How to draw up an apartment flooding report in 2021: sample filling, download a blank form and procedure

Home / Bay / Rules for drawing up an act of flooding an apartment by a neighbor (sample)

It may not be possible to compensate for damage caused by flooding of a residential premises if the documentation of the incident is approached carelessly and formally. The corresponding act is the main document, the quality of its preparation affects the entire further dispute between the victim and the perpetrator. Its design must be approached responsibly.

Apartment flooding report: sample forms and forms

If your apartment is flooded, be sure to contact the management company, report the incident and invite an employee to draw up a flood report.

The purpose of this document is to document several facts. In case of flooding, a report is drawn up to record:

1. The fact of the flood is that in reality there was a flooding of a specific apartment on a certain date.
2. The amount of damage caused. It describes exactly what items were damaged and whether repairs were damaged. You can indicate the approximate cost of damage.
3. If reliable information is available, it is indicated whose fault the damage was caused.

It is these facts that will be useful in the future for determining the amount of compensation and making a court decision if the dispute goes to court.

In the event of a flood, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the forms and a sample of filling out the act in order to decide how to correctly draw up the act. This is a sample form containing the necessary information. It can be used as a sample act on flooding of an apartment by neighbors.

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Note. In many situations, a representative of the management company comes with his own form. It’s okay if it doesn’t coincide with the one given above - the main thing is that the finished document contains all the necessary information.

Below you can see the form developed by the Criminal Code:

Resolution regulating the drawing up of an act

How to correctly draw up an apartment flooding report is regulated in the Regulations on the procedure for carrying out repairs related to damage to residential premises. This provision immediately prescribes that if the dispatch service of the management organization receives a signal about damage to a residential apartment, a commission inspection must be organized. This government decree requires that the Act be drawn up in triplicate (for the parties to the dispute and the housing organization itself). Based on the results of this inspection, an estimate is drawn up for carrying out restoration work to eliminate the damage from the flood.

The issue of compensation and compensation for damage from flooding is regulated by this Regulation as follows:

• The individual or legal entity responsible is obliged to carry out repair work, according to the calculated estimate, at his own expense. (However, it is not indicated who should draw up this estimate)
• When the company that operates the house is identified as the guilty party, it is obliged to carry out repair work in full at its own expense, which, unfortunately, is extremely rare in practice.

Drafting rules and important nuances

Although the legislation and the current law do not contain a mandatory form for registration of the bay, there are some mandatory data, without which the document will not receive legal force.

Next, let's look at how to draw up a flood report for an apartment:

1. Name – act; date and place of compilation. The location is indicated down to the housing number. In some cases, the time is indicated, but this is not mandatory, although it is desirable.
2. List of commission members who took part in the inspection report. They include all persons present.
3. The full name of the owner or tenant is indicated.
4. Indication of the fact of the flood, date of the incident.
5. List of property that received water damage.
6. Write down the amount of damage - for example, if a major flood occurred, you need to indicate that. Sometimes an estimate of damage is indicated, but if the damage is large, it is better to contact an appraiser.
7. Cause of flooding. Here they indicate what exactly became the source of harm - the pipe of the neighbors above burst, the roof flooded, etc.
8. Inspection of the place where the flooding came from. If there is a flood in your neighbors’ home, you need to inspect their apartment.
9. The attitude of the harm-doer to the situation. Whether he was present or not, whether he admits guilt or not - you need to indicate.
10. Signatures of the commission members.

The application may include photographs, diagrams, and other visual evidence. If they exist, the act must indicate their presence.

After completion, the act is submitted for approval by the head of the management company or the chairman of the HOA, who must put a stamp and signature.

Lawyer's answers to private questions

I'm renting an apartment. The tenant forgot to turn off the water and left the house. The apartment on the floor below was flooded. At that moment I was on vacation and found out about the incident only after receiving a pre-trial claim. But I was not present during the inspection of the apartment. My signature is not on the document. Can I challenge the document since it was drawn up without me?

No. The law does not provide for the obligation of the victim to notify the perpetrator of the incident. The absence of a signature is also not considered a valid reason for invalidating the act.

Who is on the commission

The flood report is drawn up by a commission - we’ll figure out who should draw up the papers. The flood commission may include:

• owner or tenant of the premises;
• the guilty party is the upstairs neighbor;
• representative of the management company or HOA;
• other neighbors who act as witnesses to what happened.

The number of commission members is not limited, but in practice three or four people are sufficient. All of them must be adults and fully capable.

