Pravozhil.com > Housing and communal services issues > Utilities > Housing and communal services problems > Protecting your interests - how to correctly write a complaint about housing and communal services, a sample complaint against the activities of the management company
Owners living in apartment buildings are often dissatisfied with housing services and the work of the service company. To protect your interests, you should not remain silent. Let's look at how to correctly write a complaint about housing and communal services, a sample of filling out claims depending on the situation.
When is it necessary and when is it not worth going there?
The Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation is a law enforcement agency.
The main task of the employees of this structure is to oversee the implementation of legislation.
Citizens who own premises in an apartment building can send a complaint to the prosecutor's office against their management organization, but only if they have the following grounds:
- the management organization embezzles funds and spends them unlawfully;
- the management organization carries out unlawful actions or fails to act in relation to its responsibilities to residents. The inaction of the management organization is expressed in failure to comply with the legal requirements specified in Gosstroy Resolution 170, as well as Article 161 of the Housing Code.
Before filing a complaint against an HOA using the traditional method or through the website, you must file a complaint with your management company. And if it is not fulfilled or ignored, you can safely complain to Rospotrebnadzor, the court, or the housing inspection.
Who has the right to complain?
The management organization concludes an agreement for the maintenance of the house at a general building meeting with none other than the residents of the building. Consequently, being a party to the agreement and not receiving the services provided for in the document, residents, or more precisely, the owners of an apartment building, have the right to contact a law enforcement agency in order to protect their rights.
If in an apartment building there are not only residential, but also non-residential premises that belong to the right of ownership of any citizens, they also have the right to contact the prosecutor's office in case of violation of their legal rights.
Citizens living in a house under a rental agreement, but who are not the owners, cannot contact the supervisory authority.
Read about where else citizens can complain here.
How to prove the existence of an offense?
When contacting the prosecutor's office, residents must clearly indicate what violations of their rights by the management organization have been recorded.
Of course, not only oral justifications are important, but also other evidence on which the prosecutor’s office could rely when ordering an inspection.
If we are talking about unreasonable waste or misappropriation of funds for the maintenance of housing in an apartment building, then the owners must have documents confirming this.
For example, inflated prices according to estimates, bills for repair work at inflated rates, as well as checks for purchases necessary for the home, which in fact were not made.
However, if citizens are unable to provide documents proving a violation of the law by the management organization, the prosecutor’s office will also take this as evidence.
First of all, proof that the management organization does not have documents on the expenditure of funds.
The evidence can be photographs and video files that would show the true condition of the house, in which repairs were not carried out or were carried out poorly.
The most important evidence of the management organization’s violation of the rights of residents is the contract for the provision of house maintenance services, which was initially concluded with the organization.
By providing it, residents will prove to the law enforcement agency that they had a legal relationship with the management company, and therefore have the right to demand appropriate action.
Sample contract for the provision of house maintenance services.
How to file a class action lawsuit
❱ Preparing to go to court
A claim in defense of a group of persons may not be filed in all cases. One of the conditions for a group of people to go to court is the number of group members. If at least twenty people intend to go to court regarding one dispute, this is the first step towards filing a class action. When determining the number of participants, keep in mind that at the time of filing a claim, someone may refuse to participate in the case. Therefore, it is better to get the consent of more people.
At this stage you should:
- Decide who will go to court on behalf of the group. Please note that the class representative has the right to withdraw from the claim. In this case, the court will suspend the case to find a replacement. Accordingly, it is better to entrust this activity to a person who has enough time and desire to work for several months. Ideally, it is good if the group representative is a lawyer and can handle the case at the proper level. However, a person who goes to court on behalf of a group has the right to entrust the case to a representative. A person who speaks on behalf of a group: - must be a member of this group of persons, except in cases specified in the law; — acts on behalf of a group of persons without a power of attorney on the basis of an application to join the requirement to protect the rights and legitimate interests of a group of persons (Part 6 of Article 244.20).
- Agree whether the group needs a lawyer to handle the case in court. If necessary, conclude an agreement with him on the provision of legal assistance.
- Discuss the issue of legal costs. If it is decided to distribute expenses among group members, you will have to draw up a notarial agreement. Subsequently, if the group loses the case, the court will distribute the costs among its members in accordance with the agreement. If the decision is made in favor of the group of persons, legal costs will also be reimbursed to the group members in accordance with the agreement.
- Specify jurisdiction. If the statement of claim is filed in violation of jurisdiction, it will be returned (subparagraph 2 of paragraph 1 of Article 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation). All claims in defense of a group of persons are filed at the location of the defendant. Even lawsuits in favor of consumers. If the claim is for an amount of up to 50 thousand rubles, you should go to the magistrate’s court. If the value of the claim exceeds the specified amount - to the district (city) court.
❱ Drawing up a statement of claim
The content of a class action must comply with both the general rules specified in Articles 131, 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, and the special requirements established by Articles 244.20, 244.21 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Failure to comply with the requirements for the content of the claim will lead to its leaving without consideration and (or) its return to the applicant.
