Application for division of a personal account for payment of utilities in 2021: sample statement of claim to court

Payment for housing and communal services is the direct responsibility of each property owner. When there is shared ownership, disagreements sometimes arise between residents regarding the payment of utility bills. Those who refuse to transfer money for accommodation can be prosecuted in court. To do this, the other owner must submit an application to split the personal account for paying utility bills. After reviewing the document, the Criminal Code or the court will regulate the procedure for repaying bills on housing and communal services receipts in equal shares between the owners.

What it is?

If disagreements arise between residents during the process of transferring rent, the situation must be resolved by the management company. But housing and communal services representatives are unable to influence the establishment of an agreement on payment for housing and communal services between owners.

Expert opinion

Klimov Yaroslav

More than 12 years in real estate, higher legal education (Russian Academy of Justice)

Ask a Question

Those who refuse to pay can be held accountable by filing a statement of claim for the division of a personal account. The document is a statement of grounds for going to court. The plaintiff’s goal is the need to call on the other owner to repay part of the services for the maintenance of the apartment, room or house.

Where to start splitting an account?

There are no two identical cases in this category of disputes. Therefore, when drawing up a petition, it is important to understand the basics of the law and take into account all the factors influencing the outcome of the case:

the housing is in common ownership - first determine the share of each owner;
if by agreement of the parties this did not work out, file a claim in court;
when shares are determined voluntarily, such agreements must be documented and certified by a notary.

If the other party agrees to split the account, it is enough to contact the management company or the owners' association with a corresponding application. Copies of title documents and identification cards, as well as papers for the apartment, are attached to it.

However, the management company may refuse to satisfy the request of the co-owners. Then you will also have to solve the problem through the courts. If its representatives agree to split the personal account, a new contract for the provision of services will be concluded with each owner of the property. In this case, new accounts are opened for each of the parties.

Causes

The main reason for filing a claim or statement to representatives of housing and communal services authorities is to call other family members and relatives to financial responsibility. If the apartment is divided into shares between adult owners, they must make payments equally.

Division can be carried out in any way if there is an agreement between the owners of the property. If a conflict situation arises, someone who refuses to deposit funds into accounts may be held accountable by dividing the personal account in the receipt.

Legal requirements for the procedure

At the legislative level, the procedure for dividing bills is called “allocation of a share in payment for housing and communal services.”
By law, each owner of a part of a privatized apartment has the right to pay exclusively for his part of the services provided .

Accounts are generated taking into account the following factors:

Total area of the room.
List of people registered in the apartment.

This information must be taken into account when drawing up contracts for the provision of housing and communal services.

By default, the agreement is drawn up with one of the owners of the residential premises . A receipt for payment for services is issued to the owner of part of the living space with whom the contract has been signed. All other owners are jointly and severally liable.

At the same time, the law allows for the allocation of a share of the payment to each owner of the premises and the formation of a separate account. The regulations for the procedure are contained in Articles 247 and 249 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.

The process is possible if the following requirements are met:

The living space should be privatized. It is impossible to carry out the action in municipal housing , since its sole owner is the local government, and the residents act as tenants.

The owners of the generated accounts must be the owners. If the apartment is joint property, without determining the shares of each, division cannot be made.

The division is made on the basis of Real Estate Certificates . Family relationships between property owners are not taken into account when creating separate payments.

Splitting accounts in a one-room apartment is not permitted by law.

Step by step section procedure

How the process of assigning responsibilities is carried out:
When an agreement is reached between residents, contact the management company.
In the event of a conflict without the possibility of reconciliation between the parties, go to court.

In the first case, the owner, who does not want to pay 2-3 times more, draws up an application to split the personal account for paying utility bills. The document is sent to the management company.

In the second option, a claim is filed in court. The case will be considered in the regional office at the place of registration of the defendant.

