Complaint, claim, statement - are there any differences, what are they used for?
The situation is controlled by the federal law “On the procedure for considering appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation.” To exercise your right to contact the authorities of the Russian Federation, “appeals” are used. These include "complaints" and "allegations".
According to paragraph 3 of Article 4 of the above-mentioned Federal Law, a statement is understood as a message about a violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation, shortcomings in the work of state and local government bodies and their officials, or a request for assistance in the implementation of the rights and freedoms established by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, both one’s own and other persons.
Paragraph 4 of the same article defines the concept of “complaint”. By this word, the law means a citizen’s request for the protection or restoration of violated rights, freedoms and interests of both their own and other persons.
Our legislation does not provide a definition of a claim, however, this term is most often found in civil law and is used to resolve a dispute out of court, that is, resolving a controversial situation before going to court. Therefore, a claim should be understood as a requirement to eliminate violations in the performance of an obligation by another person.
According to our legislation, a citizen has the right to send his appeals and complaints to any authorities and organizations, for example, the administration, housing and communal services, or even a store.
There are no differences in the method of sending appeals and claims. They can be transmitted either in person or by post as a regular letter.
General writing rules
In order to complain about a neighbor, you should write a complaint in accordance with strict rules for writing complaints. There are not many of them, they are quite simple, but failure to comply with them can lead not only to the fact that your problem will not be solved, but also to administrative liability for violating the rights and interests of the accused. So here are the basic rules:
- Write correctly. The complaint must not contain blots, errors, typos or corrections. It must be written legibly and clearly. The best thing to do is print out your complaint;
- Write clearly. Information must be conveyed to authorized persons clearly, without distortion. Public service employees should have a clear understanding of what you are complaining about and what you want;
- Present information clearly . There is no need to write lengthy thoughts and “water”. Use brief but informative language, avoid speculation and inaccurate information;
- Back up your words . Every statement you make needs to be substantiated somehow. A lot of evidence will be suitable: expert opinions, examination results, photos and videos, witness statements;
- Don't make unfounded accusations. Remember that it is illegal to falsely accuse someone, and slander is a criminal offense;
- Don't use insults. Using obscene language in a complaint will result in your complaint not even being submitted for consideration. And the use of insults is completely illegal.
Remember the main thing: your complaint is an official document that will be used in the work of government services. So write your appeal so that it reads like an official, serious statement. The more seriously you take writing a complaint, the greater the chances of its successful consideration.
Grounds for filing a complaint to the district police officer against neighbors
The reason for filing a complaint and submitting it to the district police officer is a violation of the law providing for administrative liability. This could be noise at night, including listening to loud music, smoking on a common balcony, hooliganism, or even violating traffic rules, for example, illegal parking in the courtyard of a residential building.
If your neighbor has committed a crime, then in this case you can contact the local police officer, but with a statement.
Statement if neighbors smoke in the entrance
Before making a claim under this article of hooliganism, you must have direct evidence of the violation, namely:
- photos;
- written confirmation from neighbors;
- video shooting.
The first step may be to call the local police officer at the address where the violation occurred. He will draw up an administrative act, which will confirm the fact of smoking. If it was not possible to record a violation, you can file a complaint based on the words of your neighbors and attach evidence to the document.
The application must reflect the following information:
- the applicant's residential address;
- the address where the offense took place - indicating personal information about the smokers themselves;
- information about actions previously taken to resolve the conflict - conversations with a request to change the place of smoking, posting notices about the ban;
- demands to suppress hooliganism, with reference to the law - a fine, administrative proceedings.
How to correctly write a collective statement, complaint, claim against neighbors
A complaint, like any other appeal made by a team, differs from an individual one in that the problems indicated in it, as a rule, are resolved more quickly. This appeal is suitable for residents of apartment buildings, since even if neighbors violate the rules of law, then these violations interfere with at least several residents.
To eliminate violations, it is necessary that the appeal be accepted, and it will be accepted when it is correctly drawn up. A properly drafted collective complaint must contain:
- Information about the addressee. The appeal can be sent to various authorities and it is important to determine which of them is competent in solving the problem that has arisen.
