Where to complain about the lack of heating in the apartment

If the quality of utility services is violated, a heating claim is filed. The climate of our country requires an obligation to ensure uninterrupted supply of heat to homes during the winter (depending on the outside temperature). And this responsibility is assigned to management companies (housing maintenance services, homeowners’ associations, etc.). Violation of the quality of a utility service such as heating, incorrect calculation of prices, etc. are grounds for filing a heating claim.

The provision of utility services is carried out by specially authorized organizations. They are the recipient of the claim. Particular attention should be paid to the fact of certifying the fact that the quality of the space heating services provided is inadequate. Before filing a claim, it makes sense to apply in person or by telephone to receive information about the reasons for the provision of services of such quality (employees of the operating organization are required to register the fact of the request).

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Heating claim

What the law says

Let's figure out what parameters the heating in the apartment should meet.

Regulatory Requirements

According to the Rules for the provision of public utilities, the heating period must begin if for 5 consecutive days the average daily air temperature outside is less than 8 °C.

At the same time, the air temperature in residential premises should be within 18-24 °C. At night (from 0.00 to 5.00 hours) the temperature is allowed to decrease below the minimum set values ​​by 3 °C.

The maximum permissible deviations from this standard have also been established:

If there are violations of these values, the owner of the premises has the right to demand a reduction in the utility fee by 0.15% for each hour of exceeding the permissible duration of the heating interruption.

Who is responsible

Depending on where the cause of the heating outages occurred, responsibility for cold batteries will be borne by:

• owner - within his apartment. So, if you installed weak batteries or the windows in the apartment let out heat, no one but you will be held responsible;
• Housing office (UK, HOA) - outside the apartment, but within the communal networks of the house;
• resource supply organization - outside the home.

Who is responsible for proper heating supply to the apartment?

First of all, if it is cold in the apartment, we contact the management company that maintains the house. She is obliged to record the fact of poor-quality services provided and eliminate violations. The Rules for the Provision of Utilities, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 6, 2011 No. 354 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules), will help convince the management company of this.

You must contact the management company exactly as described in Chapter X of the Rules:

• Notify utility workers in writing or orally about the low temperature in the apartment. It will be necessary to indicate the address of the housing, and also remember the details of the employee who accepted the application, the time and registration number of the application.
• Agree on a time for the inspection.
• After the inspection, sign the act, 1 copy of which you keep for yourself.

IMPORTANT!
The heating service will be considered to be of poor quality if the temperature in the apartment is below 18 °C, and in the corner rooms - below 20 °C. For some areas where the average outdoor temperature does not rise above -31 °C, these figures are increased by 2 degrees accordingly.

What to do if it's cold at home

If you are freezing at home, you need to act in the following order:

1. Record the low temperature in the living room. To do this, you need to call the emergency dispatch service of the management company or homeowners association and report the problem. Utility service employees are required to come and verify such a complaint within 2 hours of its receipt. After measuring temperatures, an act on the provision of heat supply services of inadequate quality is drawn up. It is from the time recorded in this act that the time of disruption of the heating supply will be counted. If no one from the management company comes to the call, you can call the neighbors and the person in charge to record the temperature and draw up a report. It is important to follow the rules for measuring temperatures: close all windows before measuring, measure the temperature in the middle of a large room, a meter from the floor. You can also try contacting the emergency dispatch service at the GZHI.
2. Find out who is responsible for the lack of heating. The management company should have such information. If the problem lies in the improper condition of the heating networks of the house, it must be eliminated by the management company. If an accident occurs in heating networks outside the home, you need to call your resource supply organization. When making a call, it is better to turn on the audio recording of the conversation. If the reason for the lack of heating is an accident in the heating networks, you must be told about this, and also be given a time frame for eliminating the problem.
3. Where to go if there is still no heating.
   In this case, you need to complain to the competent government agencies:
   • to the housing inspection;

   to the municipal administration;

4. to Rospotrebnadzor;
5. to the Federal Antimonopoly Service;
6. to the Prosecutor's Office.

We will tell you more about how to make a complaint and send it to the specified structures below.

How and where to complain about the management company or housing and communal services? Step-by-step instruction

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Where to go for heating in an apartment

Let's consider how and where you can contact us regarding the lack of heating in your apartment.

Solving the heating problem does not require delay, so we advise you to contact all possible authorities immediately in order to achieve the fastest response from the authorities. Publicity in the media will also help speed up the solution to the problem.

Where to complain about the lack of heating in Moscow

For Muscovites, the same procedure for filing complaints about poor-quality utility services applies as in other regions. Let's look at which authorities in the capital accept complaints about heating, as well as what services exist for filing complaints:

• Department of Housing and Communal Services of Moscow. You can promptly report a heating problem by calling: +. You can also write to the department through the electronic reception desk.
• PJSC "MOEK" is an energy company that supplies heat to Moscow residents. The organization's emergency dispatch service can be contacted by phone: +.
• Moszhilinspektsiya. You can file a complaint about poor-quality utility services to the territorial division of your district or through the electronic reception.
• Through the Moscow State Services mobile application.
• On the portal "Our City".

Who can I complain to about the inaction of utility companies?

After the fact of low temperature in the apartment has been confirmed and it has been established that this is not the consumer’s fault, the management company must take measures to eliminate the violations. However, in practice, utility companies may delay solving this problem (for example, it is more profitable for them to make a small recalculation to the consumer than to carry out expensive repairs).

An owner who disagrees with such inaction can file a complaint with higher authorities:

• State housing inspection.
• Rospotrebnadzor.
• District (city) administration.
• The prosecutor's office.

Each of the above government agencies will be obliged to respond to a citizen’s appeal, conduct an inspection, and if the results of the inspection confirm the consumer’s complaint, issue an order to the person responsible for violating the quality of heating with a requirement to eliminate it.

