Freezing once again in their apartment, our citizens are wondering: where to file a complaint against the housing and communal services regarding the growing amounts in utility bills, cold radiators and uncleaned entrances? However, anger and dissatisfaction are gradually giving way to apathy, since only a few know where exactly to file a complaint and how to prepare it. In fact, it is not difficult to write and correctly submit a complaint about violations in the work of the organization responsible for the condition of your home.
- Secret advice
Complaints about fire safety violations should be written to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
The appeal should be addressed to the department of supervisory activities located on the territory of the municipality (district, city). It’s also easier to type into a search engine “Departments of supervisory activities of such and such a region” than to poke around on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
To send a complaint via the Internet, you can use the form for sending complaints on the Ministry of Emergency Situations portal. You need to select and go through authorization through the Unified Identification and Authorization System, and then among the recipients, select the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for your region. If you select the “without authorization” option, the check will most likely not be carried out.
Other regulatory authorities.
Less often, a complaint has to be written to other bodies: - Rosprirodnadzor (if the violations are related to environmental protection); — Regional Office of Roskomnadzor (for violations in the field of personal data protection); - police (for committing crimes); — local administration (if the violation is related to the municipal housing stock).
The period for consideration of complaints regarding housing and communal services by regulatory (supervisory) authorities : 3 days for registration + 30 days for consideration. They may extend it for another month, but they must notify you about it. If the complaint was received in the wrong place, you must redirect it yourself within 7 days, of which you will also receive a notification.
The complaint must be accompanied by correspondence with the management organization, justifying why it is wrong, but not too long - 1 - 2 pages.
Samples of some complaints regarding housing and communal services to local authorities can be viewed on the DomOnline website.
How quickly should the accident be resolved?
As can be seen from the list above, if the air temperature is 12 °C and above, the problem must be solved within 16 hours; if the temperature is from 12 to 10 °C, then in 8 hours; and 4 hours in advance if the thermometer drops below 10 °C.
If you encounter interruptions in heating, then you must recalculate the payment for the corresponding period. For each hour of deviation of the air temperature in a residential premises over the permissible duration in total during the billing period in which the specified deviation occurred, the amount of payment for utility services for such billing period is reduced by 0.15% of the fee determined for such billing period.
☒ Complaints to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation or the President of the Russian Federation
The method is common, but in fact it is not very good, since usually these complaints are simply sent to other authorities, including going down to the same local prosecutor’s office and not always with control. In other words, often the prosecutor's office treats it as a very ordinary complaint. But if you really want to, then who will forbid it: on the website of the President of the Russian Federation there is a form for sending an electronic appeal.
If an ordinary complaint to the prosecutor’s office did not help, but after contacting the reception office of the President of the Russian Federation, life became incredibly better, then this is most likely a coincidence. For example, on the first complaint, the prosecutor made a proposal to eliminate violations of the law or redirected the appeal to the housing inspectorate to take response measures. The applicant considered the answer about this an unsubscribe and complained to the President of the Russian Federation. By the time the second complaint came down to earth, the management organization had already eliminated the violations on the proposal of the prosecutor or on the instructions of the State Housing Inspectorate. That is, the point is not at all about some magical properties of complaints addressed to the President of the Russian Federation. The assistant handling complaints could also simply be replaced by a more conscientious one. There is no magic here either, just regular staff turnover.
It is necessary to differentiate responsibility under Art. Art. 7.23.3 and 14.1.3 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation
The Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation formulated its position, answering the question about the differentiation of administrative offenses when bringing a management organization to administrative responsibility (approved by the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on June 5, 2021).
The court indicated that when bringing the administrative authority to administrative responsibility for failure to consider or violation of the procedure for considering applications, appeals from owners and users of premises in an apartment building, it is necessary to distinguish between the elements of administrative offenses under Part 1 of Art. 7.23.3 and part 2 of Art. 14.1.3 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Part 1 art. 7.23.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation provides for liability for violation of the rules for carrying out business activities related to the management of apartment buildings. For officials, this is an administrative fine of 50,000 to 100,000 rubles or disqualification for up to 3 years. For legal entities - a fine from 150,000 to 250,000 rubles.
According to Part 2 of Art. 14.1.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation punishes for managing apartment buildings in violation of licensing requirements. Officials face a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 rubles or disqualification for up to 3 years, legal entities face a fine of 250,000 to 300,000 rubles.
If the management organization does not respond in time to the request of the residents of the house for a register of owners for the general meeting, then it violates the licensing requirements. For this, she can be held accountable under Part 2 of Art. 14.1.3 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
If the MA does not respond to other messages from residents of an apartment building, its actions must be qualified under Part 1 of Art. 7.23.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, that is, as a violation of Rule No. 416.
Should the management company respond to requests from owners within 30 days?
