Counterparty Confirmation — Apartment Aidat Dues
Counterparty confirmation is not another name for checking the law. Its purpose is to test whether the people who should know the unit account agree on the same facts. For an apartment purchase, the seller may say the aidat is fully paid, while the management ledger shows a recent charge, a special assessment or an unallocated payment. A defensible closing file does not choose one statement by preference. It obtains dated confirmation from the responsible management side, reconciles it with the seller’s evidence and records any difference before money and title move.
Confirm who is authorised to speak for the account
Identify the current apartment/site manager, management board or contracted management company responsible for the ledger. Record the name, role, contact channel and date of confirmation. If management changed recently, establish which organisation holds the opening balances and historical records. A message from a concierge, broker, former manager or building resident can be useful as a lead, but it should not substitute for the person or entity actually responsible for the account.
Ask the seller a structured set of questions
Request a clear statement of ordinary monthly aidat, the last payment date, any arrears, extraordinary assessments, advances, disputed amounts and known works that have been approved but not yet billed. Ask for receipts rather than relying on “everything is paid.” The seller should also disclose any payment arrangement, enforcement notice or disagreement with management. This creates a baseline that can be tested independently.
Obtain the management-side balance
Ask management for a dated unit ledger or balance statement tied to the exact independent unit number. It should distinguish principal common charges, special assessments, late-payment amounts if applicable, credits and payments. If management issues a “no debt” letter, preserve the underlying ledger or reconciliation used to produce it where possible. The letter is evidence of management’s position at a particular date; it is not a universal statutory certificate that eliminates every future or disputed obligation.
Reconcile decisions and the 2026 aidat framework
Where the balance includes a recent increase, ask which operating project or owners’ decision created it. The Ministry’s 22 May 2026 announcement concerning Articles 35 and 37 is relevant to the current decision process: final authority over aidat rests with the owners’ assembly, while the manager’s temporary operating-project authority for compulsory costs is limited and increases beyond the stated revaluation framework require owner involvement. Confirmation should therefore cover not only “how much?” but also “under which current decision?”
Match every claimed payment
For each recent seller payment, compare the bank receipt with the management collection account and the ledger entry. Check amount, date, payer, beneficiary and reference. If the receipt exists but the ledger does not show the credit, ask management to trace it. If management shows a credit without a clear payment reference, identify what it relates to. This simple three-way match—seller receipt, bank destination and unit ledger—prevents many closing disputes.
Separate ordinary dues from special assessments
Do not compress all charges into one aidat figure. A monthly operating charge, an advance, an extraordinary repair contribution and a historical arrear may have different due dates and closing treatment. Ask whether any façade, roof, lift, structural, security or other common-area work has already been approved. Even when the current ledger is zero, an approved but unbilled assessment may materially affect the buyer’s economics.
Deal openly with disputes
If the seller contests an amount, record the exact disputed line, the seller’s reason and management’s basis. Ask whether formal collection or enforcement has begun and preserve the relevant notices. Do not ask management simply to rewrite the statement to match the seller. The closing decision may involve payment, retention, contractual allocation, specialist advice or another agreed solution, but the file should show the unresolved fact rather than hiding it.
Set a cut-off date and closing adjustment
Counterparty confirmation is only meaningful with a date. State the balance “as of” a defined day and specify how charges between that day and title transfer will be handled. If the next monthly charge becomes due before closing, obtain an updated ledger or calculate the allocation under the written agreement. If a tenant has paid some operating charges, confirm how those payments were posted; do not assume the existence of a tenant automatically removes the owner’s account responsibility.
Watch for changed payment instructions
If management has changed its bank account or a new management company has taken over, verify the new collection instructions through a trusted channel before paying. A last-minute account-change message should be treated as a fraud and reconciliation trigger. Counterparty confirmation should establish both the amount due and the legitimate recipient.
What a complete confirmation record contains
The final file should contain the seller statement, current management confirmation, unit ledger, governing operating project or decision where material, bank receipts, any dispute/enforcement documents, and a dated closing allocation. It should identify who provided each item and when. The purpose is not to force every party to use identical wording; it is to reach the same underlying account position or to make any disagreement explicit before the buyer commits.