Receipt, columns and their meaning
What is a receipt? This is a document that contains information about the amount of payments and existing debts to housing and communal services. This document contains many different columns, however, we will only touch on the most important ones for us.
Water supply and sanitation
First, let's understand these concepts.
Water supply is, simply put, the process of getting water into apartments.
Drainage is the process of removing water from an apartment to the sewer system.
You have to pay for all this, since organizing the flow of water into a separate apartment requires special equipment, work on its maintenance, timely replacements, and the same is required for drainage.
Heating
Another column that appears during the heating season. Most often, disputes arise because of it, because it is not clear how the heat consumed is calculated. The calculations for this column are indeed very complex and time consuming.
What do we mean by heating? For us, these are usually hot batteries. However, not all so simple. In fact, before the batteries are heated, water is heated first as a conductor of heat. Then it is supplied through pipes that permeate the entire house. The water transfers its heat to the batteries, which in turn release heat into the room.
Apartment residents pay for heating, supplying and maintaining water temperature. Therefore, it is not surprising that prices in this column are not the lowest.
Gas
In some apartment buildings, apartments are equipped with gas appliances, for example, stoves intended for cooking. Without gas there will be no fire, and without fire you will not be able to cook anything.
This column indicates how much gas was spent by the tenant for certain needs. In addition, gas supply requires various equipment, which also needs to be maintained.
Maintenance and current repairs of housing
This column is incomprehensible to most residents. The very definition of this column can be found in the Housing Code of the Russian Federation in Art. 154. It states that the maintenance and ongoing repairs of housing should be understood as a list of seasonal work that is carried out to maintain the house in proper condition.
This does not apply in any way to major repairs, since in this case the work is carried out to eliminate minor defects that do not affect the safety of living.
Major renovation
Over time, every house comes to a state where living in it becomes dangerous. To prevent deterioration of the house structure, it is necessary to carry out major repairs.
Its essence is the replacement or restoration of individual parts or entire structures and engineering equipment of buildings due to their physical wear and tear. As well as eliminating, if necessary, the consequences of functional wear and tear of structures and carrying out work to improve the level of internal improvement.
By the way, we have a whole article about who is exempt from paying for major repairs in an apartment building, and whether it is necessary to pay for it. ⇐
Going to court
If the management company refuses to carry out a recalculation, but the payer is confident that he is right and that the charges for utility services are illegal, the dispute must be resolved in court.
In this case, the statement of claim should be filed at the location of the defendant. Of course, proceedings of this kind can take up to several months, but, as they say, the truth is more valuable. In addition, every person needs to get back their money that they wasted, and it wouldn’t hurt to punish the management company for illegal actions either.
The statement of claim to the court is prepared in accordance with Art. 131 and 132 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, attach to it: • a copy of the certificate of ownership of the apartment or other title document; • copies of receipts for payment for housing and communal services for the period of illegal payment; • copies of statements and decisions that were made on applications in an attempt to resolve the problem pre-trial; • original receipt for payment of state duty.
It is also important to remember that the accompanying documents along with the statement of claim are submitted in duplicate (except for the receipt for payment of the fee), since one set of documents is necessary for filing in the case, and the second will be sent to the defendant.
The plaintiff must follow the progress of the case and be sure to appear at the court hearing.
Does the Criminal Code have the right to fine residents?
The Criminal Code has no right to impose a fine. According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, a fine is a punishment that provides for administrative and criminal liability. Only the competent authorities of the state have the right to impose a fine, like any other punishment.
The management company may assign a penalty to a rent defaulter, however, penalties are considered a type of penalty and are not a fine.
How to check a housing and communal services receipt for accuracy
In order to check the receipt in the simplest way, we need the tenant of the apartment and his attentiveness. The document must be checked for:
- Services that are not provided, such as heating in the summer season.
- New graphs.
- Correspondence between the actual housing area and that indicated on the receipt.
- Correspondence to the number of people living.
The tenant has the right to contact the company managing your home if he has any doubts about the calculations. The management company is obliged to provide all the necessary information and calculation data.
