Attention!
New residents still continue to be exposed to risks associated with utility bills! Inattention at the stage of re-registration of documents can lead to quite unpleasant consequences that plunge even an inveterate optimist into despondency. Experts recommend that after registering property rights, you should continue your journey through the authorities without delay in order to re-issue agreements on utility payments as soon as possible.
We decided to figure out what could result from ignoring this important issue, and also offer the reader an optimal algorithm of action.
Buying a home is, of course, an important event, and many newly minted property owners, having completed the official registration process, go to celebrate the housewarming and explore the new space, putting aside the rest of the paperwork.
When can I change my personal account?
It will not be possible to deal with paperwork at the same time: first – registering property, then – registering a personal account. A payment document must be issued for each individual apartment. It is by the account number that information about payment for utility services is tracked down to each date and amount.
The document must indicate:
• exact address of the apartment;
• housing area;
• information about the account owner and the number of registered citizens;
• details related to landscaping.
As a rule, one invoice is issued for the entire apartment, although the owners, if desired and agreed, can split the invoices, which will be discussed below. The main owner is determined by agreement of the owners, for which it is necessary to write an application at the passport office, which will issue the necessary certificate.
It is important to remember that, regardless of any circumstances related to the apartment and its owner, utilities continue to make charges, and if the apartment has already been purchased, financial responsibility falls on the new owner. Therefore, it is important not to delay this issue and not create confusion in receipts.
Secondary housing
What should you do after buying an apartment? Typically, the procedure depends on how and what kind of housing people purchase.
Let's assume that citizens bought an apartment on the secondary market. In this case, owners will need:
- change information about the owner of the property in the housing office, management company, energy sales and gas service;
- re-register the rights to the apartment;
- renew the Internet contract;
- re-register the personal account of the apartment and resource consumption meters in your own name.
Now the first steps after buying an apartment are clear. A little later we will consider the procedure for implementing the assigned tasks in a particular case. There shouldn't be any real difficulties.
Opening an account: where to go?
If the apartment was purchased in a new building
, you just need to open a personal account. To do this, you need to write a statement in any form and bring it to the management company. In order for a set of numbers to pay for utilities to be provided in the near future, a passport and a transfer deed are sufficient.
When an apartment was purchased on the secondary market
or received by new owners, for example, under a gift or exchange agreement
, in order to receive a financial account, you will have to apply to the HOA or management organization, also presenting a passport and a document that confirms ownership. When receiving housing under a social tenancy agreement, an appropriate agreement will be required.
If the property is shared
, it is required to collect statements from all owners. Many people find it convenient to re-issue a financial document through the Unified Settlement Center. It happens that a new account has already been opened, but receipts continue to come to the previous owner. In this case, it is necessary, without delay, to call or contact the suppliers in writing and resolve the issue related to updating the information.
Register
If you do not have permanent registration, register. To do this, within 7 days from the date of check-in, you can choose to contact:
- any convenient MFC;
- passport office of the Criminal Code (if there is one);
- passport department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs;
- on the State Services website.
For staying without registration for more than the period allowed by law, violators face a fine of 2,000 rubles.
Also, with a new registration it will be easier to apply to the nearest state authorities. institutions.
Updating your personal account: an effective algorithm
In order not to run in circles through authorities, you can use an effective algorithm
, allowing you to resolve the utility and financial issue as quickly as possible. You need to take your passport and documents for the apartment and go to the Unified Settlement Center, where you need to leave an application with a request to transfer the account to another owner. From the moment the document is received and processed, accruals should already be made to the new owner.
Next you need to go to the management company
, with which you need to conclude a new service agreement, or renew contracts with suppliers of electricity, gas, heat, water, if agreements were concluded directly. If this was not done at the stage of purchasing the apartment, you need to find out when the meters were last verified. If the three-year period has already expired, it is worth initiating this process. Many people save on metering devices, but, as experience shows, this ultimately results in additional expenses.
If necessary, leave a landline phone number
, refuse it or connect to the network, you must write a corresponding application to the Rostelecom division. At the same time, it’s worth understanding the Internet, choosing a provider that suits you and concluding an agreement with him. Since the exact list of all documents for registering an account changes periodically, it is important to clarify it before going through the authorities.
It is also worth knowing that it is better for a responsible tenant to be registered in the new apartment. Otherwise, it is possible that you will have to pay higher rates for most services. In any case, you will need an extract with information about everyone “registered” in the living space.
If an apartment or a child’s share is sold
Selling real estate to minors is complicated by obtaining permission from the guardianship authority. First, preliminary consent is given for the alienation of the child’s home, and it does not guarantee that permission will be given at the final stage.
Important! The main condition for conducting real estate transactions for children is the allocation of shares or the purchase of at least equivalent living space. Without this, permission will not be issued.
When the DCT is signed, the parent who sold the child’s property needs to confirm that the guardianship authority has fulfilled the request to provide other housing. If you purchased another property, you need to provide an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. If it is decided to transfer money to a bank account, an account statement for the child is provided.
If your re-registration is refused
If all debts are repaid, management organizations rarely refuse to open a new personal account.
Most often, problems arise if the previous owner left behind exorbitant debts.
It is worth remembering that the new owner is not responsible for the financial obligations of the previous owner of the property. There is a possibility that utility companies will try to force the new owner to pay “in full” - both for debts for electricity and water, and for major repairs of the house, if the payments have not been paid in full.
To avoid any misunderstandings, it is better to make sure that there are no debts at the stage of purchasing a home. Their presence, by the way, may be a reason to talk about reducing the price. But if the account statement is not considered an important document to study, it must be remembered that no matter what the debts of the previous owners were, the utility company is obliged to issue a new account to the owners, and he will pay for it.