The process of dividing a personal account into a utility service in both cases includes:

Collection of documents for property.
Drawing up a foundation document. In the first case, it is a statement to the housing and communal services authorities, in the second - a lawsuit in court.
Consideration of the case. Management companies make a decision within 1–10 days. The lawsuit is considered in court for up to 30 days.
Receiving a separation document. This is a new sample receipt issued to each of the participants in the process.

Attention! Payment sharing should be carried out among all service providers if several companies are involved in the maintenance of the house at the same time. To speed up the process, you can immediately file a claim in court. If there is an agreement, owners have the right to contact the organization individually. To do this, they must bring the consent of the second owner of the property, certified by a notary.

Features of dispute resolution regarding personal accounts

In the course of resolving a dispute about dividing the bill between co-owners of housing, the court determines the amount of payment for utility services based on the number of registered residents. The court will determine which citizens are willing to pay for themselves and their family members. And who should have a separate personal account? If there are no utility consumption meters, then the calculation is made based on the area of housing.

When resolving disagreements between a tenant and his family members, the court will set the amount of payment from the number of tenants who have the right to use the housing. Usually the amount of payment is set in shares.

Preparation of a statement of claim (sample)

In the process of preparing a claim, it is recommended to use a sample application drawn up taking into account the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation.

It should include:
Name of the judicial authority. Cases related to the distribution of a personal account for a communal apartment are considered in the regional court at the place of registration of the defendant.
Full names of the participants: plaintiff, defendant, head of the management company in which it is necessary to change the terms of the payment agreement.
The name of the document is a statement of claim.
Content. Here you must indicate the basis for the claim. This is the refusal of another tenant to pay the costs of maintaining the property in accordance with legal requirements. It is recommended to refer to the articles of the law. The second part of the content is the plaintiff’s demands - a request to divide the personal account for utility bills.
List of attached documents.
Signature of the applicant and date of preparation.

A claim must be submitted in at least 2 copies. One is registered and remains in court, the second with a note of acceptance is returned to the plaintiff. If the claim needs to be applied to several companies, then you need to generate 2 copies of the claim for each case separately.

Rules for drawing up an application

An application for the allocation of shares for payment of housing and communal services must contain the following points:

Information about the applicant (full name, passport details, telephone number).
Information about the persons for whom additional accounts are required.
Indication of the size of the owners' shares (based on Certificates).
Signatures are the consent of all owners.

Required documents

To go to court, the plaintiff must bring:
Ground statement. This is a sample application (claim) to the court.
Russian Federation passport.
Certificate of ownership.
Housing and communal services receipt or other sample personal account that needs to be distributed.
A receipt for payment of state duty is required in one copy.
An extract from the house register or a certificate of family composition.

If the need to go to court arose after the management company refused to resolve the issue, the plaintiff must take with him a copy of the application to the Criminal Code and a document on the refusal.

Instructions

But still, how to divide a personal account in a privatized apartment? If all apartment owners agree with the need for division, it will be very simple to implement their common will.

First, you need to determine the form of ownership : joint or shared. This is easy: according to current legislation, joint ownership arises only among spouses whose marriage is registered (Article 256 of the Civil Code). In all other cases , it is generally accepted that the property is in common shared ownership .
Transfer of housing to shared ownership , since with joint division of personal accounts in a privatized apartment it is impossible. To do this, the owners first need to agree on the size of the shares , if there was no actual division, and then draw up an agreement on the division of the apartment. The finished document must be certified by a notary.
Registration of shares in Rosreestr , where each co-owner needs to apply with documents received from a notary.
Registration of separate accounts . After receiving certificates of registration, owners must go to their management company or offices of organizations whose services must be paid directly.
Here everyone will have to write an application for the allocation of a new personal account to pay for utilities according to the size of their share. Usually there are no problems with this, but if the owner of the share receives a refusal, he has the right to appeal it in court.

Procedure

If citizens living in an apartment, by mutual decision, want to carry out the procedure for dividing the payment of utility bills, then they should submit this petition to the management company.