NOTE!
If the management company is found to be guilty of providing poor-quality heat supply, it may be held liable under Art. 7.23 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

How to file a complaint

In order for a complaint to be considered and accepted for verification, it must be compiled correctly.
Heating problems, as a rule, arise not in one apartment, but in the entire house or even a residential complex. Therefore, it is better to file a collective complaint about heating, which has greater weight in consideration. We have already written about how to correctly draw up a collective complaint here.

The law establishes the following requirements for written applications to government agencies:

• the name of the authority to which the complaint is being sent must be indicated;
• The full name and return address of the applicant (postal or electronic) must be indicated: anonymous complaints are not considered by the authorities;
• the essence of the complaint is stated in clear language, with justification and evidence. In particular, it is better to provide the following information:
• address of a residential premises in which there is no heating;
• date of heating limitation or shutdown;
• when the applicant contacted the emergency dispatch service, was a report drawn up;
• who services heating networks and supplies heat;
• where else did the applicant apply;
• what rules of law were violated;
• The applicant must personally sign and date it.

All documents referred to by the applicant in the text are attached to the complaint:

• act on measuring temperatures in residential premises;
• copies of claims, complaints and other appeals on this issue, as well as responses to them.

Sample complaint

Reasons for providing services of inadequate quality

Why is the normal temperature in the apartment not maintained? Will anything change if we periodically repair individual sections of the heating system? Where does the heat go? Most of the houses were built many years ago. The batteries were installed at the same time. By what principle do radiators produce heat? Hot water passes through them, which heats the batteries, and they, in turn, share it with the living space. Water contains various substances (including chemical salts). They gradually fill the system, settling inside the radiator batteries. Accordingly, the volume of hot water in the system decreases, and the batteries give off less and less heat. As a result, the apartment becomes cold and statements, complaints and claims begin to fly to the management company, housing office, housing and communal services, housing department, Rospotrebnadzor and the prosecutor's office. And here the question arises, who should replace the radiators? Can the owner count on the provision of such services from the housing and communal services or housing office? Is it possible to repair the heating system yourself? Of course, no one will buy you radiators and install them in your apartment at the expense of housing and communal services. Unless, of course, these items are specified in the house maintenance contract and money was not collected for such needs.

You need to know that if you decide to replace the heating system in your apartment, you must obtain permission. The fact is that if you add the number of batteries in the radiator, the volume of water in the system will increase, and accordingly you will be warmer. But at the same time, the temperature of the living quarters next to your apartment will decrease.

They will begin to figure out where the heat is going from their home. They will write claims and complaints to the management company, housing office and housing and communal services. An independent examination will be carried out and it will be discovered that the problem is not the provision of services of inadequate quality, but your initiative. The owner, and in the case of tenants, the landlord, will be fined and forced to return everything to its original condition.

How to get money back for bad heating

If during the heating season the temperature in the room does not meet the established standards, the owner of the premises has the right to demand a reduction in the payment for the current period by 0.15% for each hour of absence of normal heating. In other words, in this case you can demand recalculation for heating. This right can be exercised only after a violation has been detected.

For example, if the heating was turned off on October 1, and the temperature measurement report was drawn up only on October 3, the right to recalculate the cost of heating arises only from October 3.

It would seem that 0.15% is very little. But this is not so: let's look at it with an example.

Let's say the heating season began on October 1, and the heating was turned on only on October 21, i.e. The delay in providing the service was 20 days. The fee reduction is calculated for each hour of delay, i.e. for a day without heating, the fee should be reduced by:

0.15% x 24 = 3.6%.

Thus, for 20 days of delay, the payment for October should be reduced by 3.6% x 20 = 72%. Those. in fact, the heat energy consumer does not have to pay for the period when the heating service was provided improperly.

The heat supplier is required to make the recalculation. If he refuses to do this voluntarily, he will have to go to court.

Grounds for appeal

The reason for contacting regulatory authorities may be one of the following:

• The heating season has already started, but the radiators are still cold;
• The heating was suddenly turned off and was not connected for a long time;
• There is heating, but it is too weak;

Information

By law, during the operation of heating systems, the room temperature should not be lower than eighteen degrees.

• The heating is unstable, the radiators are either hot, then warm, or completely cold.

Do I need to sue utility companies because of poor heating?

You need to go to court when utility workers voluntarily do not comply with the requirements of the owner of the residential premises. So, in a statement of claim you can demand:

• restore heating to the required volume;
• compensate for damage caused to residential premises. For example, due to prolonged low temperatures, fungus appeared on the walls of the apartment, which required repairs;
• a fine for failure to comply with consumer requirements in the amount of 50% of the amount satisfied by the court;
• compensation for moral damage.

A statement of claim can be drawn up and filed in order to protect consumer rights. You can read about how to do this here.

How to write a complaint and submit it to the regulatory authority

The law does not establish requirements for the content of a complaint, so it can be written in any form. Meanwhile, it is recommended to adhere to certain rules and, when preparing a complaint, indicate in it:

• name of the body to which it is addressed;
• Full name, consumer address;
• information about the management company servicing the house;
• the essence of the violation (indicate that a violation of heating standards has been identified, but the Criminal Code does not take action);
• consumer demand (elimination of violations of the law, bringing perpetrators to justice, etc.);
• other information.

Once the complaint is ready, it can be sent to the territorial supervisory authority either by applying independently or by mail.

NOTE!
Each government agency has its own Internet reception on its official website. Filing a complaint electronically will significantly reduce the time it takes to consider a citizen’s appeal.

Source of the article: https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5a9fb816256d5c0a078564e5/v-kvartire-holodno-kak-i-kuda-jalovatsia-zimoi-5bfe9894b9757c00aaa828cf

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).