How to assess moral damage

As a rule, the amount of moral damage is determined by the amount that was spent on calming the nerves. Often, when a person learns about flooding, his health may deteriorate. For example, money spent on treating a nervous breakdown will be considered moral damages. There are situations when the owner of a damaged apartment has a heart ache. Due to increased humidity, colds or more serious lung diseases may appear. But in court it will be necessary to prove that all this happened precisely because of the flooding. Of course, you can receive moral damage, but you should not count on large sums. Often the treatment itself costs more than the compensation awarded by the court.

How to indicate the cause of flooding

Most often, the cause of flooding is obvious. For example, if this is a pipe break, then the commission describes it as such: “a pipe break occurred” and indicates the room in which the break occurred. If everything is not so clear, you can indicate an approximate reason.

Note. The act can subsequently be challenged in court, either in whole or in part. In particular, there may be disputes over the cause of flooding - so this must be stated carefully.

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What to do if neighbors don’t let you into your apartment

You can enter someone else's apartment in two cases:

• with the consent of the residents;
• By the tribunal's decision.

When neighbors do not make contact and do not allow you into their home, there is not a single legal reason to enter your home. Remember that you do not necessarily need to inspect the condition of the apartment from above. If a plumber establishes the fact of a leak from above by inspecting your apartment, his conclusion will be sufficient for the court.

If the neighbors do not allow you into the apartment, then this must be indicated in the deed. It will be very helpful if you inspect the apartment of your neighbors who live even higher up to make sure that the flooding is not coming from above. Such inspection must also be indicated in the report.

Disputes with the management company

It is not always possible to accurately determine the causes of flooding. For example, utility workers may deny their guilt, referring to the neighbor above, while the latter could not detect any visible signs of a leak. The document makes a note that:

1. The cause of the flood could not be discovered and is controversial.
2. Expert judgment required.

The person responsible for the flooding is determined in accordance with the provisions of Article 290 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Part 1) and Article 36 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, as well as the first section of the Rules for the maintenance of common property in an apartment building. According to them, the following are considered responsible for the flooding:

• Management company, if the leak occurred due to a malfunction of property, components and assemblies that are not included in the owner’s apartment;
• A resident of an apartment building, if the leak occurred due to a malfunction of the property, components and assemblies that are located in his apartment.

An exception to these rules is radiators. As a general rule, responsibility for them lies with utility companies. But it goes to the owner of the apartment if he independently replaces them, repairs, etc.

If these provisions cannot be applied at the time when the management company’s act on the flooding of the apartment is drawn up, a corresponding entry is made in the document. Next, an examination is ordered, based on the results of which the cause of the flooding and the culprit are determined.

The specialist’s report is the second document that the court pays attention to when considering a claim for flooding of an apartment. It will have to be drawn up if it is not possible to compensate for the damage caused in a pre-trial manner.

If you need to prepare a claim to the management company for flooding an apartment, we recommend reading a special article.

Further procedure

After drawing up the act, the actions of the injured party are as follows:

1. Determining the exact amount of damage. To do this, you can invite an appraiser who will independently determine the value of the damaged items. If you recently made repairs and saved receipts, payment documents from construction will be useful to you.
2. After this, notify the person responsible for the flooding about the extent of the damage. In some cases, neighbors are willing to voluntarily compensate for the damage. You can arrange voluntary compensation by drawing up a receipt for accepting cash to pay off the damage.

If the neighbor does not make contact or simply refuses to admit guilt, you will have to go to court. First of all, try sending your neighbor a formal claim demanding compensation or damages. Send by registered mail with notification.

If the claim does not help, prepare documents for court:

1. Statement of claim for compensation for damage caused by flooding of the apartment.
2. Apartment inspection report.
3. An appraiser's report on the amount of damage or documents confirming losses, if the appraiser was not called.
4. Evidence of sending a claim to a neighbor.
5. A receipt for payment of the state fee, the amount of which will depend on the cost of the claim.

If the damage is less than 50,000 rubles, then the application is submitted to the magistrate court at the defendant’s place of residence, if more, then to the district court.

After the application is accepted for proceedings, you will be called as a plaintiff to the hearing. You will need to attend several meetings to support your position. After considering the case, the judge will make a decision, which will come into force 30 days later.

After the judicial act comes into force, you can contact the bailiff to forcefully collect money. The bailiff has a lot of powers, including imposing a travel ban and seizing accounts.

The entire enforcement procedure can take approximately six to nine months.

Who assesses the damage?