How to check if housing and communal services tariffs are too high
You need to know that the Government for each region sets a percentage limit by which the tariff can be increased, and there can be no talk of including double rates. If you observe numbers higher than those established by regulations, then this is already an overestimation, this is wrong!
In order to find out whether the regulations of the Government of the Russian Federation have been violated, you need to find out when there will be changes in the tariff. The correct numbers can be found on the Internet.
Old receipts should be kept. When the tariff is reduced or increased, reconcile these papers (it is advisable that they be of the same date, with the exception of the year). Using simple calculations, you can calculate how much the fee actually increased, and then compare it with the regulatory framework. Reconciliation should be carried out primarily in the column “maintenance and current repairs”, since other indicators can vary greatly. True, if the receipt indicates tariffs, you can use its other lines.
How to find out the cost of rent by address via the Internet
Not all residents will be able to find out the rent amount, since only some housing and communal services create special websites where you can view such information.
If your housing and communal services have such a website, then just go to it and know the consumer’s data.
How to contact the management company?
If payments are calculated illegally, it makes sense to contact the management company, which should have all the primary documentation, according to which payments are calculated for the owners of each apartment.
The purpose of such an appeal is to obtain explanations for each item of payment indicated in the settlement receipt. In this case, you should request clarification in writing, since in the oral version, specialists can “confuse” a person with terms and formulas, but with written explanations you can contact the housing inspectorate or another organization for decoding. This paper will also be useful in court.
The application should be submitted to the head of the management company, indicating the full name. payer, his address and telephone number. After this, it is necessary to outline the essence of the claim itself, necessarily referring not only to the figures indicated in the payment receipts, but also to the activities being carried out and other real facts.
At the end of the document you should put the date of writing and signature. If a claim (application for clarification) is submitted in person, then it should be submitted in two copies with the obligatory endorsement of both. One copy remains in the management company, the second is in the hands of the payer. If the document was refused, there is no need to be upset. In this case, the document should be packed in an envelope and sent to the organization’s address addressed to the manager by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt. In this case, the notification will serve as evidence of sending the document and an attempt to resolve the conflict peacefully in pre-trial order.
What to do if the rent is charged incorrectly, where to complain
For every duty there is a right. Residents of apartments are required to pay rent for the services provided, however, they have the right to their quality and proportionate payment.
However, management companies often inflate prices for their own benefit, and you need to know where to go in this regard in order to protect your wallet from unjustified extortions.
Contacting the management organization
The first instance is the Criminal Code itself. Perhaps the mistake in the receipt was made accidentally and when the citizen contacts everything will be corrected. To do this, you need to go to the management company in person or, if it has its own website with the ability to contact, do it online.
You need to write a complaint that the rent is too high, provide evidence known to you and send it for consideration. If the company agrees with your arguments, a recalculation will be made, or part of the funds will be transferred to the next payment period.
Appealing to this authority is very ineffective, since an ordinary person does not know all the features of calculations and the activities of the council, so he can easily be deceived if the incorrect calculation was made intentionally.
If the Criminal Code refuses to do a recount, we contact the control and supervisory authorities
There are two authorities where you should contact if your management company refuses to admit a mistake in the rent, and you disagree with it. These bodies are:
- Housing inspection. You should come here or call if there are excessively high, incorrect numbers in the receipt, indicating an error, and the management company does not want to deal with it.
- Rospotrebnadzor. The body deals with issues related to incorrect calculation of rent due to poor quality utilities or their absence.
Prosecutor's office
You can contact this body regarding any violations of the law. A complaint or statement should be filed if a citizen has reason to believe that the overpayment is due to the fault of the Criminal Code.
Employees will carry out all the necessary checks, attract the necessary specialists, and if violations are detected, they will issue a decision to eliminate them. The management company is obliged to fulfill it, and otherwise will be held liable.
Court
The final authority is the court, where you will have to file a statement of claim. You can resort to this option at any time, however, there are some nuances. Residents who are dissatisfied with incorrect calculations must themselves prove the presence of errors in the receipt, that is, they themselves present all the evidence to the court for consideration.
In this case, you will have to independently or with the involvement of an independent expert carry out calculations that, in the opinion of the owners, are correct.
Where to go in such cases?