The procedure for dividing payments in a privatized apartment is as follows:

it is necessary to transfer the housing into shared ownership of each of the persons who wish to make payments for utilities in their own name in the future;
a special agreement is drawn up. The document must be notarized;
an application for division of shares is drawn up, which will need to be sent to the management company;
If the application to the Criminal Code is submitted properly, then you can obtain the document from Rosreestr. This document will describe what share and which of the owners it belongs to. In accordance with the size of the share, each owner will have a personal account;
each shareholder submits a package of documents to the company providing utility services;
After reviewing the submitted package of documentation, each owner who applies will receive receipts, in accordance with which payment for housing and communal services will be made.

Important! To split a personal account, the consent of other homeowners is required.

In order for the Criminal Code to accept an application for the division of housing and communal services payments, the petition must be drawn up correctly. The structure of the statement is as follows:

name of the management company;
information about the applicant: full name;
address of the location of privatized housing;
account number;
passport details;
contact details.

document's name;

the essence of contacting the management company;

information about the apartment;

consent of other owners. First and last names, their signatures and the date of signature are indicated here;

signature of the person accepting the application.

If citizens submit an application to the Criminal Code for the division of utility bills, then the employees of this organization will not necessarily accept it and satisfy the citizens’ request. There are some grounds according to which the Criminal Code may refuse to provide this service. Reasons for refusal:

the entrance to the living space is less than 70 cm;
a window from any room opens onto a closed courtyard and its area is less than 5 meters;
the width of the living room is less than 2 meters;
the distance from the window to another building is less than 3 meters.

Contacting the management company

Property owners can turn to home maintenance service providers voluntarily. After drawing up the document, the housing and communal services office will take into account that each of the applicants bears individual responsibility for the maintenance of the home, in accordance with Art. 210 Civil Code of the Russian Federation. When responsibilities are divided between the participants, the joint requirement cannot be applied to citizens.

But sometimes the dispute cannot be resolved by the housing and communal services authorities. In this case, the owners submit a sample statement of claim to the court. During the consideration of the case, the judge will make a verdict on who and in what amount will deposit cash on receipts.

Division through court

If one or more of the owners refuses to pay for utilities, the property owner has the right to apply to a judicial authority to distribute responsibilities in equal shares. A claim between owners can be filed after an appeal from one of the parties or each of the residents.

Reference! The basis for an appeal may be not only the refusal of residents to draw up a voluntary agreement. If the Criminal Code refuses to register the appeal or division of responsibilities, citizens must file a claim.

When registering an application for documents, you must attach a copy of the refusal from the Criminal Code. An unjustified negative decision in the distribution of financial obligations between clients threatens the company with possible punishment under Art. 330 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Arbitrariness”.

If the property is joint

Is it possible to split accounts in a privatized apartment if it is jointly owned by spouses? During the privatization process, some apartments are registered not as shared ownership, but as joint ownership .

Such registration is carried out in the case of privatization of an apartment by spouses, who become co-owners and equal owners of the living space.

In the event of a divorce and the spouses continue to live together in the same territory, the question of separate payments arises quite often, since people maintain separate households and not always both regularly contribute funds to pay for housing and communal services.

In such situations, the question of dividing accounts inevitably arises, but dividing it in these circumstances is impossible. To solve the problem in this case, you need to start by changing the form of ownership of the apartment.

You should start by drawing up an agreement on dividing the living space into shares . To draw it up, you should contact a notary, who will determine the specific procedure for the owners.

After division into shares, each owner receives a Certificate from Rosreestr. This document will be the basis for dividing invoices for payment.

With this document, the owners turn to utility companies to generate accounts and draw up a separate agreement for the provision of services for each owner of the share.

You can find out what the statute of limitations is for declaring the privatization of an apartment invalid, as well as who has the right to re-privatize a residential premises, from our articles.