- Information about the applicant. In the case of a collectively compiled document, there is no need to list all full names and passport details. It will be enough to indicate that the appeal was written by the residents of a particular apartment building, their names and signatures.
- The name of the document is a complaint or statement.
- The bottom line. It is necessary to briefly outline what and how the neighbors violated, and it will be useful to refer to specific articles.
- Application. It is issued if the residents have concrete evidence of unlawful acts committed by their neighbors.
- Date of preparation.
- Full name of each resident who supports everything stated in the appeal and his signature.
A little more attention needs to be paid to the collective claim against a neighbor. It is sent to the violator himself and you should not expect any legal consequences or changes on the part of the neighbor, since in essence this is informing the tenant that he is violating the rights of other persons. This document will be very useful if the case goes to court.
In all types of appeals, it is not allowed to threaten anyone with any action, otherwise the complaint, statement or even claim will simply not be considered.
Additional recommendations
Before submitting an application to the district police officer, you need to consider the following points:
- Complaints about neighbors should only be based on violations that the applicant personally witnessed (and not from the words of other residents of the house).
- Providing false information can result in serious liability for the applicant.
- It is advisable to complain to the police if there is evidence confirming that a neighbor committed offenses. Otherwise, the latter has the right to file a counter-complaint accusing him of libel.
- You should not involve relatives of the violator as witnesses, since they will most likely recant their words during a personal conversation with the OPD.
Actions of a district police officer after receiving a (collective or individual) complaint
After receiving a complaint, in accordance with Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated March 29, 2019 No. 205 “On the performance of service by the local police commissioner in the administrative area served and the organization of this activity,” the local police officer is obliged to transfer it to the territorial department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for registration of the complaint. He cannot deal with it directly until the manager instructs him to deal with this complaint.
After instructions from higher authorities, the district police officer begins to consider the complaint. If during the inspections facts of violation of the law arise, the district police officer draws up a report, where he describes everything in detail and sends it to the territorial department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
What consequences are possible if a complaint is filed against a neighbor, incl. collective
The legal consequences caused by this document are based on the norms and rights that were violated by the neighboring tenant, that is, a specific punishment is provided for a specific violation, for example, a fine, suspension of activity, administrative arrest.
If the police don't act
Cases of inaction by this law enforcement agency on citizens' appeals are not that rare. Employees can send the applicant a regular unsubscribe so as not to deal with the appeal, and they may even lose it. In such cases, a violation of the citizen’s rights occurs and it is necessary to write a complaint again only to higher authorities.
The first step is to write a complaint to the head of the police department about violations of their rights by his employees.
If the management is as negligent in the performance of their official duties as the employees, then the appeal should be sent to the territorial department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
If they couldn’t help you in any way, there’s a direct route to the prosecutor’s office. Usually, after contacting these authorities, police officers begin to perform their duties properly again.
Collective complaint about noisy neighbors of drunks to the police, sample and form
An example of a complaint about noisy alcoholics from a neighboring apartment can be downloaded from our link. ⇐
There is no form for such an appeal, since the complaint is drawn up in free form.
The issue is discussed in more detail in our article, in which we tell you how to properly deal with neighbors who are drunks and rowdies, and where to complain.
Application to the prosecutor's office against noisy neighbors who are drunks, sample
A sample application to the prosecutor's office can be downloaded from the link. ⇐
Statement to the district police officer against neighbors for insulting
Application sample. ⇐
Statement to the district police officer regarding neighbors smoking in the hallway
Sample document for combating tobacco lovers:
Click to enlarge and download.
Deadlines
After filing a collective complaint, the period for its consideration will depend on the body that received it. Consideration of a collective complaint:
- the precinct commissioner is three days, but the period can be extended by the authorities to 30 days (according to Article No. 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation);
- by the management company is up to 20 days (based on Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 731 of September 23, 2010);
- by the Housing Inspectorate department is up to 30 days from the date of adoption (based on Federal Law No. 59 of May 2, 2006);
- by the court is up to two months from the date of registration of the complaint as an incoming document (based on Article No. 154 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation).
Based on this, the period for consideration of a collective complaint directly depends on the specifics and competence of the authority to which the appeal was submitted.
