The Summary describes the conduct of Next and its personnel. This page asks a narrower question: whether it constitutes the crime of arrogation under Article 360 of the Criminal Code of Georgia.

The provision

Article 360(1), in the official translation:

"Arrogation, i.e. the exercise of one's actual or supposed right in violation of the legally established order, which has resulted in substantial damage"

Four elements: a right, real or claimed; its exercise; in violation of the legally established order; and substantial damage. Part 2 of the Article adds violence or the threat of it, and does not arise here.

A right, actual or supposed

Next claims two rights against me: to be paid for common-area services, and to suspend my use of the common property until I pay, under clause 5.2 of a document I never signed. Whether either right exists does not matter to this element. If the debt were real, Next would hold an actual right and be exercising it unlawfully; if not, a supposed one. The Homeowners' Association page shows the debt is not lawfully owed. Article 360 does not need that. It punishes the self-enforcement of a claim, valid or not.

The exercise

Next did not stop doing something; it built something. On September 30, 2025, in the owners' chat, it announced an access-control system for the elevators as the consequence of unpaid debts, to be avoided by paying them. It installed the system and activated it on July 1, 2026. Since then the elevators stop at residential floors only for holders of a chip, and Next issues chips against settlement of the debt it has set and signature of a waiver of claims. Its manager, Saba Tsiskaradze, applied the condition to me in writing on July 3: chips "any time you sign the Act of handover" (email). On August 11 I demanded that the system be removed; on August 17 the director of Next Hospitality, Levan Otarishvili, declined. My request for chips of August 18 has not been answered. The system runs today.

The legally established order

The law fixes how a claim against an owner is realized:

• The association pursues unpaid contributions in court (Article 21(3) of the Law on Homeowners' Associations);
• A debt above GEL 500 may be registered against the apartment (Article 14(5)), and none is;
• The Civil Code allows self-help only where help from the authorities cannot be obtained in time and, without immediate action, the claim would be defeated or made considerably harder to realize (Article 118), and only as far as necessary (Article 119). Next has had since August 2025 to file a claim;
• A co-owner's share of use may not be impaired without his consent (Article 957(3)), and the use of a thing held in common may not impair the use by the rest (Article 955(2)). The Law repeats it: every owner may use the common property (Article 7(2));
• An owner disturbed in his property may demand that the disturbance cease (Article 172(2)), which I did on August 11.

Next has never used any of these procedures against me or, to my knowledge, against any owner. It built its own.

Substantial damage

The Code does not define "substantial damage" for Article 360. It does define the same Georgian term, მნიშვნელოვანი ზიანი, in two other chapters. For property crimes it is a value above GEL 150 (note 3 to Article 177, where the official English reads "considerable damage"). For computer crimes it is damage above GEL 2,000 (Article 284, note 4). The Law lets a debt above GEL 500 be registered against a home (Article 14(5)).

Measured against those figures:

• The claim Next enforces was, by its own count, $608 in January 2026, and has grown every month since;
• Access to a 101 m² home, which Next's own business values by the night, has been obstructed for 91 days and counting;
• In February 2025, the same rule — no payment, no elevator (or meters) — cost me GEL 8,105.98.

The harm is not only money. On July 4, 2026, I came home with heat exhaustion and had to plead with reception staff to be let up. My wife and I carried our water up to the sixteenth floor. Couriers and visitors cannot reach the apartments.

Intent

The purpose was stated before the act: the announcement of September 30, 2025 names the debts, and the way to avoid the system. My rights were known: on July 7, 2026, Next's lawyer confirmed that nothing is registered against my titles. The purpose was later concealed: on August 17, its director called the system a security measure.