If the radiators don’t heat up: where to complain about poor heating in the apartment

How many degrees should there be in an apartment, office and entrance?

The temperature in apartments should be no less than 18–20 degrees Celsius, in offices - no lower than 20, and in school classrooms - no less than 18. In the premises of kindergarten groups, thermometers should not fall below 22 degrees, in bedrooms - below 19 degrees . There are also rules for entrances. During the heating season it should not be below 16 degrees.

Measurements will be more accurate if you follow a number of simple rules. First of all, you should close all windows and doors, and keep the thermometer a meter from the floor in the center of the room. You should also make sure that you are at least half a meter from the battery and the outer wall.

When the heating is turned on

The heating season in the capital begins by order of the city authorities. This typically occurs when the average daily temperature remains below 8°C for five days and the weather forecast predicts a further decline.

Typically, work on turning on and adjusting the heating takes up to several days. First, heat is supplied to social infrastructure facilities, in particular kindergartens, schools, hospitals, and clinics. Then the batteries begin to work in residential buildings, and only after that - in industrial enterprises.

In social infrastructure facilities, heating can be provided earlier than the planned start of the heating season, if necessary. This happened this year as well. On September 9, it became known that heating in social institutions in the city began to be turned on based on requests.

Photo: Moscow 24/Roman Balaev

Where can I complain about heating in apartments?

If the heating is poor, the radiators in the apartment heat poorly, and the entrance is so cool that steam comes out of your mouth, you should contact the dispatch service of your area or the management company. Specialists must check and repair communications on the same day.

If the problem could not be solved or your call went unanswered, then you can report the poor performance of the heating systems to the Moscow Department of Housing and Communal Services. Operators of the Department's unified dispatch service accept requests for accidents, complaints and comments regarding the operation of heating systems around the clock by phone: +. In addition, Muscovites can use the department’s electronic reception desk.

Another option is to call MOEK. Messages about problems with heating in the apartment, accidents, steam release and other problems in the heating and water supply system are accepted around the clock by phone: +.

You can express dissatisfaction with the work of the management company through the electronic reception of the Moscow Housing Inspectorate or personally to the head of the territorial unit. In a written statement, you must briefly describe the essence of the issue and attach copies of appeals to the management company and other authorities.

You can also file a complaint using the Moscow State Services mobile application or on the Our City in the Apartment Buildings section. In the latter case, the answer will come within eight days.

How to write a complaint?

Having determined where to go if there is no heating, you need to file a complaint. But regardless of which structure the claim is sent to, it is a fairly effective tool for influencing unscrupulous utility workers. It is only important to draw up the document correctly and competently.

Regardless of where to contact if there is no heating, the complaint is drawn up as follows:

• In the upper right corner you must indicate the name of the structure to which the document is being submitted. Below is the tenant's full name and residential address. In order for the organization to contact the owner of the apartment, you should write a contact phone number;
• in the middle of the sheet the problem is detailed. It should be indicated from what date there has been no heating, what measures were taken, which authorities were contacted and to whom exactly they were contacted. If there are acts or other important papers, copies of them must be attached to the document;
• in conclusion, it is necessary to state the requirement that the selected structure take appropriate measures to solve the existing problem. It would also be useful to add that if the heating issue is not resolved, then in the future the complaint will be sent to court;
• at the very end, the date of drawing up the document is indicated and the person who compiled the complaint puts his signature.

Knowing who to complain to about the lack of heating is not enough; you also need to competently draft a complaint. Of course, you can find a sample on the Internet or fill out a ready-made template. But drawing up a document on your own is still not easy. In order for a complaint to be drawn up correctly, you need to know various legal aspects and nuances. If there is no experience in drawing up similar appeals, then there is a very high probability that the claim will be written unreasonably, and they simply will not consider it.

In this regard, when filing a complaint, it is better to seek help from an experienced lawyer. A specialist in this field knows all the nuances of the current legislation and will help you avoid existing pitfalls. You can consult with a lawyer online. Today there are many forums. Consultation can be either paid or free. Remote recommendations from a legal specialist guarantee savings of effort, time and money for applicants. The lawyer will tell you what to do if there is no heating in the apartment, where to complain in each specific case, and answer all your questions.

Regardless of who to complain to if there is no heating, it is advisable to file a collective claim. Since public appeals, as a rule, are considered necessarily and first of all. Usually the decision is made from 10 to 30 days after receipt of the document. The complaint must be submitted in several copies. Residents of the house must have a second version of the document in their hands.

But before you decide who to complain to about the lack of heating, you need to check whether the tap is closed, which is blocking the path of the coolant. In this case, just turn the lever and heating in the apartment will resume. In some cases, it may be necessary to replace heating radiators.

Knowing where to complain if there is no heating, teaming up with residents of the house who have a similar problem, competently drafting a complaint and sending it to the appropriate authority, you can achieve a quick solution to the heating issue.

How to get a recalculation?

