Residential compound management is the running of the shared expenses, common areas and collective decisions of a living space made up of one or more buildings or units within a legal framework. In Türkiye, this framework is set out by the Condominium Law No. 634 (KMK).

In practice, most compounds start out thinking the job is simply "collecting the maintenance fees," and within a few months run into problems with collection, reconciliation, the decision book and transparency. In this article we explain what property management really covers, which decision requires which majority, and where mistakes are made.

Who makes up the property management team?

Under the KMK, management consists of three bodies:

  • General assembly of unit owners: The highest authority. It approves the budget, elects the manager and takes decisions on common areas.
  • Manager (or a three-person board): The executive body that implements board resolutions. May be elected from among the unit owners or from outside.
  • Auditor: audits the manager's accounts.

An important detail: if a building has eight or more independent units, appointing a manager is mandatory (Condominium Law art. 34). The manager is appointed by a majority of the unit owners in both number and land share, and is re-appointed at the ordinary meeting every year; the former manager may be re-appointed.

Residential compound or apartment building? The “multi-block complex” difference

If there is a single building on a single parcel, the classic condominium ownership provisions apply. If multiple parcels and blocks are planned together, the mass housing provisions of the Condominium Law (Arts. 66–74) come into play. A mass housing development has a three-tier structure: the block unit owners’ assembly, the block representatives’ assembly and the mass housing representatives’ assembly.

In practice, this distinction changes a great deal. In multi-building complexes, unless the management plan states otherwise, the boards meet at least every two years, within the first month of the second calendar year. Under classic condominium ownership, however, the ordinary meeting is held within the first month of each calendar year (Condominium Law Art. 29). We cover the rules specific to multi-building complexes and the voting ratio that changed in 2026 in our article on multi-building complexes.

The manager's legal duties

KMK Art. 35 lists the manager's duties one by one. The highlights:

  • Implementation of resolutions passed by the general assembly of unit owners
  • Taking the measures required for the main property to be used in line with its purpose, and for its protection, maintenance and repair
  • Insuring the main property
  • Acceptance of payments, payment of management-related debts and collection of advances
  • Filing lawsuits and initiating enforcement proceedings against unit owners who fail to pay
  • Holding the funds collected in a reputable bank — the account is opened in the manager’s own name but with the manager capacity of the principal real estate indicated
  • Arranging monthly servicing and annual inspections of lifts in line with the relevant technical regulations

Pay special attention to the last item: elevator maintenance is not the manager’s personal preference — it is a duty explicitly listed in the law.

How are common expenses allocated?

Unless the unit owners agree otherwise, KMK Art. 20 uses two different ratios:

  • Equally: costs for the caretaker, boiler operator, gardener and security guard, together with the advances to be collected for them.
  • In proportion to the land share: insurance premiums; maintenance, protection, reinforcement and repair costs of all common areas; other expenses such as the manager's salary, and operating costs of shared facilities.

A unit owner cannot avoid this share by waiving their right to use the common areas or facilities, or by claiming they have no need for them. We covered this with numerical examples in our guide to calculating maintenance fees.

The five most common mistakes

  1. Failure to keep the decision book in accordance with the procedure. Resolutions are written in a book whose pages are numbered sequentially starting from one and each page of which is certified with a notary seal, and are signed by all unit owners present at the meeting (Condominium Law art. 32).
  2. Mixing the compound's funds with a personal account. A separate account and separate bookkeeping are essential.
  3. Failure to prepare the operating budget. The 2026 legislative amendment changed the procedure here; we explain the new rules here.
  4. No application of late payment compensation. A unit owner who delays payment is obliged to pay late payment compensation calculated at five percent per month for the days of delay.
  5. Not matching collection records with bank transactions. At year end, this is the reason in almost every compound whose books do not balance.

Moving from manual management to digital

A ledger and a spreadsheet may be enough for a small apartment building. As the number of units grows, the chain of billing, collection, meter reading, expenses and reporting can no longer be managed by hand. At that point, property management software takes most of the load off the manager by billing maintenance fees automatically and matching them against bank transactions.

This article is for general information purposes. In specific disputes, your management plan and legal advice are essential.