Housing workers fight debtors who do not want to pay for services in various ways: they post lists in the entrances, limit the services provided, and make claims. Management companies also have one more measure in stock - eviction. Or rather, not directly from them, but from the court, to which they have the right to file a corresponding claim. This issue causes a lot of controversy, as it directly affects constitutional human rights.
Legality of the measure
The provisions of the current legislation allow for judicial eviction from apartments for violation of payment obligations. Moreover, this applies both to social tenants (Article 90 of the Housing Code) and to owners of their own square meters (Article 293 of the Civil Code). To file a corresponding claim in court, a confirmed fact of non-payment of utility bills for at least six consecutive months is sufficient.
In order for the court to accept such a statement, the management company must confirm the fact of repeated warnings to the negligent resident, as well as the fact that there were attempts to resolve the situation without taking it to extreme measures. This:
- debt restructuring proposal;
- debt collection through the courts, but the citizen simply has nothing to pay;
- repeated notifications to the defaulter about what awaits him for such behavior;
- ignoring the requirements of the management company and the judge.
You should not think that in the near future, after the period of non-payment has reached six months, bailiffs will show up to the tenant and will expel him. The procedure must be followed in every detail. The authorities resort to this step when all opportunities to claim money for rent have gone to waste.
Sanctions: what can happen
It is advisable to pay for consumed resources, as well as other services provided as part of the maintenance of multi-apartment residential buildings, in a timely manner, otherwise you can safely prepare for various troubles. These include the accrual of penalties for non-payment, shutdown of resources (electricity, hot water supply)
, as well as to the appearance of statements of claim sent to the judicial authorities in order to collect the debt owner.
The right for public utilities to apply such sanctions is prescribed in the legislation; for more detailed information, it is worth studying Article 14 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.
The initiators of these troubles can be both management companies, which automatically incur debts to resource suppliers, and the resource suppliers themselves, if the owners interact with these organizations directly (or through the HOA)
Accordingly, if the court makes a decision in favor of the plaintiff, the debt collection procedure begins. This is done by bailiffs, who legally have the right not to limit themselves to reminders or verbal demands, but can also seize any valuables from the apartment for subsequent sale in order to pay off the debt. Well, and, of course, in some cases, a sanction such as eviction from an apartment is used, which will be sold, and the funds will be used to pay off debts.
We don’t pay for two or three months: there are no critical consequences
If payment of utility bills is delayed by more than one month, the management company will begin to charge a penalty (for the unpaid amount)
. Thus, the penalty is charged from the second month of delay, and not from the first, which means that the owner can actually postpone payment for a month without any consequences for his budget. However, sometimes there are cases when, for some reason, it is more profitable to pay everything off after a while, including penalties, than to pay bills regularly.
Therefore, you need to understand the mechanism for calculating this penalty and its possible sizes. The penalty is calculated for each day of delay and is tied to the current refinancing rate (the rate at which the Central Bank lends to other banks)
. In addition, the percentage of penalties depends on the length of delay in payment:
- From the second month to the third the penalty is 1/300 of the rate;
- Starting from the fourth month and subsequent months - 1/150 of the rate (that is, you will have to pay twice as much)
.
Speaking in numbers, we can give the following example:
If the debt amount is 2500 rubles, which remained for 10 days, you will have to pay 1/300 of the rate, which today is 7.5%. That is, through simple mathematical calculations we get: (2500 rubles * 10 days / 300) * 7.5% = 6.25 rubles .
For the first month of delay you will have to pay about 20 rubles, for the second – about 40 rubles.
Thus, these sanctions, taking into account the very democratic amounts of fine payments and their ratio to the principal amount of the debt, can be easily survived. The only thing is that it is undesirable to get carried away too much, since the amount of the principal debt may accumulate, which will be unaffordable for a one-time payment.
In this case, you will have to restructure the debt, and at the same time pay current bills that no one has canceled.
We haven’t paid for three to six months: the situation is heating up
So, three months is the delay that utility companies give before resorting to more serious sanctions.
Namely: after three months of non-payment, the question of temporarily disconnecting the apartment from utilities may be raised.
This unpleasant procedure is quite well established today - after sending a notification (possibly either personal receipt or mailing),
three days later one or more services are disconnected. After paying the debt, services are connected within a few days.
It is worth saying that this measure is practiced much less frequently than today there are owners who have problems with utility debts for more than three months. In addition, this can only happen if the owner completely ignores the need to make payments.
