Who should change the heating batteries in the apartment: Housing Office or the owner

The issue of replacing batteries after the start of the heating season sometimes arises very acutely. Radiators in old houses are often in poor condition, and local services are in no hurry to carry out major repairs to the heating system. We will try to give answers to the most common questions and find out who should change old batteries in a privatized apartment.

If the radiator leaks, who is legally required to replace it? At whose expense is the installation and purchase of new equipment carried out?
If you want to install a more modern heating system in an apartment after privatization, who should do this? Do I need special permission for this?
Who is responsible for a leak if the neighbors are flooded with water?

To answer these questions, you need to study Russian legislation and understand the legal aspects.

Heating radiators - public or private property?

It is possible to understand who should be responsible for replacing faulty heating devices in a privatized apartment only by establishing whose ownership they are. By Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 491 in August 2006, rules were adopted regulating the composition of common property in an apartment building. According to paragraph 6 of these rules, such property includes a heating system located inside the house. It includes:

risers;
valves (regulating and shut-off);
heating elements (radiators);
general house heat energy meters;
other types of equipment that are part of heating networks.

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Unfortunately, when situations arise regarding the replacement of heating devices in apartments, both parties interpret these rules in their own interests. Homeowners believe that since the heating system belongs to common property, then the replacement of faulty equipment should be handled by the house management organization. Housing office workers, in turn, argue that common property includes only risers and radiators that pass through several residential premises, for example those installed on staircases. When contacting utility services, residents often hear that malfunctions of all pipes and radiators located within their apartment are the problem of its owners.

Who should change risers in a privatized apartment

It is worth remembering that in addition to the right of ownership, there is also the so-called owner’s burden, which consists of the need to maintain one’s property in good condition and pay for its maintenance.

water;
sewerage;
gas;
other benefits of civilization.

And here the question arises: who is the owner of those pipes and their branches that are no longer located inside each private apartment, but connect it with utilities that supply water, heat and light to the building itself?

They, as it turns out, relate to common property belonging to all owners.

Who is right: the residents or the housing office?

Due to frequent appeals to the court and the Housing and Communal Services Department, in 2007 the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation clarified the situation and reported that heating elements located in private apartments are part of the common property of the house.

It follows from this that if, due to a high degree of wear and tear or as a result of an accident, the battery leaks, it must be replaced by an organization that receives monthly money from residents in the form of contributions for major repairs and is responsible for the maintenance and servicing of home property.

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Management organizations are not interested in bringing this information to the attention of apartment owners, so residents are still forced to pay for the dismantling and installation of a new heating device, which, among other things, must be purchased independently.

Drawing up and filing a claim with a judicial authority

The statement of claim to the court is written strictly taking into account the rules described in Article 131 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. At the top, in the right corner, is the header of the document.

Important! It must contain the following information:

name of the judicial authority;
information about the judge, if available;
information about the applicant: his full name, registration address, residence, as well as contact phone number;
information about the defendant, that is, the management company (its name, full name of the director, legal address and location of the organization).

To submit an application, you should find out information about the magistrate in your area. Of course, the application will be accepted without its data, but a correctly drafted claim has a better chance of being satisfied.

You can view the information on the website of the judicial authority, by contacting the office in person or by calling a local telephone number.

Repair and replacement of a leaking battery

We found out that the heating system is part of the common property of an apartment building and also includes radiators located in the apartments. It follows from this that, regardless of whether the area is privatized or is municipal property, the management organization, HOA or housing cooperative is obliged to repair or replace the battery, which is in disrepair . In this case, no additional payment is taken from the homeowner.

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In other words, if the battery is leaking, you need to call a house service technician, and he will replace the failed heating device free of charge.

In practice, things are not so simple. Housing office workers may claim that they do not have a replacement battery, so they will repair the old one or, even worse, remove the radiator, install plugs and ask you to wait. Since this wait can last for months, the apartment owner is simply forced to buy new equipment on his own, because no one wants to freeze in winter without heating.

There are cases when residents, without waiting for a replacement, purchase a radiator at their own expense and hope that DUK will pay them compensation. You definitely shouldn’t count on this, since even judicial practice says that the house management organization is not obliged to do this.

conclusions

Replacing batteries in an apartment is a troublesome undertaking, which, depending on the reasons, may be the responsibility of the owner, tenant or service company. The legislation of the Russian Federation helps determine in what case and who is obliged to carry out work and finance it.

Lawyer. Member of the Bar Association of St. Petersburg. More than 10 years of experience. Graduated from St. Petersburg State University. I specialize in civil, family, housing, and land law.

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Replacement approval

The first thing you need to do to avoid unpleasant consequences in the future is to coordinate your actions.

When replacing radiators with similar ones, it is enough to simply notify the management organization about the upcoming work.
When replacing batteries with a different type, which includes the possibility of different configuration and increasing the heating area, you need to contact a specialist to conduct an examination to determine the possibility of installing new batteries. This is necessary because sometimes installing other radiators has a negative impact on the heat balance of the house. The examination is paid and is carried out at the expense of the apartment owner.
When moving heating equipment, an examination is also required.