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✔ Some issues can only be resolved in court.
For example, invalidation of the decision of the general meeting, eviction from the premises. Many issues are more effectively resolved not through complaints, but through the courts. This is especially true for the protection of consumer rights, since owners can expect to receive a consumer fine, and sometimes moral damages. Therefore, if you are 100% confident that you are right, then it is better not to waste time and nerves on correspondence with the authorities, but to contact a lawyer and then go to court - immediately after receiving the response from the management company.
✔ Other useful site materials about citizens’ appeals are collected on a separate page of the Housing and Public Utilities News website.
It should be
After turning on the heating, some time must pass (up to five days) for the system to operate at full capacity. If hydraulic parameters (pressure) are not observed, overload and failure will occur. Therefore, if your house has already begun to be heated, but your radiators continue to remain cold, do not rush to worry and complain, some time must pass. The reasons for cold radiators in an apartment can be different.
If more than five days have passed, or the heating has been turned on in the whole house, but not in your apartment, then some kind of failure has occurred. In this case, it is already necessary to involve utility services. If it is very hot in the apartment during the heating season, this is also a reason to contact a specialist.
Where to appeal?
If the management company acts unlawfully, violates the terms of the apartment management agreement, ignores claims or refuses demands, it is necessary to write a complaint to the regulatory government authorities. This document is drawn up similarly to an application to the Criminal Code, but additionally contains information about violations committed by the Criminal Code. For complaints to government bodies, a single review period has been established: 30 calendar days.
You can read more about a complaint against a management company or housing and communal services in our article.
Rospotrebnadzor
The provision of housing and communal services is subject to legislation on the protection of consumer rights. Therefore, you can file a complaint against the Criminal Code with Rospotrebnadzor. This body verifies the circumstances stated in the complaint. If violations are detected, he can issue an order to the organization to eliminate them.
Examples of circumstances that give rise to contacting Rospotrebnadzor:
- the MKD management agreement contains conditions that violate consumer protection laws;
- The management company provides false information about the services provided;
- unjustified changes in tariffs by the management company.
You can call the department, come to a personal appointment, or send a complaint to the Criminal Code by mail. The telephone number and address of the regional office of Rospotrebnadzor can be found on the website ХХ.rospotrebnadzor.ru, where ХХ is the region number, for example, 22.rospotrebnadzor.ru. On the same website you can leave a request electronically (authorization through State Services will be required).
Sample complaint:
Sample complaint
State Housing Inspectorate (GZHI)
The responsibilities of the GZHI include monitoring compliance with housing legislation, in particular ensuring the rights of citizens when providing them with housing and utility services. Therefore, it is advisable for GZHI to file a claim with the management company for maintaining the house. This body is unlikely to help in financial disputes with the management company.
Contacts of the regional inspection can be found on the official website of the head of the region. For example, contacts of the State Property Committee of Moscow can be found here. You can submit a complaint in person, through an electronic reception, by mail or through the GIS Housing and Communal Services service.
Sample complaint:
Sample application
Prosecutor's office
It is most advisable to contact this authority in case of controversial financial issues (illegal charges, etc.) and in other cases of gross violation of current Russian legislation (refusal to issue documentation or failure to provide information, etc.).
You should write a written appeal to the prosecutor's office and send it by mail or take it personally to the prosecutor at your place of residence. You can find the nearest prosecutor's office using the Prosecutor General's Office website.
If the water utility’s offense is not criminal in nature, you can write to the online reception of the prosecutor’s office.
Sample application:
Sample application
Court
As a rule, control authorities, if necessary, initiate recourse to court. However, if this does not happen, the violated rights are not restored, and the losses are not compensated, you can go to court yourself. To do this, you need to draw up a statement of claim based on a previously drawn up appeal.
It should be noted that, depending on the situation, the following requirements arising from the Law “On Protection of Consumer Rights” can be additionally included in the claim:
- on the payment of a penalty in the amount of three percent of the price of the service for each day of delay and its calculation (Article 28 of the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”);
- on the payment of interest for the use of other people's funds in accordance with Art. 395 Civil Code of the Russian Federation;
- on reimbursement of legal expenses if the plaintiff applied for paid legal assistance;
- on compensation for moral damage. The court may award monetary damages to compensate the plaintiff for his emotional distress.
Important! These requirements can only be presented if there is a pre-trial claim to the management company.
In addition, when satisfying the plaintiff’s property claims, the court also orders a fine from the executor in the amount of 50% of the claim price for untimely fulfillment of the consumer’s requirements.
The state fee for going to court in cases of consumer rights protection is not paid. If an application of a non-property nature is submitted (for example, about providing false information), a state fee of 300 rubles is paid.
The statement of claim can be submitted to the court in person or sent by mail.
Sample claim:
Sample claim
