Complaint about lack of hot water (how to file, sample)

From July 1, 2021, the system of control and supervisory activities in Russia began to function according to new rules and with completely new approaches of inspectors of control (supervision) bodies. Accordingly, there are changes in the procedure for pre-trial appeal of decisions/actions/inaction of control (supervisory) bodies and filing a complaint under Law No. 248-FZ from 2021. From this article you will learn how to act and how to correctly file a complaint against inspectors.

Where can I complain about the water utility?

The authority to which the complaint must be filed is determined depending on the reason for the appeal.

1. Management company (MC). This is the first instance where a resident should turn. Appeals are allowed in writing or in the form of a call. After notifying the management company about the presence of problems with the supplied water, a response should be received, in accordance with which actions to resolve the situation begin.
2. City Administration. If the Criminal Code cannot eliminate the deficiency, then the complaint is sent to the city or district administration.
3. Housing inspection. This organization is responsible for maintaining the house in good condition and exercises control over the housing stock.
4. Rospotrebnadzor. The issue with organizations that provide low-quality housing and communal services will be resolved.
5. Government services. Filing a complaint online is only available to those persons who are registered on the government portal. But not all authorities can submit an appeal remotely.
6. Prosecutor's office. An appeal is required only if all previous authorities failed to give the required result.
7. Court. The claim being drawn up must be directed at the organization providing the service.

Deadlines for consideration

After the complaint is sent to the above authorities, there is a certain period for its consideration. According to Federal Law No. 59, a standard deadline has been established for the consideration of complaints against Vodokanal. It is 30 days.

If any investigations are needed, the period may be extended, but the addressee must be notified of this. The period may be extended if the complaint is forwarded to other authorities. Here, after registration, the standard 30-day period also begins to apply.

In all of the above authorities, the period for consideration of a complaint is a month, with the exception of the prosecutor’s office, which considers complaints within 15 days. If a prosecutor's inspection is required, the period will also be 30 days.

Regulation by law

If it is necessary to assert their rights, users of housing and communal services can rely on Federal Law No. 416 and RF PP No. 354, which spell out all the nuances regulating the rules of hot and cold water supply.

Hot water

It follows from regulatory documents that hot water must be supplied constantly. Stopping the hot water supply is allowed only in the following cases:

• accident on the highway (outage duration no more than 24 hours);
• the need to carry out minor work (the duration of continuous shutdown is no more than 4 hours, and per day - no more than 8 hours);
• prevention or carrying out major work on utility networks (outage duration no more than 14 days).

Requirements for a complaint

According to Art. 41 of Law No. 248-FZ, a pre-trial complaint must contain the following mandatory items:

• name of the control (supervisory) body, full name (if any) the official whose decision and/or action (inaction) is being appealed;
• FULL NAME. (if any), place of residence (place of business) of the citizen, or the name of the organization, its location, or details of the power of attorney and full name. (if any) the person filing the complaint by proxy;
• the desired method of interaction during the consideration of the complaint and the desired method of obtaining a decision on it;
• information about the appealed decision, action (inaction) that led or may lead to a violation of the rights of the controlled person;
• grounds and arguments for disagreement with the decision, action (inaction) of an official (you can attach supporting documents or copies thereof, if available);
• the requirements of the complainant;
• registration number of the control (supervisory) activity in the Unified Register of Control (Supervisory) Activities in respect of which the complaint was filed (unless otherwise established by the Government of the Russian Federation).

The complaint must not contain:

• obscene or offensive language;
• threats to the life, health and property of officials of the control (supervisory) body or members of their families.

The following can be attached to the complaint regarding its subject:

• Commissioner under the President of the Russian Federation for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs, his public representative;
• Commissioner for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs in the region.

The person filing the complaint must receive a response to this position within 1 business day from the moment the decision on the complaint is made.

Where to complain about lack of water

Where to go if there is no hot or cold water?

Where to complain if there is no water in the apartment? If there is no water, then it is best to choose the following authorities to contact:

1. Management Company;
2. housing inspection;
3. Rospotrebnadzor;
4. prosecutor's office

An appeal to the prosecutor's office is formalized as a separate case that will need to be considered by law enforcement agencies.

An appeal to the court can be filed after there has been no action from other organizations to protect interests. If the problem was resolved earlier, but the result was material damage, then the resident also has the right to file a claim against the service provider.

Who has the right to appeal?

Issues of appealing decisions of control (supervisory) bodies, actions (inaction) of their officials are regulated by Chapter. 9 of the Federal Law of July 31, 2020 No. 248-FZ “On State Control (Supervision) and Municipal Control in the Russian Federation” (hereinafter referred to as Law No. 248-FZ).

Based on Art. 39 of Law No. 248-FZ, a controlled person (individual, individual entrepreneur or organization) against whom the following have been accepted or committed (Part 4 of Article 40 of Law No. 248-FZ) can file a pre-trial complaint:

• decision to carry out control (supervisory) activities;
• acts of control (supervisory) measures, orders to eliminate identified violations;
• actions (inaction) of officials (inspectors) of the control (supervisory) body within the framework of control (supervisory) activities.

From 2023, an appeal to the court is possible only after a pre-trial procedure. This applies only to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.

But from July 1, 2021, an experiment is being carried out: Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated April 28, 2021 No. 663 approved the list of types of federal state control (supervision), for which a pre-trial appeal procedure is mandatory.