Important! Sometimes changing the configuration of heating devices and increasing their number is perceived as re-equipping the premises with amendments to the apartment’s registration certificate. In fact, replacing the battery is not reflected in any way in the technical data sheet, since it only indicates the type of heat source without specifying specific heating devices.

Expert opinion

Anton Tsugunov

Construction expert. Entrepreneur. 17 years of experience. More than 100 completed objects.

The procedure for approving the replacement of heating radiators:

Contacting the management company (MC, HOA, etc.) with a notification that it is planned to replace the batteries. In response to such an appeal, the management company is obliged to issue technical specifications (TS) with a detailed description of the requirements for radiators and the method of their installation.
Contact a design organization, which, based on the specifications, will make a design with calculations of the sections of radiators to be installed.
With the received project, you can contact the management company again. It is necessary to write a free-form application for replacement of batteries, attach to it: documents on ownership of the apartment, a copy of the technical passport for the apartment with a note on the replacement of radiators, a prepared project and a technical passport for the new radiator (if it has already been purchased).
If it is planned to replace the radiators by a third-party organization (not the management company), then a copy of the registration certificate of this organization in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, as well as a copy of the certificate of membership in the SRO should also be attached to the application.
Such an application will be considered within 30 days. After which the management company must issue written approval for the replacement of heating radiators.
After receiving the approval document, you can schedule the date for replacing the batteries. To do this, you will have to contact the management company again with an application to turn off the risers and water discharge for a specific day of work.

Who should be responsible for replacing heating equipment?

The apartment owner can choose one of three options.

Independent replacement of radiators (everywhere batteries are changed by hand, but membership in an SRO is required by law).
Contacting third-party specialists (must be members of the SRO).
Call a technician from a service organization.

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Despite the fact that employees of a private company can perform better installation of new equipment, knowledgeable people recommend calling a local specialist. This is so that in case of possible problems in the future, you will know who to contact. If an accident occurs, you will not be held responsible for poor installation of equipment that caused damage to the property of other residents.

Main features of the process

During operation, batteries wear out and require replacement for better operation of the heating system.
But radiators, as common property, are to be replaced in the apartment at whose expense. The management company may not consider such work necessary, and by law, the ability to independently repair common property is limited. How to change the heating in this case?

ATTENTION! If you need to change the heating elements in your apartment yourself or equip it with improved batteries, this can only be done with the consent of all owners of the apartment building.

Now apartment owners are carrying out large-scale work to improve their homes, changing the layout, location of the plumbing and heating systems in the room.

Installation of new radiators without the consent of the remaining residents of a multi-story building is considered arbitrariness. The violator may even be held accountable, especially if the heating operation is disrupted or its quality has decreased.

In the event of a leak in a pipe or battery, the replacement is mandatory by the management company . Also, at the expense of the management company, the heating system is modernized if its service life has expired.

Responsibility in an emergency

If a leaking radiator or heating pipe in an apartment floods the residents from below, the authorized organization must be responsible for the consequences if it is determined that the owner is not at fault.

Real proceedings await those who unauthorizedly changed the radiators in their apartment without approval from the relevant organization. Even if the leak was not the fault of the tenant and is not related to the installation of new equipment, utility services can make the apartment owner guilty of what happened.

In addition, even if the installation of new batteries was agreed upon, but was carried out by craftsmen not from the management company, the owner will also have to be responsible for the consequences.

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The management company refuses to change the batteries. What should I do?

Despite existing legislation and obstacles to replacing batteries yourself without contacting the housing office, dismantling old radiators and installing new radiators on your own is much easier than waiting for these actions from the management organization. When refusing to replace heating appliances, housing office representatives rely on the concept of “balance sheet delineation” of property belonging to the owners and the entire house. According to it, the tenant himself repairs and maintains heating appliances in his personal apartment. But no one can, at will, change the composition of the property belonging to the common house.

Replacing batteries

Remember! The existing contradictory points in the law do not invalidate the main provision that classifies radiators in apartments as common property of the house.

And if the emergency radiators in your home require replacement and do not have shut-off devices, you need to contact the Housing Office and the management company with a request. If you refuse the above actions, you can write an official letter to the organization servicing the house, where you outline the situation and demand replacement of the batteries. And then, having studied housing legislation, file an application with the court to force the battery to be replaced.

Cast iron

Good old cast iron radiators continue to be popular. If such batteries were installed in the house and it was decided to replace them with new devices made of the same material, then you will not have to spend money and time on conducting an examination before installation.

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Advantages of cast iron batteries:

durability and reliability;
resistance to corrosion;
resistance to hydraulic shocks.

Flaws:

heavy weight;
limited design.

Cost of work

The cost of battery replacement services varies from 2 to 5 thousand rubles. The price does not include the cost of the radiators themselves, but additional services are included, such as garbage removal. Some individuals are eligible to take advantage of benefits.

These include:

families with three or more children;
disabled people of the second and first groups, persons raising disabled children;
pensioners, labor veterans, WWII, home front workers.

Please note! It is difficult to obtain benefits for such services. There is a lot of paperwork to collect. In addition, contractors do not want to perform work at a reduced cost, so they do not comply with laws regarding the provision of benefits.

If the replacement is made by an employee of the management company, then the owner who falls under the category of beneficiaries has the right to receive a discount in any case. Failure to provide it is a violation.