In case of constant interruptions in heat in apartments or on the landing, residents have the right to demand a recalculation. The cost of services should be reduced by 0.15 percent for each hour the permissible duration of a heating interruption is exceeded. The duration of emergency heating shutdowns during the cold season should not exceed 24 hours per month. A permissible one-time break at a temperature in the apartment from 12 to 18 degrees cannot last longer than 16 hours, at a temperature of 10–12 degrees - eight hours, and if the temperature in the apartment is 8-10 degrees, then four hours.

To record temperature deviations, you need to call the unified dispatch service of the Department of Housing and Communal Services. An employee of the management company will take measurements and draw up a report based on the results of the inspection.

The document must be submitted to or directly to the management company (if it independently makes calculations and accruals).

Heating payments are calculated based on the average monthly volumes of thermal energy consumption for the previous year. That is, accruals for the current year occur monthly in equal shares in the amount of one twelfth of the cost of the service consumed during the previous year. The heating fee is adjusted once a year. Volume reconciliation takes place in February of the year following the calculation year. Based on the results of this work, the amount of payments for the current year is adjusted in the first quarter.

Where to go if the radiators are a little warm, but there is no trust in local housing and communal services representatives

After submitting a claim, you can wait a week, unless cold weather and life circumstances (for example, the presence of small children or weak health members in the family) force you to act earlier.

If there is no proper response, such a complaint should be sent to a higher authority - the district housing inspection or Rospotrebnadzor. To the document it is necessary to add information about the actions taken previously, a copy of the first statement, reporting the lack of an appropriate response from the FSW.

In case of repeated silence, the next authority will be the prosecutor's office. The submitted complaint must be accompanied by documentary evidence of the futility of previous attempts to resolve the issue and provide information about the harm caused by the inaction of officials to residents of the apartment.

You can also go to court, but cases are not considered quickly and it is better to go there after resolving the main part of the issue, presenting a claim for compensation for material and moral damage.

Citizens faced with such difficulties often express the opinion that it is useless to contact the local housing and communal services, advising them to act immediately through higher-level authorities or send the original complaint to the management company, and at the same time copies to all other regulatory organizations.

Each case is individual, and it is impossible to make unambiguous prejudicial judgments about all organizations of this kind. The scale and intensity of action taken depends on many factors. How persistently and where to complain about cold batteries, what to do in a particular case - everyone decides for themselves.

How to reduce heating bills?

In some new buildings in the capital, heating radiators are already equipped with individual meters. By adjusting the temperature, residents can reduce their heating bills.

This technique can be used everywhere. But the whole house needs to switch to heating using individual metering devices at the same time. The decision must be made at a general meeting of owners. If you installed meters without the consent of your neighbors, then you will not be able to transfer the readings to the management company. Even with the radiator turned off, the heat in the apartment will remain thanks to the heating risers. But the whole house will have to pay for it.

It is beneficial for owners to install individual meters only with a modern horizontal heating system, when the risers are located in the entrance, and two pipes are supplied to the apartments - direct and return. With vertical wiring, several heating risers are installed in the apartment at once. In this case, meters will have to be installed on each pipe, which will reduce all savings to nothing.

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Arbitrage practice

1. The court did not satisfy the request for recalculation of heating fees, since the plaintiff did not provide temperature measurements in the residential premises. But since the defendant did not comply with the plaintiff’s demands to restore heating in a pre-trial manner, compensation for moral damage and a consumer fine were awarded in favor of the plaintiff (Decision No. 2-1285 of July 16, 2020 in case No. 2-1285/2019).
2. The resource supplying organization was obliged to recalculate heating costs, since the temperature in the living space was below normal. At the same time, compensation for moral damage of 30,000 rubles and a consumer fine of 15,000 rubles were awarded in favor of the owner of the premises (Decision No. 2-1935/2019 of July 6, 2020 in case No. 2-1935/2019).
3. If residents draw up acts on low temperatures on their own, they must be signed by the chairman of the house. The court considered acts signed only by the residents of the house to be unacceptable evidence (Decision No. 2-436/2020 of September 28, 2021 in case No. 2-94/2020).

How to avoid paying for excess heat?

It is more profitable to install an automated heating system control unit in your home. Such equipment itself monitors the temperature outside and, depending on it, selects the mode of supplying heat to the apartments. In this case, residents do not face a situation where it is already relatively warm outside, but the radiators are hot and the room is so hot that they have to open the windows.

The decision to install smart equipment can only be made by a meeting of apartment owners. They also choose the brand of equipment, installation time and cost of subsequent maintenance.

How should a recorded violation affect payment for the service?

If the radiators are barely warm, where should you go to avoid paying for almost no heating?

If there is a confirmed violation of the heat supply norm, the companies providing this service are obliged to recalculate the fee for it downwards.

To do this, you should send an application to the organization, attaching a copy of the report with the results of temperature measurements taken in the room.

It is lawful to refuse compensation for costs for unprovided services only in the event of force majeure reasons for violation of the terms of the contract (natural disasters).