For more information, see “ When a pre-trial complaint against state control (supervision) is mandatory: list from 07/01/2021 ”.

The basis for filing a complaint is simply the opinion of the controlled person that his rights and legitimate interests were directly violated as part of control (supervision).

Please note that the Regulations on the type of municipal control may establish that pre-trial appeal is not applied unless otherwise prescribed by the federal law on the type of control, the general requirements for the organization and implementation of this type of municipal control, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation.

Online submission

You can submit a complaint not only in writing, but also electronically. To do this, you will need to use the State Services portal and go through the registration and identity verification process.

To make an appeal via the Internet, you will need to go to the main page of the site, open the available projects and select “Pre-trial appeal”. Next, you will need to fill out a form and send it to a certain authority.

Remote access is also available on some authority websites. To become familiar with the availability of such an opportunity, you must visit the website of the regional authority.

A complaint against a water utility must be filed in accordance with certain rules. Despite the absence of a strict form, residents must adhere to certain conditions, without which the application will not be processed by the authorities.

Where to complain about water quality:

See also Phone numbers for consultation February 28, 2021 kasjanenko 904

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Discussion: 2 comments

1. Anya says:
   03/31/2019 at 07:15

   It is useless to write complaints to the city administration, there is unlikely to be a reaction, you need to immediately write above, there is hope that Rospotrebnadzor will be able to somehow help the problem. If there is no reaction, you need to write again. How long does it take for organs to respond?

   Answer

2. Labko A.G. says:

   08/02/2019 at 23:50

   Read also:  What are the pros and cons of creating an HOA? Advantages and disadvantages in comparison table

   I reviewed all the complaints about the inability to register on the water utility website and completely agree with them. I waste time on all the intricacies and nothing. That video where the water utility worker tells how to register was filmed more as an excuse and not for real help because... links to non-existent sites and focuses on payment. If everything is as simple as he says, why are there so many who cannot register? We kindly ask the administration of the Dnepr water utility to pay attention to the quality of work of their IT specialists. 08/02/2019

   Answer

In what situations can you complain?

Living in apartment buildings, people constantly have controversial situations in terms of the provision of utility services by different organizations. There are many complaints from the population regarding the quality of all services. Every citizen tries in one way or another to fight injustice, but not everyone even knows what and where they can complain.

Conventionally, all complaints can be divided into four groups:

1. Quality of services provided. People especially often complain about the quality of the supplied tap water or the water pressure from the tap is too low.
2. Cost of services. Sometimes a subscriber notices in his receipts amounts for services that were not provided to him.
3. Refusal to provide services. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, organizations involved in the supply of water and sewerage often perform their work with violations. There are many reasons for this, for example, poor communication or simply negligent attitude of employees.
4. Unfounded claims.

Often, citizens do not even realize that they have a legal basis to file a complaint against the actions or inaction of Vodokanal employees. Such situations include:

1. Flooding of residential or basement premises in an apartment building is not the fault of the residents.
2. Untimely repair of pipeline or sewerage.
3. Excessive noise during repair or maintenance work, performing them without observing safety measures.
4. Low water pressure in the pipes, poor quality. These should not be unfounded accusations, but confirmed by expert evidence.
5. Emergency communications, lack of hatches on wells.
6. Constant water cuts.
7. It is unclear where the debts for services are coming from.

How to compose

There are several simple rules for drawing up any appeal. Since you are going to send a complaint to government authorities, they must be followed for a successful consideration of the case.

First, make sure that you have evidence of an offense - without compelling reasons, the complaint may not be considered. Copies of documents or digital records will greatly speed up the verification process.

If everything is in order with the evidence, you can begin to compile the text. It requires:

• adhere to polite and formal speech, without stooping to threats and abuse;
• clearly describe the situation without embellishing it or inventing anything;
• confirm your words with laws, regulations, agreements with Vodokanal, as well as the evidence that you have;
• demand from the authorized organization lawful actions commensurate with the offense;
• indicate who the complaint is from and where the response needs to be given;
• indicate the full name of the water utility, as well as the organization to which you are filing a complaint;
• subscribe and date your request.

How to make a complaint

Where to start if turning off hot water has become a problem?

Sample complaint to the housing control service about the lack of hot water

Read also: Why do we pay for heating all year round?

Sample complaint to the prosecutor's office

A complaint about the lack of one of the types of utilities can solve this problem. But you need to prepare for writing it. First, you should document the water outage:

• Contact the water supply organization with a written request, a sample of which can be found on the websites of utility services, with a request to confirm that there has been no hot water in the house at such and such an address since a certain date. You should also ask utility workers to name the reasons why the shutdown was made and the time frame for eliminating them.
• An initiative group of residents of an apartment building can draw up an act in which they indicate the circumstances of the lack of hot water. The act must be signed by more than three members of the initiative group.

Having in hand a document confirming the water shutoff, you can begin preparing a complaint.

Payment

In addition to the ordinary troubles associated with turning off hot water, there are cases when utility companies, without providing services, try to charge for them.

If there are attempts to collect money from residents for services not provided, experts recommend immediately contacting the prosecutor’s office with an application to verify the legality of the actions carried out by public utilities.

In the complaint, which is sent to the prosecutor's office, it is necessary to state the circumstances of the lack of hot water supply, attach evidence of the lack of water, as well as a copy of the utility bill with a requirement to pay for non-existent hot water.