How to Set Up an Owners' Association (ТСЖ) in Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek)

To create an owners' association (товарищество собственников жилья, ТСЖ) in Kyrgyzstan, an initiative group of 10% of owners calls a founding meeting, at least 51% of the total votes of owners must be cast for creating it, and the association becomes a legal person on state registration. The law is the same across the republic, Bishkek included; we did not review Bishkek's own city acts. Below are the steps, what to put in the charter and how the board works.

The act is Law No. 122 of 9 July 2013 "On associations of owners of residential and non-residential premises of multi-apartment buildings", in the redaction of 28 May 2025. The 1997 law on associations has been repealed and should not be cited.

First: is an association the right form

The Housing Code lists five ways to run a multi-apartment building. Management by the owners themselves is possible only in a building of no more than four apartments. Anything larger is run by a managing organization or manager under contract, by an association, by a housing cooperative or by a specialised state or municipal institution (art. 31.2). The form is chosen at the owners' general meeting by a majority of all owners (art. 31.3). An association is one option, not an obligation.

How to create one, step by step

1. Initiative group. At least 10% of the owners of residential and non-residential premises form an initiative group. Its meeting fixes the date, time and place of the founding meeting, a preliminary agenda and a preliminary name (art. 4.1).
2. Notify the local self-government body. Ten days before the founding meeting the group notifies the executive body of local self-government in writing.
3. Notify the owners. In writing, at least 10 days before the meeting, handed to each owner against signature. If an owner is absent or refuses, that is recorded in a journal of notifications kept by the initiative group.
4. Hold the founding meeting. It is valid when a majority of owners attend. One owner votes per premises, and an owner of several premises has one vote. Voting may be by ballot or in another way the meeting decides (art. 4.3).
5. Decide. The association is created if at least 51% of the total votes of owners are cast for it. Results are communicated to owners within 30 days (art. 4.4).
6. Register. The association is created, and becomes a legal person, from state registration under Kyrgyz law (art. 4.7). There is no separate register of associations; it is registered like any other legal person. The documents list and state fee are outside this article.

Who cannot sit in the initiative group

The individual entrepreneur or legal person that built the building, its founders and its employees may not be in the initiative group or the founding meeting (art. 4.1). A developer cannot set up the association for its own building.

Membership and payments

Membership is voluntary and starts on an application with copies of title documents (art. 11.1). Owners who do not join bear the cost of maintaining the common property on equal terms (arts. 3.3, 22.1). So an association usually has two groups: members, who vote, and owners, who pay but do not vote.

What goes in the charter

The charter must contain (art. 5):

• the full name and legal address, subject and objectives;
• how the association is run, and the size and terms of its organs;
• how an owner notifies the association that a premises has been let;
• any other matters the meeting decides to include.

The mandatory content is short; the statute does much of the work. Amendments to the charter are made by the members' general meeting (art. 13.2).

The board, the chairman and the audit commission

The organs are the members' general meeting, the board and the audit commission (or auditor) (art. 12).

• Board. Elected from members by the general meeting for the term the charter sets, no longer than 2 years. The number of members is odd and set by the charter. No one may be elected more than two consecutive terms. A capable adult with no conviction for economic crimes, or whose conviction has been removed or expunged, can be elected (art. 15).
• Chairman. Elected by the board from among its members. He acts on behalf of the association without a power of attorney and signs the payment documents (art. 17). His powers and the handover of documents are in a separate article: the chairman of a ТСЖ in Kyrgyzstan: powers and the handover act.
• Audit commission. Elected for no more than 2 years; board members and their family members cannot sit on it. It audits the finances at least once a year and presents the meeting with its opinion on the estimate and a report on finances (art. 18).

How the meeting works

• Each member has one vote, and an owner of several premises still has one: votes are not weighted by area (art. 13.4).
• The meeting is valid when more than 50% of members or their representatives attend. If quorum fails, those present decide by majority what form the next meeting takes, and it is held no earlier than 2 and no later than 30 days later (art. 14¹).
• Liquidation, use of income from economic activity, leasing out the common property and approving the board's annual report need two thirds of all members' votes; borrowing, including bank credit, needs the consent of all owners of premises; everything else passes on a majority of those present (art. 14.7).
• Notice is in writing at least 10 days ahead, handed over against signature or sent by registered post (art. 14.3). Absentee voting exists but on paper: ballot sheets with every page signed by the board chairman and sealed (art. 14²). The law provides no electronic voting.
• A decision taken in breach of the statutory procedure is void (art. 13.6).

Money, account and reporting

Since the 2023 amendments (Law No. 182) an association must take mandatory payments and contributions into a bank account and keep income and expenditure cashless; keep transparent accounting, on paper and in electronic form, open to every owner; and report quarterly to owners on activity, income and expenditure (art. 7). Since 1 January 2026, if an association does not settle cashlessly, members and owners may stop paying mandatory contributions until the breach is cured (art. 22.3). The law does not require a separate account for each building.

There are no mandatory reserve or repair funds; special funds exist only if the members' meeting decides to create them (art. 19.3).

What the law does not have

No license, no certification and no state register of managers or associations in Kyrgyzstan, and no state platform for meetings, charges or reporting.

What Unitify does

Unitify gives associations and managing organizations in Kyrgyzstan cashless billing with transparent per-owner accounting and reporting to owners. That is what the law has asked of associations since 2023, and failing it gives owners the right to stop paying from 2026. We have no live sites in Kyrgyzstan yet; at Ande Tower in Batumi, collectability rose from 40% to 80% in six months.

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

Sources: Law of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 122 of 09.07.2013 (redaction of 28.05.2025), arts. 3-5, 7, 11-15, 17-19, 22; Housing Code of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 117 of 09.07.2013 (redaction of 06.08.2025), arts. 31, 34; cbd.minjust.gov.kg. Checked 11 September 2026; recheck the current redaction before relying on it.