If it is not possible to reach an agreement with organizations on re-registration, their decision must be appealed. However, as practice shows, more often than not, simply warning about such an intention is enough to resolve the issue. If the utility workers insist that they are right, they must send a statement to the prosecutor, attaching their refusal and documents on ownership.
It happens that this does not help, then you will have to file a claim in court. It is recommended to indicate in the application that the new owner is not able to make utility payments, since he does not have a utility account, and he receives refusals to open one. In addition to the requirement to open an account, you must definitely express a desire to exclude the debts of the previous owners from the payment documentation.
The chances of winning such a case are very high, which is confirmed by domestic judicial practice. As a rule, claims of new property owners against utility companies or management organizations that refuse to provide a new account and demand payment of debts of previous owners are satisfied without problems.
There are certain nuances in cases where utility services have already applied some kind of sanctions. For example, if the electricity in an apartment is turned off for non-payment, the account may be reissued, but the light will be connected only after the previous owner pays off the debt.
Where are property rights registered?
Let's assume that the transaction for the purchase of housing has been completed. What to do next? After purchasing an apartment, as we have already said, you will have to register the property in your name. The sooner a person does this, the better.
Registration of property rights is carried out through:
- cadastral chambers;
- Rosreestry;
- multifunctional centers.
You can submit an application for registration of an apartment using State Services or the official website of Rosreestr. These are not the most popular techniques, so we will not focus on them.
Splitting the bill in an apartment: everyone pays for themselves
If the housing is registered to several owners, financial utility bills can be divided, if necessary, after which each of the owners will receive a personal receipt and, accordingly, will be able to pay for their part of the services. True, debts that arose before such a division will remain with the person who was previously identified as the responsible person. Of course, it is better to immediately separate bills after purchasing living space, if there is such a need.
However, it cannot be said that the division of accounts is possible in absolutely all cases. An important condition is the availability of isolated rooms that are exactly suitable for living. It is necessary that the area of such premises corresponds to the share of the owner initiating the division. In addition, it is worth remembering that only a legally capable person who has reached the age of majority can receive a separate account, and it must be registered in this living space.
How many accounts can be opened?
Most often, a utility consumer has one account number, which is provided to him by the management company. However, each locality has its own rules. Since services are provided by different organizations, each of them can open their own personal account. Of course, the consumer is responsible to each of these structures for timely payment for services. If new owners install meters in apartments, these devices must be registered with resource suppliers.
It happens that companies are reorganized, change structure and subordination, or even liquidate. In these cases, consumers receive new personal accounts along with appropriate notification. In these cases, the re-conclusion of the contract is initiated by the organization itself.
Modern realities: services you can’t do without
It is necessary to immediately provide your home with such benefits of modern civilization as the Internet and digital television. In addition, in most cases, the quality of drinking water, unfortunately, leaves much to be desired, so you need to take care of this too.
Internet provider, digital television
Currently, few people would agree to live in an apartment without Internet access and without the usual television channels. Typically, the territory where the apartment is located is served by several Internet providers, which, most often, also double as digital TV providers. To choose one of them, you just need to find out which companies serve your area, compare prices for their services and read user reviews. After this, you can enter into an agreement and connect to the Internet and continue watching your favorite programs on TV.
Drinking water delivery
The water flowing from water taps is usually not very well purified and is contaminated with various sediments, so for cooking and drinking it is better to order water delivery. But in some cases, you can get by with household filtration systems, and in order to understand how safe and drinkable the tap water is, you can order a water examination. Until the results are obtained, it is better not to take risks and use imported water. Read online reviews about suppliers and immediately sign a long-term cooperation agreement; it will be much cheaper than one-time orders.
Debts “by agreement”
Often, the buyer and seller decide among themselves at the stage of agreeing on the transaction about how to deal with utility debts. In many cases, the future owner agrees to pay off the debts of his predecessor. According to the rules, the approval for the transfer of debts must be given by the creditors themselves, who must be notified about this, even if a clause on the procedure for paying overdue utility bills is included in the purchase and sale agreement. This is important for people who are selling an apartment with debts. They can be sure that the amounts will not be forcibly collected from them only if they have the written consent of the creditors that the debt will be paid by the new owner.
We care about safety: insurance, alarm
When you have already taken the main steps to decorate your living space, it is worth focusing on measures that will allow you to feel confident
in the event of troubles
that may well occur. It is not necessary to enter into these agreements, but it is necessary to consider an option to secure your home and make your stay more comfortable.
Insurance
Various incidents happen in life, for example, there will be careless neighbors upstairs who can accidentally flood you. In rare cases, you can calmly agree on reimbursement of the cost of repairs; often it all ends in a scandal and refusal to pay. An insurance contract will not only protect you from such situations, but will also help in more severe cases (fire, earthquake, etc.)
, so it is better to immediately conclude such an agreement. Insurance premiums are not an expense you should skimp on.
By the way, you can insure your home against intruders, as well as civil liability.
The latter sometimes turns out to be very useful, for example, if it is not you who are flooded, but you flood your neighbors below, or if a fire occurs in your apartment, which will cause a major fire. Without such insurance, you will face very serious expenses in the listed cases.
Security alarm
Everyone someday goes on vacation, and then begins to worry that the apartment is left unattended. To minimize the risk of being robbed, install an alarm in your apartment. According to statistics, installed alarm sensors deter thieves in 85% of cases. Actually, such a measure is quite effective if the apartment is empty from morning to evening, while everyone is at work.