Considering the fact that the state is constantly increasing the responsibility (up to their own property) of appraisers working under Federal Law 135, the courts, both Moscow and regional, prefer to place the appraisal function in their hands. It should be noted that we have accumulated quite a lot of experience in both pre-trial and judicial settlements with the perpetrators and insurance companies.

If you want to entrust the entire process of compensation for damage to one professional team, from drawing up the act to enforcement proceedings, then call or leave your contacts.

Author of the publication: Alexander Kirikov

Act - confirming document

The injured party initiates the drawing up of an act. Representatives of the management company, owners of the premises, owners of the area that caused the flood (if identified), engineers or other technical specialists of the service organization should participate in its preparation.

Reference. The document is necessary in order to rely on the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 1064), which states that any material damage caused must be fully compensated by the culprit.

The report must be drawn up as soon as possible, preferably immediately after the accident has been eliminated at the scene after a visual inspection - within 12 hours. If the accident occurred during non-working hours (holidays, weekends), the document must be drawn up no later than three days later. The law does not provide for the form of the act and its compiler.

Employees of the management company can draw up a document only while at the scene of the accident; the victim also has the right to draw up a report.

The act is signed by representatives of the management organization and the owner (in the case of non-residential premises, the tenant also has this right). The report contains a statement of the fact of the accident, a list of persons involved (perpetrators) and an inventory of the damage caused. Often representatives of organizations have samples and forms of such acts, but free drafting of the document is allowed.

The act must indicate:

• Serial number of the document.
• Information about all members of the commission. It is necessary to indicate positions in the management organization. If there are outside witnesses present, recording their passport details is mandatory.
• Time, place, date of document preparation.
• Flood address.
• Causes of the flood (for example, “the commission found that the accident occurred due to a breakdown of the hot water supply system; a pipe with a diameter of 55 millimeters was broken”).
• Details of the culprit (if it was possible to identify it immediately).
• Description of the damage caused.
  Here you need to list all the damage and the volume of the affected area. For example, “a non-residential premises (office) with an area of ​​/specify/ suffered the following damage: the ceiling is flooded, there are wet spots, stains. On the walls there is paper wallpaper, filled in (along the perimeter of the walls 4.62X2.5, 2.95X2.5 2.8X2.5 lag behind the walls, there are leaks and peeling). The windows are plastic, not damaged, the floor is linoleum, there is some swelling. The plastic doors - 3 of them - were swollen. Utility room /specify area/: the ceiling is completely filled, there are yellow spots, the walls are whitewashed, there are wet spots on them. The windows were not damaged. Floors: wooden parquet, swollen.”
• It is imperative to indicate in the act the cause-and-effect relationship between the accident and the damage caused. For example, “due to a burst hot water pipe, an office located on the first floor, directly below the leak, was flooded.”
• Signatures of all commission members.
• You can also specify:
  Has the premises been renovated/renovated?
• Is there insurance?
• Are there any outstanding payments?

Important! Even if the culprit is not present when the document is drawn up, the act is still drawn up. It is advisable to have it in triplicate.

Fixing damage

After the flooding has been stopped, the damage must be carefully recorded:

1. Measure and indicate the area of ​​damage on the walls, floor, and ceiling.
2. Carefully describe the damaged furniture.
3. Enter the models of the affected household appliances.
4. Make an inventory of the damaged goods.
5. Take photos/videos of what happened.
6. Indicate what kind of water - hot or cold - flooded the room.

All these details are included in the act and certified by the commission.

How to draw up an act for filling an apartment

The Bay Act solves a number of problems:

• confirms the fact of flooding recorded by the service organization and witnesses;
• contains a list of damages, allowing you to formulate a claim against the culprit;
• is a necessary document for conducting an independent examination to assess damage from flooding of an apartment for the court.

The document must also be attached to the statement of claim.

In what cases is an act drawn up?

A flood report is drawn up in the event of an emergency due to flooding of the premises. Serves to record the damage received and the basis for further compensation.

Even if there are no disputes over determining the guilty party and making payments, a document should be drawn up. For example, if the cause of the emergency was the state of engineering communications, it will allow you to prove the absence of fault in case of repetition.

Thus, the first thing you need to do if your upstairs neighbors are flooded is to draw up a report.

What data is contained in the act

The law does not establish a uniform form for filling out the bay act, but sets requirements for its content.