Dividing a personal account when the apartment is in shared ownership

According to the law, the personal account for housing and communal services receipts can be distributed among the owners if the property is divided into shares. Financial obligations will be formed based on the size of the share of each of the participants in the case.

Distribution will be carried out in the presence of a document-foundation of one of the owners. In this case, it is possible to change the terms of debt repayment within only one organization.

Important! Responsibilities for utility bills can only be distributed among the owners. Other residents who are registered in the apartment can take part in contributions for the maintenance of the property voluntarily. They cannot be forced to contribute funds to housing and communal services providers in court.

What information must be included in the claim?

Expert opinion

Smirnov Alexander Stanislavovich

Lawyer with 12 years of experience. Specialization: civil law. Member of the Bar Association.

The petition begins with information about the parties to the dispute and the judicial branch to which the claim is sent. Here you need to write down the exact addresses, telephone numbers and names of the participants in the proceedings.

If the defendant is a management organization or a homeowners' association, its name and location shall be indicated. Then you should state the essence of the appeal as accurately, clearly and in detail as possible:

the owner of what area you are (the entire property or some share in the common property);
at what address is the property that will be discussed in the application located;
who is the second owner of the property and in what shares (if there are several, provide information about each);
then tell the essence of the conflict (the defendant, living in the same apartment with the plaintiff, does not pay the costs of utilities and repairs, or the management company refuses to split the bill without having legal grounds for this);
write that it is you who have to bear the burden of paying for services, as well as the amount of funds contributed;
refer to laws confirming the validity of the very fact of applying to the judicial authorities (articles from the Housing and Civil Codes);
tell us what payments include payment for utilities, listing those for which the defendant has arrears;
describe the measures taken before the trial to eliminate the problem, referring to the attached documentary evidence.

When the essence of the conflict situation is outlined, in the statement of claim for the division of the personal account between the owners, you need to outline your own requirements. These include:

The procedure for paying for an apartment or house, repair work, as well as utilities must be clearly defined by the court.
Collection of unjust enrichment or other payments from the defendant.
Elimination of other violations committed by the other party and preventing the division of the account.
Oblige the homeowners' association or management company to enter into new agreements with each of the owners of shares in the property.
Oblige utility companies to charge payments for housing to various personal accounts according to the shares of each party.
Sending payment documents from the HOA and the management company to each owner separately.

After this, all that remains is to write a list of papers attached to the claim, put the date of application and signature. Make copies of the petition according to the number of participants in the proceedings.

It is necessary to attach to the claim confirmation of payment of the state duty, a certificate of ownership of the property, an extract from the register confirming the rights to housing and a copy of the invoice. All copies must be certified by a notary.

For residents of Moscow and Moscow Region:
Other regions of Russia:

Also write to us via online chat or form on the website.

Those who refuse to transfer money for accommodation can be prosecuted in court. To do this, the other owner must submit an application to split the personal account for paying utility bills.

After reviewing the document, the Criminal Code or the court will regulate the procedure for repaying bills on housing and communal services receipts in equal shares between the owners.

In what cases can you split bills?

The obligation to pay for housing and communal services is regulated at the legislative level, but the law does not provide for payments by minors and incapacitated persons.

Expert opinion

Klimov Yaroslav

More than 12 years in real estate, higher legal education (Russian Academy of Justice)

Ask a Question

The law provides for split payments for utilities only in a privatized apartment. Residents living in municipal property do not have the right to distribute responsibilities for paying cash for the maintenance of residential premises.

Distribution for joint ownership

Separation of obligations is impossible if the property is common, without indicating the shares of each owner. In this case, the other owner cannot be required to fulfill financial obligations for maintaining the housing. But if tenants change the main title deed, they can share responsibilities.

To do this, you should contact a notary. He will draw up an agreement on the allocation of shares in the property. After this, the owners will receive a new property document describing the shares of each of them. With the new certificate, they can apply to the management organization or the court to pay for utilities independently of each other.