In particular, a claim on behalf of a group must contain an indication of: ✔ the rights and legitimate interests of the group members in whose defense the claim is brought; ✔ circle of people - members of the group and the grounds for such membership; ✔ last names, first names and patronymics of persons who joined the demand for the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of a group of persons, their place of residence, date and place of birth, place of work or information on state registration as an individual entrepreneur, and if a member of the group is an organization, its name and address; ✔ a person entrusted with conducting a civil case in the interests of a group of persons.
The Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow left without moving, and later returned the statement of claim due to a violation of the requirements specified in Art. Art. 131, 244.21 PC of the Russian Federation. The claim did not indicate: the circle of persons - members of the group; the grounds for such membership; last names, first names and patronymics of persons who joined the demand for the protection of rights and legitimate interests and other mandatory information (case No. 33 - 7498/20). The Moscow City Court, having considered the case on appeal, agreed with the conclusions of the district court and left the ruling unchanged.
To the claim, in addition to the documents specified in Art. 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to attach documents that confirm that citizens have joined the demand for the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of a group of persons, as well as their membership in this group.
Before filing a claim with the court, it must be signed, and a copy of the statement of claim with its attachment sent to the defendant and third parties. The claim should be sent to the court along with a document indicating that a copy of the claim has been served or sent to the defendant and third parties.
The statement of claim must be signed and filed by a member of the class acting on its behalf.
If the documents and the claim are prepared correctly, the court will, within five days, make a decision on preparing the case for consideration.
❱ Preliminary hearing
In the ruling on the preparation of the case, the judge will schedule a preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is held for the court to decide a number of procedural issues: ✔ check whether the citizens who joined the claim meet the requirements specified in the law (Part 1 of Article 244.20 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation); ✔ determined the laws that are subject to application; ✔ clarified the plaintiff’s demands; ✔ determined the composition of the group and the possibility of identifying other persons involved in the dispute and considered other necessary issues.
Before the hearing on the merits of the case begins, the court will set a deadline for the plaintiff to invite other persons in the same group to join the class action. The proposal to join must be published in the media and can be posted on the court’s website or in the Justice system. If this obligation is not fulfilled, the claim will be left without consideration.
If you do not have the information that is necessary to identify other members of the group or there are no addresses to which you can send an offer to join the lawsuit, you can file a petition to request such information.
❱ Motion to join the claim
In an offer to join a group of persons, you must indicate: ✔ details of the defendant and his address; ✔ last name, first name and patronymic or name of the person who is applying to the court; ✔ requirement of a group of persons; ✔ name of the court and case number; ✔ the period during which other members of the group of persons may join the claim for the protection of rights; ✔ method of joining - sending a corresponding application to the person who is conducting the case in the interests of a group of persons, and (or) to the court; ✔ other information specified by the court.
If you violate the requirements that the law imposes for joining a claim, the court will leave the application without progress, and in the future, if the violations are not eliminated, it will return it.
Information about those who joined the claim must be provided to the court before the case is prepared for trial. The accession must be documented.
❱ Joining a claim
Joining is possible not only when preparing a case for trial, but throughout the trial - until the transition to judicial debate. A group member may submit a written application to join to someone who will act on behalf of the group. If he joins after the claim has been accepted, the application must be filed with the court. You can join a class action by submitting a written application to the court. The application can be submitted electronically. A special form for such an application can be found on the official website of the court or in the State Automated Information System “Justice”.
Rights of group members After joining the claim, participants in the process have the right to: ✔ get acquainted with the case materials and copy them; ✔ attend court hearings on the case, including closed ones; ✔ submit a petition to replace the person conducting the case in the interests of the group; ✔ refuse the application to join the claim (Article 244.23 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).
What happens if they don’t want to join the lawsuit ? Some of the citizens whose rights have been violated may not agree to go to court as part of a group of people and go to court on their own. If one of the group members did not join the class action, but went to court on the same dispute individually, the court will explain to the plaintiff the right to join the group. If the plaintiff refuses, the court will suspend proceedings in his case until the decision on the claim in defense of the rights of a group of persons enters into legal force. The decision made by the court will have prejudicial significance for the suspended case and for all similar claims with the same requirements against the same defendant. Prejudice means that the decision will be binding on all courts that hear other disputes between the same persons. In this case, the circumstances already established by the decision will not be verified and proven in court.
❱ Consideration of a class action in court
After preparation for the trial, consideration of the case on its merits follows. The court considers class actions according to the same rules established for the consideration of individual disputes, but with certain exceptions. Thus, the court may terminate the powers of a person conducting a class action case if he refuses to represent the interests of the group.
In addition, a person who represents the interests of a group of persons may be removed by the court from the case at the request of the majority of the group members. In particular, powers can be terminated not only when a person is unable to conduct a case for good reasons (illness, business trip), but also if there are reasonable doubts that he acts in court reasonably and in good faith. The law does not provide for termination of a person’s powers in an individual dispute.
The court may fine the person conducting the case if it finds abuse on his part (Clause 3, Article 244.22 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).