1. The header of the document contains the address of the affected apartment, the date of inspection, information about the members of the commission - full name and passport details.
2. A detailed description of the emergency situation - the fact of flooding, the cause of the emergency and whose fault it occurred. If the water came from above the dwelling, according to the rules for drawing up the act, its address is written down.
3. Indication of violations by neighbors and service organizations (if any). If the cause of the flood was a malfunction of utilities or plumbing equipment, the date of their commissioning is indicated, as well as a description of their current condition.
4. A detailed description of the results of the inspection of the premises - a listing of all defects and damage to all types of surfaces, objects, furniture. It is necessary to make a note that this is the condition of the apartment after the flood.
5. Indication of the form of ownership of the property.
6. Recording the signatures of the participants in the emergency situation, as well as members of the commission.
7. A note indicating the need for an examination if the cause of the flood could not be identified.

If anyone present does not agree with the facts stated in the document, this is recorded in a corresponding entry certified by the signature of this person. This action will allow you to challenge the apartment flooding act in court.

The procedure for drawing up an act on the filling of an apartment involves drawing up the document in 3 copies: one for the owners of the living space and one for the representative of the service organization.

The act is drawn up in accordance with standard norms of business correspondence. To draw up your own document, you can use the sample bay act presented here (sample bay act).

How to indicate the cause of flooding

When you need to draw up an act of flooding an apartment, you need to pay special attention to the reasons for the emergency situation.

They are indicated with clarification of the following nuances:

• checking plumbing equipment for leaks;
• inspection of the integrity of sanitary communications;
• search for violations of the rules for the use of sewerage equipment.

Next, it is necessary to indicate and record the connection between the detected damage and the damage caused to the living space.

For details about recording the causes of flooding, read the article “Damage from the Gulf” and “Expertise of the Gulf.”

Collection of evidence

As soon as the fact of a flood is discovered, it is necessary to begin collecting evidence that will compensate for the resulting damage. To do this you need:

1. Call the emergency dispatch service and report the incident. Despite the fact that all incoming calls are registered, it is advisable to independently make an audio recording of the conversation with the authority as evidence of compliance with the established procedure.
2. Record the situation by taking photos and videos. It is important to start filming at the entrance to your home and gradually work your way to the flood site, recording where the water drained, as well as any damage in the room.

You can also involve neighbors who will confirm the occurrence of an emergency and act as witnesses when drawing up the act of the bay.

What to do if neighbors don’t let you into your apartment

It often happens that neighbors who have flooded the lower living space do not allow the victim or representatives of the management company to visit them.

If we are talking about the need to eliminate damage, the Criminal Code has the right to demand that the employee be provided with access to housing (subclause “b”, paragraph 32 of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354). However, in case of refusal, it is impossible to enter the apartment against the will of the owners. In such a situation, the Criminal Code can sue and enter the home together with bailiffs based on a court decision.

This method of solving a problem takes a lot of time, so you can call a local police officer, who has a better chance of establishing contact with unfriendly neighbors.

Who should be present when drawing up the document?

When drawing up an apartment inspection report after a flood, the following must be present:

• employees of the service company - management company, homeowners association, housing office, etc.;
• Witnesses are disinterested persons, usually neighbors from nearby homes.

The most common mistakes that should be avoided when drawing up an act of filling an apartment:

1. Inclusion of owners of affected real estate into the commission. These are interested parties, so their opinion when assessing damage may be biased. However, their presence during the inspection is mandatory.
2. Number of employees of the operating company. If less than 3 members of the engineering staff are involved, when going to court regarding the flooding of an apartment, the risk of declaring the act invalid increases.

When providing information about witnesses, you must include your full name, passport details and registered address. The absence of this data will lead to a delay in the judicial procedure due to the need to obtain it.

An invitation to the inspection of the guilty party is mandatory. Even if he does not agree with the obligation to compensate for damages, it is illegal to prevent his presence during the assessment procedure.

Identification of the perpetrators

To submit claims for compensation for damage due to flooding of an apartment, it is necessary to determine the culprit.

You can say that a flood in an apartment occurred due to the fault of the management company if:

• flooding occurred from the roof or through sewer drains;
• there was no regular maintenance of the sewer wells leading to the house;
• The riser in the apartment above burst.

The listed reasons are also relevant if the flooding occurred due to the fault of the housing and communal services.

If the flood occurred due to the fault of neighbors, in order to receive compensation, a number of conditions must be met:

• prove the fact of damage;
• determine the amount of harm received;
• cite facts of the neighbor committing actions aimed at causing damage or his inaction.

The victim is required to provide evidence of actual flooding of the apartment, and the determination of the culprit and the amount of compensation will be made by the court.