ОСИ Savings Account: Who Opens It and What Happens to the Money

The ОСИ savings account is a question that comes up in a concrete situation. A new chairman has been elected. Or the management company has changed. And now someone has to say where the capital-repair money is and who may touch it. This is what the law says, and what it does not say.

Two accounts, not one

The Law on Housing Relations distinguishes two bank accounts. The current account is for money to manage the condominium object. The savings account is for accumulating money for capital repair of the common property. Both are opened at second-tier banks.

People mix them up all the time. Current contributions go to current repair, fire safety and utilities for the common property (art. 34-1, para. 2). The accumulative contribution builds up on the savings account. What it is and how its minimum is calculated we covered in the glossary: accumulative contribution of an ОСИ (in Russian). Here we only cover the account itself.

Who opens it and within what term

The savings account is opened by the ОСИ chairman or by the management subject of the condominium object: a management company or a КСК. One term: fifteen calendar days. It is opened at one of the second-tier banks (art. 34-2, para. 1).

Now a caveat that is easy to get wrong. The provisions we checked do not say what event starts those fifteen days. So the sentence "the chairman opens the account within 15 days after registration" is not written into the law. If you need the starting date, ask a lawyer and read your charter.

Next, on whom and on what the account is opened. For a КСК the law words it in art. 51-6, para. 4, sub-para. 8 as: "opening, within fifteen calendar days, the current and savings accounts on the condominium object and (or) managing the current and savings accounts of the association of property owners". For a management company the wording in art. 51-5 is the same. Two things follow. Accounts are opened on the condominium object, so the money is tied to the building, not to the operator. And the role of the management subject may consist of managing the accounts of the owners' association itself. For the ОСИ chairman the duty is written separately: to open the current and savings accounts at second-tier banks within fifteen calendar days (art. 51-1, para. 5, sub-para. 10). How a bank records the account holder in its contract is not written in the provisions we checked. That is a question for the bank and for your charter.

And do not write "by law, one building, one account" in a protocol. The law has no such formula. It is wording from a 2020 press release about the 2019 reform. What the law does say is different: one ОСИ is created for one apartment building (art. 49, para. 1); where buildings share a single foundation, common building-wide engineering systems or one indivisible land plot, the owners create one ОСИ for all of them (art. 49, para. 2). And accounts are opened on the condominium object.

The bank is not obliged

Taking part in accumulating capital-repair money is a right of second-tier banks (art. 34-2, para. 2). So you cannot assume that any bank must open a savings account for you. If a bank agrees, it must comply with the laws of Kazakhstan. If it does not, look for another one.

Whose money it is and what it may be spent on

Here the law is strict, and that is good for owners. The accumulative contribution consists of mandatory monthly contributions, and its amount may not be lower than 0.005 times the monthly calculation index per square metre of usable area (art. 34-1, para. 3). As for the accumulated money:

1. It can be claimed only for capital repair of the common property.
2. It cannot be pledged against the owners' obligations.
3. It is spent from the savings account only by a decision of the assembly.

The third point matters most. A chairman may not spend the savings "as the situation requires", even if the repair is urgent. An assembly decision is needed. If you run a building, keep the decision and the protocol in one place, not in chat threads.

What happens to the balance when management changes

The commonest fear: the management company changed and the money "stayed there". The law answers it directly, but for one case only. For buildings where the owners chose direct joint management, the balance on the savings account must be preserved and moved to the savings account opened by the new management subject within three working days (art. 51-4, para. 9).

And for an ОСИ? The savings account is opened by the chairman or the management subject (art. 34-2, para. 1); for the chairman it is a separate duty (art. 51-1, para. 5, sub-para. 10). For the management subject the law speaks of opening accounts on the condominium object and (or) managing the accounts of the association itself (art. 51-6, para. 4, sub-para. 8; art. 51-5). A separate balance-transfer rule, like art. 51-4, para. 9, is not among the verified provisions for an ОСИ. So when the management subject changes, check the charter and the contract with it, ask a lawyer and record the assembly's decision in the minutes (see the model ОСИ assembly minutes, in Russian).

When there may be no accounts at all

There is an exception people forget. Direct joint management by all owners in a building with fewer than thirty-six apartments and non-residential premises may be carried out without opening a current and a savings account and without engaging a management subject (art. 48, para. 2). If the building has more than thirty-six premises, the owners must, on the basis of an assembly protocol, engage a management subject.

For a small building this means: whether you must open a savings account depends on the form of management and the size of the building, not only on the chairman's wishes.

Where Unitify helps

The account is opened at a bank, not at Unitify. The platform handles what starts after it is open: Easybilly, Unitify's billing module, calculates charges by item, and each contribution can be shown as a separate line on the receipt. The resident sees the receipt in the app, payments are reconciled automatically, and charges and payments are visible per apartment.

It does not replace accounting or a lawyer. The decision to spend the savings remains the assembly's decision.

If you want to see what it looks like for your building, you can start free on the Unitify page for ОСИ in Kazakhstan. For what to do when a contribution does not arrive, read debtors in an ОСИ: payment deadline, penalty interest and collection.

If you work at a bank, see Unitify for banks: how a building's manager and the building's account can reach your banking app.

Source: Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Housing Relations", art. 34-1 (paras. 2-3), art. 34-2 (paras. 1-2), art. 48 (para. 2), art. 49 (para. 1), art. 51-1 (para. 5), art. 51-4 (para. 9), art. 51-5, art. 51-6 (para. 4), adilet.zan.kz, accessed 07.09.2026.