If some money (part of the amount of payments or debt) is paid quite regularly, utility companies do not dare to take such measures. Most often, disconnection is practiced when the debt period has reached (or exceeded) one year.
We haven’t paid for more than six months: is it possible to lose our housing?
Now about the last resort - the eviction of the defaulter from the apartment for the sale of real estate in order to pay off debts to utility services.
Many people think that this measure is directly dependent on the accumulated debt or the period of non-payment. In fact, the management company can initiate eviction after six months of non-payment.
However, in reality, eviction is practiced extremely rarely due to the huge number of technical difficulties in implementing this measure, and utility workers know this well. It is much easier for them to shift the burden of debt collection to bailiffs or simply sell the debt to collectors.
Actually, those who are more or less realistic to evict are those who live in the apartment under a social tenancy agreement. It is technically possible to take an apartment away from the owner, but there are a number of restrictions:
- You cannot evict minors (and, accordingly, parents)
; - You cannot take away an apartment if it is the only housing that is owned by the resident.
- And most importantly: you cannot even begin the eviction procedure (at least the courts do not make such a decision)
if payments were made, even partially, during the specified period.
Moreover, in 2021 there are amendments to the law that define additional restrictions on the possibility of eviction. Namely, valid reasons were approved, which were an obstacle to regular payments, these are:
- Difficult financial situation;
- Dismissal from the workplace;
- Serious illness of the employer or a member of his family;
- Disability of the employer or members of his family;
- There were funeral expenses;
- Presence of minor children in the employer's family.
Thus, with minimal knowledge of the law, a defaulter can find a way to reserve the right and opportunity to dispose of residential real estate. This means that legislators, in fact, provided for the impossibility of mass deprivation of apartments from citizens of the Russian Federation in the context of the difficult economic situation in the country.
How is eviction carried out?
The procedure consists of several stages:
- the defaulter is notified by official letter of probable expulsion;
- The housing department collects documents and prepares a claim for the court;
- the trial itself takes place;
- the judge makes a decision;
- the decision gains legal force, the case goes into enforcement proceedings;
- the person being evicted is notified that he has seven days to move out of the living space voluntarily;
- the expulsion procedure is carried out by representatives of the FSSP.
During the review process, the judge should have no doubt that other opportunities to resolve the situation were provided to the defendant, but he did not take advantage of them, and that he did not pay for an unjustifiable reason. A valid reason is the illness of the tenant himself or a member of his family, sudden loss of work, expenses for the funeral of a family member.
But even at the stage of proceedings, the debtor has a chance not to lose his corner. If he asks the court for an installment plan and assures that he will be able to pay the debt, this opportunity will be provided.
Housing legislation
In accordance with Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, each property owner is obliged to maintain order in the apartment and regularly pay the utility bill. If he ignores his obligations, this leads to negative consequences. At best - fines, at worst - shutdown of water supply, electricity, etc.
By the way, regardless of the size of the debt, they do not have the right to turn off the heating.
Why can you be forced to pay the debts of the previous owner of the apartment...
Where are they being evicted?
A citizen evicted for non-payment of utilities will be provided with other housing, although without concern for the degree of amenities. Typically this is a dorm room.
This applies to both those living in social housing and those who have their own living space. True, with regard to the latter, not everything is so simple. There is not a single act that clearly provides for the need to evict the owner from his own home for not paying his bills. There is only the possibility of reclaiming the debt through the court. Therefore, actual eviction in such cases very rarely comes to pass.
It’s also not possible to kick the former owner “out of nowhere.” Yes, Art. 446 of the Civil Procedure Code clearly states that if the debtor does not have other square meters in his property, then the court has no right to foreclose on the only apartment. And then, another apartment, if there is one, must be considered suitable for living and meet all sanitary requirements.
Transfer of the donee's debt to a third party as a form of donation
In Art. 576 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that one person who wants to give a gift to another person can transfer the donee’s debt to the creditor . In this case, the rules enshrined in Art. 391 Civil Code of the Russian Federation and Art. 392 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation for debt transfer. Consider these rules:
- To transfer a debt, the consent of the recipient of the gift (debtor) and the creditor (if there is no consent of this party to the obligation, then the deed of gift is considered void).
