 42, para. 4).

The survey is started by an initiative group. For a written survey it is chosen from among the owners of apartments, non-residential premises, parking spaces and storage rooms (art. 43, para. 1). The signatures of the meeting's initiators go on the survey sheet and on the protocol (art. 43, paras 3 and 8).

Notice and sending out the sheet

The initiator notifies the owners five calendar days before the meeting date of its format, date, place and agenda (art. 42, para. 6). This can be done by a notice in public places, on the digital object (if there is one) or individually, by email or to a mobile number, if the owner has provided them.

Separately, the survey sheet goes to every owner within five calendar days of the announcement of the meeting (art. 43, para. 4). The provisions we read give no deadline for returning completed sheets. Write one into the notice yourselves: the date until which sheets are accepted and the place to hand them in.

What the voting sheet must contain

The law fixes the content of the sheet. It must carry:

• a serial number;
• the address of the apartment building;
• the questions put to the vote;
• a place for the signature of the owner of the apartment, non-residential premises, parking space or storage room;
• the signatures of the meeting's initiators (art. 43, para. 3).

Word each question the way it will read in the decision: one question, one decision. That is practice, not a requirement of the law.

How long the survey runs

A written survey runs no more than two months from the date the meeting is announced. In a building with more than five hundred apartments, non-residential premises, parking spaces or storage rooms, no more than three months (art. 43, para. 2). The period runs from the announcement, so it is best to put the closing date in the notice itself.

How to count the votes

The rules are the same as for any meeting. An owner has one vote. If he owns several apartments or premises, he has as many votes as units. An apartment in joint ownership of two or more persons has one vote (art. 42, para. 7).

The meeting is competent if more than half of the total number of owners of apartments and non-residential premises take part. A decision passes by a majority of those who voted. But for the questions in sub-paras 6)-16) and 21) of art. 42, para. 5, the majority of the total number of owners is needed (art. 42, para. 8). These include, for example, the annual budget, the current-contribution rate, targeted contributions, major repair and the annual report. If your question is on that list, it is not enough for "for" to beat "against". "For" must exceed half of all owners of apartments and non-residential premises.

Counting the result: who must be present

The initiators of the meeting count the result of a written survey. The ОСИ chairman, the house-council members and the management subject's representative, if there is one, must be present. If the building chose direct joint management, at least two owners must be present (art. 43, para. 7).

This condition is easy to miss. Do not count without the people para. 7 names. Set a time, invite those people and write down who came.

The protocol: contents, signatures, assembly

The result of a written survey is recorded in the meeting protocol and signed by the initiators. The decision is considered adopted subject to the requirements of art. 42, para. 7. The survey sheets are an integral part of the protocol, and they are numbered and bound (art. 43, para. 8).

What the protocol itself must contain is listed in art. 42, para. 14. Among the items: the building's address, the questions, the format and voting period, the total number of owners, the number taking part (with names and premises numbers), the meeting chairman, secretary and initiators, the result of the vote and the decision taken, and the annex. The list of owners who voted, with surnames, first names and patronymics (where shown in the identity document) and premises numbers, is also part of the protocol: it is numbered and bound (art. 42, para. 12).

On signatures: for a written survey, art. 43, para. 8 names the initiators as signatories. The general rule in art. 42, para. 15 says the meeting protocol is signed by the chairman, the secretary and the initiator. If the initiators hold at least ten percent of the owners, at least three owners from among the initiators sign. The approved form 3 (annex 7) has signature lines for the meeting chairman, the secretary and the initiator(s); the simplest course is to sign the protocol on that form.

The typical protocol forms are approved by Order No. 163 as amended by Order No. 358 of 16.07.2026 (annex 7). For the absentee format for apartments and non-residential premises this is form 3, and parking spaces and storage rooms have a separate form 4. It is simpler to take the approved form than to draw your own: a model ОСИ assembly protocol on the forms of Order No. 358 (in Russian).

Storage and copies

Protocols are kept by the ОСИ chairman. Under direct joint management they are kept by the management subject. If the protocol is drawn up as an electronic document, it is stored under the Law on Electronic Document and Electronic Digital Signature (art. 42, para. 16).

A copy of the protocol must be given on the written request of an owner or the housing inspectorate within five working days (art. 42, para. 17). Decisions recorded in a protocol serve as a document before courts, other state bodies and organisations, and as a basis for calculating housing assistance (art. 42, para. 13).

When some of the votes are cast online

Results of voting through a digital object count in the totals of both in-person and absentee meetings (art. 42, para. 2). Voting through a digital object itself runs at least seven days and at most two months from the announcement (art. 44, para. 2).

Order No. 163 allows for both a paper sheet and an electronic one: the results of a paper written survey and of an electronic survey sheet are added up and recorded in a protocol under annex 7 (para. 23). The voting owner must be identified, but does not need an ЭЦП (para. 22). An ЭЦП is needed when the protocol is drawn up electronically: it is applied by the meeting chairman, the secretary and the initiator(s) (para. 24).

There is a mismatch worth knowing about. A footnote to form 3 of annex 7 says the signature lines are not required and are dropped when voting is through a digital object. Yet para. 24 requires an ЭЦП under an electronic protocol. Neither text explains how they interact. Do not promise residents or the inspectorate either "no signatures needed" or "signatures needed" until you have checked with a lawyer.

Where Unitify fits

The procedure of the survey, the content of the sheet and the protocol are set by the law, not by software. An app does not by itself make a meeting legally valid.

If you decide to collect part of the votes online, Unitify helps with that part only. You create a "Meeting" (Собрание), choose the building and the voting period and publish it. Residents answer from their phone in the resident app, and you see how many apartments have voted. A vote in the app is not a written survey sheet: the sheet must carry a place for the owner's signature (art. 43, para. 3). Voting through a digital object is a separate route for an absentee meeting, with its own rules: it runs at least seven days and at most two months (art. 44, para. 2), the owner must be identified (para. 22 of Order No. 163), and the meeting itself chooses the service, by a majority of those who voted with a quorum of more than half of the owners of apartments and non-residential premises (art. 42, para. 5, sub-para. 18 and para. 8). Unitify records the votes and shows the results, while drawing up, signing and keeping the protocol remains with you. Unitify has no built-in electronic signature at the moment. More on digital voting is in electronic voting of ОСИ owners, and you can see how it looks for your building on the Unitify page for ОСИ in Kazakhstan.

Sources: Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Housing Relations", art. 42 (paras 2, 4, 6-8, 12-17), art. 43 (paras 1-4, 7, 8), art. 44 (para. 2); Order No. 163 of 30.03.2020 as amended by Order No. 358 of 16.07.2026 (paras 22-24, annex 7), adilet.zan.kz, accessed 7 September to 1 October 2026.