Recourse requirement to pay off utility bills

The law does not provide for the division of rent if there is debt. In this case, the management companies will demand that all residents repay the debt jointly. If one of the owners was paying off debts and the other was avoiding financial obligations, the owner of the property may file a recourse claim in court.

According to Art. 325 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a citizen who has paid a debt for another person to a creditor (management company - in a particular case) has the right to submit a recourse claim in equal shares to the other owners, with the exception of taking into account his share in the process of paying for utilities.

Attention! A recourse claim can only be applied if the payer can prove that it was he who fulfilled the obligations. It is required to submit checks, payment orders and other documents confirming the fact that the plaintiff personally paid cash for rent.

In the absence of documents, law enforcement officers may refuse to accept a claim seeking recourse for a utility debt. If the plaintiff has all the checks in his hands, he can apply for a refund of part of the expenses. Cases with a claim amount of up to 50 thousand rubles will be considered in a magistrate's court, and with a larger amount of recourse - in a regional court, at the place of residence of the defendant.

Application for recourse on utility bills after separation of duties

After satisfying the plaintiff’s demands and distributing financial obligations for the maintenance of the house, the owner can apply for recourse. When drawing up an application, the plaintiff can indicate additional expenses: travel commission, transfer of funds to the supplier through a cash desk or online banking.

Reference! Payment of the state fee is the responsibility of the plaintiff. Its amount is included in the cost of damages during the consideration of the case.

When drawing up a claim document, it is required, in addition to indicating the judicial authority, the details of the participants, the date and signature of the plaintiff, to substantiate the claim and attach checks for rent. It is necessary to explain to the court that the defendant was notified of the need to pay off utility bills, but refused to fulfill his obligations.

We separate bills for housing and communal services:

Responsibilities for tenants

Tenants of property, when concluding an agreement with the owner of the property, are responsible for rent only by prior agreement. The owner can temporarily register residents. But registration does not affect the ability to distribute payments according to the law.

Reference! Residents who are not owners are exempt from collecting utility debts, so they are not subject to the rule for distributing personal accounts for housing and communal services.

The owner may require payments for the apartment during the rental process. But he will be responsible for possible debts to utility services independently.

Arbitrage practice

Judicial practice shows that the plaintiff's demands are not always satisfied.
Thus, by decision in case No. 2-983/2018 dated March 23, 2018, the Ufa court rejected the claim, indicating that the division of personal accounts is not provided for by law. The Samara Regional Court upheld the decision of the first instance. But the appeal decision of the Altai Regional Court states that it is necessary to divide payment documents for utility bills in accordance with the number of people living in the apartment.

How do you pay for housing and communal services after your application is accepted?

If a personal account is divided between the owners, each of them will receive a personal receipt. If meters are installed in the apartment, payment according to the readings will be divided equally between all owners. If there are no meters, the calculation will be made by dividing the area by the number of people.

Important! Repayment of utility bills after separation will not be taken into account jointly and severally. Each person receiving a receipt will be responsible for repaying only their share. If a debt arises from one of the owners, utility services do not have the right to demand payment from other residents. Sanctions by law can be applied directly to the debtor.

Rent is included in the list of mandatory expenses. When real estate is in shared ownership, the owners are required to participate in paying for housing and communal services jointly, equally. The presence of disagreements may lead to a division of rights to pay rent. After consideration of the application, the owners will be responsible for financial obligations individually. If the house is served by several organizations, you must submit an application to each of them.

When can you split receipts?

Conditions for the account section:

Owners of common shared property can exercise the right to receive separate receipts. That is, the legal documents for the apartment must indicate the size of the share. For example, 2/5; 3/5.
If you own jointly, you cannot split the accounts. The service will become available after the apartment is re-registered as shared ownership.
If the apartment has one owner, there is no one to share bills with, despite the presence of registered tenants.