If there are suspicions regarding the incorrect calculation of payments for electricity or gas, then to recalculate it is necessary to contact the specialists of the payment centers. For other payments, you must contact your local housing inspection office, as well as the court.
As a rule, administrative measures in most cases do not have the proper effectiveness, since the adoption of a certain decision depends on a specific official and his goals.
At the same time, it is recommended to start communicating with utility companies not directly, but through organizations that calculate payments for utility services. You should choose an organization located at the payer’s place of residence.
Responsibility of the management company for incorrect calculation of utility bills
You can read about this kind of responsibility in Article 157 of the RF Housing Code. It includes:
- Recalculation of payments in case of detection of an error or provision of low-quality services.
- Fine for violation of consumer rights, inaction, improper maintenance of common property.
The punishment is regulated by Art. 7.22, 7.23, and some other articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Details below!
Fine for incorrect rent calculation
The tenant in the event of any violations, such as additions, errors in the receipt, has the right to compensation. The procedure and amount of the fine to be paid in cases of incorrect accruals are determined in paragraphs 6-7 of Article 157 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation.
If there are violations, the tenant must write an application for payment of a fine to the council. She, in turn, within 30 days checks the correctness of the calculations and makes decisions on payment or refusal of such payment. If there is still an error, the Criminal Code will pay a fine within 2 months. This withheld money is stored in the account for a subsequent reduction in utility bills or a reduction in the amount of debt, if any, that is, it is offset.
The fine in 2021 is 50% of the excess fee.
Responsibility of management companies for incorrect amounts of debt
Responsibility for incorrect accrual of debt is the same as specified in Article 157 of the RF Housing Code, that is, recalculation or imposition of a fine.
Penalty in court for inflated housing and communal services tariffs
In this case, the law does not provide for the collection of a penalty, since it is made when a low-quality service is provided, it is not provided or is not provided on time.
If the agreement with the management company, which was concluded, for example, by the HOA, provides for a penalty in the event of illegal calculations of rent, then it can be collected in court.
How to reduce a court fine for a criminal company
The same article 157 of the RF Housing Code provides for circumstances that exclude the possibility of imposing a fine. These include:
- An error in calculations was made due to the fault of the consumer. For example, providing incorrect data from meters.
- The error occurred due to improper functioning of the delivery systems. For example, something happened to the pipe, but no one noticed.
- No inaccuracy identified.
There are no other circumstances that would exclude or minimize the liability of the management company or HOA.
Amount of payment for housing and communal services
Any type of service provided by the supplying company to the consumer requires a certain algorithm for carrying out calculations and determining quality. Who does this, how much and what should I pay for?
What is included?
The list of utilities consumption services includes:
- water supply - the cost is determined using special metering meters, based on the tariff established at the government level;
- supply of natural gas – consumption readings are determined by the reading device. In its absence, the basic indicator will be used - it is multiplied by the number of persons registered in a given living space. This is how they receive a ready amount for payment;
- heating - the calculation principle is identical to water supply. Everything is tied to the square footage of the room. Only the usable area is taken into account, which is multiplied by the current tariff;
- electricity – the basis for charges is the meter. It can be single, designed for all residents of an apartment building, or it can be placed individually in each apartment;
- payment for the maintenance of a residential property - everything related to the property of the house is within the competence of the management office. The range of services they provide is strictly regulated. If they are not provided in full or do not correspond to the declared quality, the contract with the management company can be terminated, and the previously paid funds can be returned back to the consumer. The fee is calculated individually, by agreement between the residents and the management company, as stated in the contract.
Who's counting?
According to current legislation, HOAs or management institutions are responsible for calculating the cost of services. When it comes to apartment complexes, the authority to generate payrolls is assigned to special settlement centers.
How to avoid mistakes
In order not to run into a trial or a fine, it is necessary to reduce the risk of inaccuracies, and for this you will need:
- Carrying out work with employees and improving their qualifications. Most often, mistakes are made unconsciously due to ignorance or inattention.
- Carrying out checks of the correctness of the calculations made. Even if a mistake was made, timely verification will help identify and eliminate it.
- Those who consider the rent to be incorrect with malicious intent, deliberately, should remember that the law provides for liability for this!