Authorized bodies

If it was not possible to resolve the issue through the authorized organization that is responsible for heating in an apartment building, you can then complain to higher organizations and inspections.

Let's figure it out first

So, there is a fact, it’s cold in the apartment, either he went home or into the barn. Sometimes it's warmer in the garage. Let's find out the cause of the cold in the apartment. There is central heating, they even increased the radiators, adding three sections in each room. We hoped that next winter it would be warmer. Did not help. The batteries did not get any warmer. Even if you cover all the walls with them, the water in them is a little warm.

The windows of the house are glazed to the north, three panes each. Particular attention was paid to insulating the windows, making sure that all possible cracks were not sealed so that it would not blow or draught. Nothing helped. So we lived all the years in the cold. True, in recent years, in the winter there was a potbelly stove in the kitchen. The pipe went into a vent.

Of course, you can't do that. Risk of fire. But after we checked the entire ventilation shaft, we were convinced of the sufficient fire safety of our heater. However, I want to tell everyone again that you shouldn’t do this. For this stove, one wooden bottle box was enough to warm soup and boil tea. Then close the door to the kitchen, warm up so that you can safely go into the cold rooms. True, already in the spring, when they decided to burn old newspapers, a window was open on the top floor, and the smoke from our stove was drawn into the apartment above.

Large-scale insulation

In situations where the root of the problem does not lie in the batteries, or the apartment owner does not have the opportunity to urgently change them, you can use improvised means for insulation.
For example, a noticeable difference will be felt immediately after installing plastic double-glazed windows, which reduce the flow of cold air from the street into the room. As you know, from 25% to 50% of heat is lost through windows and balcony doors. A more economical option is to insulate windows with sealants and sealants, for example, foam rubber. You can also place a special foil screen between the radiator and the wall so that the heat does not go into the wall, but is repelled from the screen into the room. In addition, you should make sure that the batteries are not obscured by furniture or other obstacles. For more serious insulation of an apartment, there are more significant methods, such as tearing off wallpaper, along with whitewashing and plaster. In this form, you can see all the cracks in the walls that need to be treated with sealant, polyurethane foam or plaster. The joints of window sills are also insulated with sealants and foam plastic or mineral wool. Such measures will not only help preserve heat, but will also significantly reduce the noise level from the street. Of course, this will take much longer and require significant financial costs. However, the result is obvious.

What should you do according to the law to avoid freezing?

First you need to document your problem. In a very real way. First you need to notify the emergency dispatch service. It must be specified by the managing organization. The appeal can be either oral, including by telephone, or in writing. The tenant must indicate his first name, last name, patronymic, residential address and describe the problem - the room temperature does not meet the standards.

In turn, the service employee is also obliged to provide his last name, first name, patronymic, registration number of the application and time of its receipt. If the emergency dispatcher knows the reason why your home is cold, they should notify you. Thus, the management organization acknowledges the fact of non-provision of the service or its inadequate quality. This must be recorded in the log book. This mark serves as the basis for recalculating the payment for heating. The exact time of establishing the fact of non-provision of the service is specified. This should happen within three business days. An inspection must then be conducted with the participation of the utility representative and the applicant.

Based on its results, an act is drawn up that they must sign. This act also serves as a document according to which you have the right to request a recalculation.

But management organizations often do not admit guilt and do not agree with the applicant’s claims. In this case, a secondary check must be carried out. Representatives of the state housing inspectorate and public association of consumers have already been invited to attend. And based on its results, an act is also drawn up signed by the consumer, executor, inspector and public representative.

Having this act in hand, the consumer already has every right to demand recalculation. The act must indicate the violation of quality parameters, the time and date of the beginning of the non-provision of utility services.

More details on Pravoved.ru: https://pravoved.ru/question/1832555/

The radiators are hot, but the house is still cold: what to do

Heating radiators are not always the cause of cold in an apartment. They can be fiery and the room temperature is low. What to do if it’s cold in your apartment not because the batteries are turned off.

First of all, it is important to establish the cause of such a situation and begin to eliminate it.

The first thing you should pay attention to is the quality of the window frames.

Old wooden frames have long outlived their usefulness and require replacement. An excellent solution would be to install modern plastic double-glazed windows. If they are already installed, then you need to call a technician to check and possibly identify the cause of cold air leakage. You can insulate old windows using cotton wool, tape or foam rubber. More reliable materials include silicone sealant, putty and rubber gaskets.

It is worth paying attention to the walls: due to violations of technology during the construction of the house, they may freeze or crack. In this case, they require internal and external insulation with special materials: mineral wool, polystyrene foam boards, cellulose, foil and liquid insulation, polyurethane foam, penoplex. Insulation of the outer part of the wall should only be carried out by specialists. In this case, it is recommended to sheathe the facade of the balcony, which very often causes the penetration of cold air.

If the source of cold is the floor, it is necessary to improve it. Today, the heated system is especially popular.

In addition, it is worth checking the tightness of the front door: you can replace the trim and eliminate cracks and holes that allow cold air to pass through.