How Armenia's Mandatory Building Charges Must Be Collected
Since 1 April 2020, Armenian law has required the mandatory charges owners pay for their building's upkeep to move through one channel: a bank account, opened for that single building, in its management body's name. It is the single strongest compliance fact in Armenia's building-management law — and the part of it most often summarised loosely enough to be wrong.
The obligation
Article 15.1 of the Law on the Management of a Multi-Apartment Building (added by ՀՕ-9-Ն, in force since 1 April 2020) is direct: owners pay mandatory and other charges cashless, separately for each multi-apartment building, by transfer to a bank account opened for that purpose in the name of the building's management body. The implementing rules, Government Decision N 2078-Ն of 17 December 2020, add the operational detail — including a rule that closes an obvious loophole.
What "cashless" actually rules out
Not cash itself. A 2022 amendment (N 502-Ն, 15 April 2022) to the implementing rules defines a cashless payment as one initiated in cash or non-cash form and directed to the beneficiary's bank account. In plain terms: a resident who pays at a payment terminal or a bank counter is still compliant, as long as the money lands on the building's own account. What the rule kills is the manager's cash box — collecting dues by hand and depositing them at will — not a resident's habit of paying with physical cash at a point of collection.
One building, one account — no pooling
Where a management body runs more than one building, Decision N 2078-Ն is explicit: a separate bank account for every building, at any Armenia-resident bank. All outflows from that account — payments, transfers, any other operation — must also be cashless. And every owner has a standing right to a full statement of the account: every transaction, every inflow and outflow, the running balance.
Who sets the rate, and what happens if nobody does
The owners' assembly sets the level of the mandatory charges and their deadlines — a decision that passes on more than half of all votes, and may be made by written poll or even by posted notification. If the assembly fails to adopt a budget within a month, the law has a fallback: a budget computed from the rates the community council has set for that year, deemed adopted once the management body approves it. There is no national tariff and no statutory minimum charge — Armenia sets a service standard (minimum frequencies for waste removal, cleaning, disinsection and the like), not a price.
What actually happens when someone doesn't pay
After two missed payments, and a written warning first, the management body may take the matter to court. Arrears do not disappear when the apartment changes hands: a seller is required to disclose unpaid obligations and the level of mandatory charges in writing, and the buyer inherits both. Not opening the required bank account at all is a separate matter — an administrative offence in its own right, independent of whether any charge has gone unpaid.
No mandatory reserve fund — the sharpest contrast with Kazakhstan
Armenian law allows a reserve fund — money set aside for accidents, urgent repairs and unforeseen costs — but only if the owners' assembly decides to form one, deposited separately and spent only for the purpose the assembly set. There is no statutory minimum accrual and no compulsory capital-repair contribution, unlike Kazakhstan's law, which fixes a floor rate for exactly that. A building here funds its reserve by choice, not by default.
What this means for a building's software
The account structure the law describes — one ledger, one building, never pooled — is also the shape a billing system should already have, whether or not the law required it. What the law adds is specific and checkable: charges reconciled against a single per-building account, a record that distinguishes a cash-initiated-but-bank-landed payment from actual cash in hand, and a statement any owner can pull on demand. A platform that tracks "dues" as one undifferentiated number, pooled across whatever buildings a manager runs, cannot show a manager — or an owner who asks — that the money is where the law says it has to be.
Sources: RA Law "On the Management of a Multi-Apartment Building" arts. 10, 11, 15, 15.1, 27, 28, 30, current consolidation at arlis.am/hy/acts/223635; ՀՕ-9-Ն of 24.01.2020 at arlis.am/hy/acts/138799; Government Decision N 2078-Ն of 17.12.2020, including the amendment by N 502-Ն of 15.04.2022, at arlis.am/hy/acts/162044; Government Decision N 1161-Ն of 04.10.2007 (the mandatory-norms service standard) at arlis.am/hy/acts/172039. Accessed 2026-09-07.
Frequently asked questions
Does "cashless" mean a resident can never hand over cash?
No. Since a 2022 amendment to the implementing rules, a payment initiated in cash — at a terminal or a bank teller — still counts as cashless as long as it lands on the beneficiary's bank account. The rule ends the manager's cash box, not a resident's habit of paying with cash.
Does a manager running several buildings need one account or several?
One account per building. Government Decision N 2078-Ն requires a separate bank account, opened in the management body's name, for every building it manages — pooling several buildings' money in one account is not compliant.
Is there a mandatory reserve fund, like a capital-repair contribution?
No. Armenia sets no statutory minimum capital-repair accrual. A reserve fund may be formed only by an assembly decision, kept on a deposit account, and spent only on that assembly's own terms — unlike, for example, Kazakhstan's compulsory accumulative contribution.
What happens if an owner stops paying?
After two missed payments and a written warning, the management body may go to court for recovery. Arrears are not forgiven by a sale: a seller must disclose them in writing, and the buyer inherits the obligation along with the apartment.