How apartment owners’ associations in Bangladesh can cut dues arrears

Ask any apartment owners’ association treasurer in Dhaka or Chattogram what keeps them up at night and the answer is usually the same: service-charge arrears. A few flats fall two or three months behind, the generator fuel bill still has to be paid, and the committee ends up chasing neighbours in the stairwell.

The good news is that arrears respond well to process. These six changes work in associations of every size.

1. Bill on the same day every month

Irregular billing teaches owners that there is no real deadline. Pick a fixed issue date (the 1st is easiest), a fixed due date (say the 10th), and never move them.

2. Itemise the bill

“Monthly charge: ৳3,500” invites questions. Break it down — service charge, security, lift maintenance, generator, cleaning. People pay more readily when they can see what they are paying for.

3. Make paying effortless

If the only way to pay is cash to the caretaker during office hours, working owners will fall behind. Accept bKash, Nagad, bank transfer and card, and send a payment link with every bill. The fewer steps between “I should pay” and “paid”, the better your collection rate.

4. Confirm every payment instantly

An SMS receipt within seconds of payment does two things: it reassures the owner, and it removes any possibility of money being collected but not recorded.

5. Remind automatically — and only the people who owe

A polite SMS on a fixed day, sent only to accounts with an outstanding balance, is far more effective (and far less awkward) than committee members phoning neighbours. Keep it factual: the flat, the amount, how to pay.

6. Watch the age of arrears, not just the total

৳60,000 outstanding spread across twenty flats for one month is a timing issue. The same amount owed by three flats for six months is a real problem. Review an aging report — 0–30, 31–60, 61–90 and 90+ days — at every committee meeting and act on the oldest bucket first.

For cooperatives that manage deposits, DPS and loans, see Somity Keeper; for a small somiti or savings circle, the simpler Somity Keeper Lite app keeps the books on your phone.

What about late fees?

Late fees work when they are written down, applied to everyone equally and applied automatically. They fail when the treasurer has to decide case by case. Any waiver should need a second committee member’s approval, with the reason recorded.

A simple monthly dashboard for the committee: amount billed, amount collected, collection rate, and arrears older than 90 days. If those four numbers move the right way, everything else follows.

Society Keeper automates all six: scheduled billing, itemised bills, online payment links, instant SMS receipts, targeted reminders and aging reports — in Bangla and English.