Writing an application
How to correctly write an application (complaint, letter) to the prosecutor's office against a management company (MC, housing and communal services)? Writing a complaint to the prosecutor's office is a very responsible action.
In order for the document to be accepted, and most importantly, considered, you need to take into account all the nuances when drafting.
The document may be handwritten. To do this you need to use black or blue paste.
Handwriting should be as legible and understandable as possible.
It is best to type the application on a computer. However, use a standard font.
Avoid grammatical errors and emotional connotations of words.
The application is written on a sheet of A 4 format. It must be white and clean on all sides.
In the upper right corner it is indicated which city and district prosecutor the document is addressed to. The following is an indication of who exactly the statement is coming from. If this is a group of citizens, then there is no need to list everyone, you just need to sign, the residents of which house drew up the paper (how to write a collective complaint against the housing and communal services or management company?).
The word “statement” is placed in the middle of the line. Next, you must definitely indicate that you have already contacted other authorities to get help solving problems. Most often, people indicate that they filed a complaint with their management organization, but it was left unanswered and ignored.
Next, reveal the essence of your demands and mention where your rights were violated. Use links to legislation for this.
After you have mentioned all violations of your rights, and also given arguments on this issue, you can offer options for resolving the problem.
For example, apply measures of influence on employees of the management organization in order to encourage them to fulfill their duties. Or carry out an inspection to detect the misuse of funds.
Sample of a collective complaint to the prosecutor's office regarding housing and communal services.
Sample complaint about the inaction of the management company to the prosecutor's office.
Sample application to the prosecutor's office for a heating management company.
How to write a complaint to the prosecutor's office about housing and communal services - a sample for increasing fees for repairs.
How to write a complaint to the prosecutor's office against a management company - a sample for ensuring basements against animal entry.
You can read about how to write a complaint to other authorities here.
Attached documents
The following documents may be attached to the application:
- technical passport of the house;
- evidence of illegal spending of funds;
- checks;
- previously filed complaint;
- agreement between the management organization and residents for the provision of services.
The attached documents should be listed in the application.
How to correctly write a complaint about housing and communal services, sample document and common mistakes
As stated earlier, there is no single format for writing a complaint. However, the applicant must adhere to the basic rules in order to avoid mistakes and not increase the period of investigation of the situation:
- The use of obscene or slang language and obscene expressions is prohibited. You should not insult employees, management, or housing and communal services representatives. Complaints with such violations are left without consideration and cannot be included in the future as a pre-trial settlement of the issue.
- The content should be concise and clear. The claim is written to the point, without stretching over several pages. Attention is focused only on essential details supported by documentation. The events that actually happened are described.
- The correct addressee helps speed up the consideration of the complaint.
- Business correspondence must be literate. Punctuation, stylistic and semantic errors should be avoided. Corrections and blots are excluded.
Submitting papers
How to submit an application to the prosecutor's office for housing and communal services? A package of documents is submitted to the prosecutor's office. In return, the employee will issue you a certificate, which allows you to get the papers back upon review. Documents are carefully checked for authenticity and only then handed over to a prosecutor.
If citizens are unable to appear at the prosecutor’s office in person, they can send papers by letter with notification.
Since important documents are being sent, it is necessary to indicate the value of the letter. The clerical staff of the prosecutor's office are required to accept documents submitted in this manner and notify you about this.
Consideration
The procedure for considering a collective complaint is prescribed in Article 10 of Federal Law No. 59 of May 2, 2006. The main points are as follows:
- The public authority (or official) that accepted the collective complaint is obliged to consider it within the period established by law.
- He has the right to request additional documents and materials from other government bodies that will be necessary to consider the submitted application.
- Take measures aimed at protecting and restoring the violated interests, freedoms and rights of citizens.
- When transferring a collective complaint to another authorized government body, it is obliged to notify the applicant about this.
- The response to the collective complaint after its consideration is sent to the address indicated in the appeal (in writing or electronic form).
When and what kind of answer should I expect?
The answer may come in a week or a month. There is no time clearly established by law.
It all depends on the workload of the prosecutor’s office and on the appropriateness of the information that you provided for review.
In any case, re-applying does not make any sense until a response to the first is received. The second application simply will not be considered.
The answer may be positive, and in this case an inspection of the company will be organized for violation of the rights of residents and the law.
If your arguments seem unconvincing or do not meet the requirements for conducting procedural actions, you will be denied inspections.
In the materials on our website you can also find information on how to write an application to the housing inspectorate, Rospotrebnadzor, or how to file a claim in court.
Deadlines
After filing a collective complaint, the period for its consideration will depend on the body that received it. Consideration of a collective complaint:
- the precinct commissioner is three days, but the period can be extended by the authorities to 30 days (according to Article No. 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation);
- by the management company is up to 20 days (based on Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 731 of September 23, 2010);
- by the Housing Inspectorate department is up to 30 days from the date of adoption (based on Federal Law No. 59 of May 2, 2006);
- by the court is up to two months from the date of registration of the complaint as an incoming document (based on Article No. 154 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation).
Based on this, the period for consideration of a collective complaint directly depends on the specifics and competence of the authority to which the appeal was submitted.