- If the debt exists within the framework of obligations to conduct business, then an agreement on its transfer to a new person can be concluded between the creditor and the new executor (in this case, the donor assumes the obligation of the original debtor). In such obligations, the donor and the donee are jointly and severally liable to the creditor , unless the deed of gift containing the condition for transferring the debt provides for the subsidiary liability of the original debtor or the original debtor is not released from execution. At the same time, the recipient of the gift may refuse to be exempt from performing his duty.
- If the creditor gave only preliminary consent to the change of executor, then it is considered that the donor has transferred the debt to himself from the moment the creditor receives the relevant notification .
According to Art. 392 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the donor has the right to raise objections to the creditor’s claims , if such claims are based on the relationship between the donee, as the original debtor, and the creditor, but cannot exercise against the creditor the right to set off a counterclaim belonging to the donee.
Act
The procedure is accompanied by an eviction certificate issued by the bailiffs. The document contains a detailed inventory of all the property of the now former tenant, and also indicates where exactly the citizen is leaving. The paper is signed by the bailiff and two witnesses, as well as the evicted person himself. Belongings will not be placed on the landing; they will be transported to the storage facility provided for such cases. After completion of the procedure, the evicted person is given a two-month period to move his belongings. If he does not do this, the belongings will be sold at auction.
Of course, the best way to keep your existing living space is to pay your bills on time. If something extraordinary happens, you should not hope that utility workers will forget about the debt. They will not forget, only a new one will be added to what already exists. As soon as possible, go to the housing department and ask for restructuring. And if the case goes to court, be sure to enlist the support of an experienced lawyer.
Ways to find out about debts
Before concluding a transaction, it is worth finding out whether the seller has a debt for utilities and how large it is. You can find out about the problem situation from the certificate requested from the seller. If the previous residents are in no hurry to bring the necessary piece of paper, there are other sources of information:
- Settlement centers open in most cities.
- Organizations supplying resources to consumers (heating, energy sales companies).
- Internet portals of management companies.
- Post offices that accept payments.
The buyer also has the right to use banking resources. For example, information about the presence of debts is provided by Sberbank PJSC. You can find out about the debt using the details that are on the receipts. When paying a bill in the terminal, the payer will immediately see the amount of debt at a specific address.
Using these methods, you can find out about the presence of debts for gas, electricity and other resources people need. We must not forget about paying for a landline phone, if you have one. Debts on it are of two types: for long-distance calls and for subscription fees.
FAQ
Do the authorities have the right to take away your only home for debts on housing and communal services?
Even the most persistent defaulter of utility bills will not have his only home taken away. This generally applies to all debts, except mortgage debts (Article 446 of the Code of Civil Procedure).
So don’t be afraid of the seizure of your apartment, but it’s better not to go to court. Housing departments have the right to send warnings and invoices. As a last resort, claim the debt in court if you did not take advantage of the offered opportunity for pre-trial settlement. If you haven’t been offered one yet, immediately go and ask the housing department for payment of the debt in installments. They will give it.
A neighbor in the dorm does not pay for utilities, drinks, and rows. Is it possible to get him evicted?
If a person living in social housing does not want to pay for it, the municipality has the right to file a lawsuit against him in court to collect debts, and in special cases, to expel him with the provision of another, unsatisfactory option.
If your neighbor also violates your legitimate interests, you, for your part, have the right to contact the administration and point out his antisocial behavior. Let the municipality figure out what to do with it.
Checking an apartment for debt before purchasing
The presence of debt for housing and communal services does not in any way affect the possibility of concluding a real estate purchase and sale agreement. The only exception is when the apartment has been seized due to debt, or the seller is in the process of declaring financial insolvency.
To check an apartment for debts, you must request one of the following documents from the seller:
- an extract from a financial and personal account;
- a certificate of the presence/absence of debt for utilities from the Criminal Code;
- single housing document.
These documents can be obtained from the management company, OERITs or requested from the MFC. The buyer himself will not be able to count on requesting this documentation, since by law it is provided only to persons registered in the apartment.
Also, before concluding a transaction, the buyer should check whether there is a lien on the property. This type of encumbrance imposes restrictions on transactions for the purchase and sale of real estate. Therefore, the buyer should request an extract from the Unified State Register confirming the absence of encumbrances. It is provided to all interested parties upon application.
To check whether bankruptcy proceedings are underway against the seller, you can try searching for it in the Federal Register database. Information about all cases is published here in the public domain.
