How can you write off and remove penalties for a utility debt?

Debts for housing and communal services, responsibility

The current legislation clearly states the obligation of residents to promptly pay for used utility resources, as well as pay rent. This conclusion is confirmed by clause 1 of Art. 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, which states that citizens and organizations must make payments for housing and communal services strictly on time.

In addition, the law specifies a specific period before which payment must be made. In accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 155, money is paid monthly before the 10th day of the month following the period for which you need to pay.

In case of delay, the following measures may be applied to debtors:

Accrual of penalties (Clause 14, Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation) - its size depends on the duration of the period during which the owner of the premises did not pay off the housing and communal services debt. There are two possible options:

31-90 days – the amount of the penalty is 1/300 of the key rate (refinancing) of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which is in effect at the time of payment. It is calculated based on the total amount of debt for each day of delay.
91 or more - in this case the penalty will increase and amount to 1/130 of the rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The calculation is carried out in a manner similar to that indicated above.

Limitation of the supply of a utility resource for which there is a debt (clause 114 of Section XI of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2011 No. 354) - in this case, the resource supplying organization temporarily reduces the volume of supplied utility services, while establishing an appropriate schedule. Before applying this measure, the executor must notify the debtor about this.
Termination of the provision of utility services (clause c) clause 119 of section XI of the above-mentioned Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation - when using such an enforcement measure, the supply of housing and communal services to the apartment for which there is a debt is completely stopped. The supply of an apartment with one or another type of utility resource can be stopped if the debtor has not repaid his debt within 10 days after the restriction was introduced.

The order of repayment of utility bills

Many debtors are interested in the question of the order in which debts for housing and communal services are repaid and by what rule it is established.

Thus, Article 319 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that when repaying a debt, the following sequence must be observed:

lender costs;
interest charges;
amount of debt.

Based on the above, it can be assumed that when paying off debts for housing and communal services, you first need to pay a penalty, and then the principal amount. However, this approach is considered incorrect. The fact is that utility bills in most cases are costs for the management company, since it is settled with the resource-supplying organization using internal reserves.

The owner of the premises must first return the main debt for housing and communal services, and then pay a penalty.

In addition, if in any month the amount of payment for a specific utility service exceeds 25% of the amount accrued for the same period last year, then the debtor has the right to receive an installment plan. So, in this case, the monthly receipt for payment of housing and communal services will include the following components:

payment for the current month;
0.083 (1/12) of the amount of existing debt;
interest for using installment plans (refinancing rate increased by 3).

Are rent penalties legal, and is it possible not to pay them?

Undoubtedly, charging penalties for late payments for housing and communal services is an absolutely legal way of influencing the debtor. The legislation clearly states the possibility of using such a measure. It will not be possible to remove it citing illegality of use.

At the same time, in some cases these penalties may be written off. This means that the apartment owner will no longer have to pay them.

Thus, accumulated amounts of penalties for non-payment of utilities are written off in the following main situations:

expiration of the limitation period (3 years according to clause 1 of Article 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
declaring the debtor bankrupt;
impossibility of collecting penalties within the framework of enforcement proceedings;
death of the owner or liquidation of the organization.

In addition, in some cases, the accrued penalties may be reduced (more about this below).

Rent reduction when tenants are away

Frequently traveling citizens have a question about whether it is necessary to pay penalties accrued during the period of departure, when no one lived in the apartment. Arguments are given about the non-use of electricity, water, and gas in such cases. However, there are items for which even absent residents need to be paid - these are general house needs and heating.

It will not be possible to stop the accrual of payments for other resources automatically. To do this you will need to complete some documents:

application for recalculation - such a document must be submitted to the service organization no later than 30 days after return or before departure. Payment amounts may be reduced for a period of 6 months. If this time is not enough, you will have to repeat the application;
papers confirming the fact, reason and time of absence (copies or scans of tickets, travel certificate, etc.).

Attention

It makes sense to collect such documentation if the period of expected absence is more than five days (utility payments are not recalculated for less time). These five days should not include departure and arrival days.

How to write off penalties for rent and utilities

The course of action to be followed depends directly on the individual circumstances of a particular situation. It is also important to have legal grounds for implementing the procedure for writing off penalties for housing and communal services.

If the principal debt is repaid

If the debtor has paid off the main “body” of his debt for utilities, then it will be easier for him to find a compromise with the management company.

In such a situation, you can take the following actions:

Ask the management company to restructure the remaining amount of debt (in the form of unpaid penalties). In this case, an appropriate agreement is concluded between the parties, according to which the owner can be provided with an installment plan. This means that he will repay the existing debt for accrued penalties monthly in installments.
You can file a petition with the court to reduce the amount of the fine, citing one of the following grounds:

presence of errors in calculations for housing and communal services;
difficult financial situation;
other circumstances that are significant in order to reduce the amount of the penalty.

Is it possible to write off penalties on utility bills in full?

As already noted above, accrued penalties can be completely written off only in exceptional situations, when the debtor has been declared bankrupt, the statute of limitations has passed, the death of the apartment owner has occurred, or if collection cannot be implemented within the framework of enforcement proceedings.

In all other cases, it will not be possible to completely get rid of the accrued penalty. The debtor can only count on reducing its size (if there are compelling reasons for this).

Write-off of utility debt due to bankruptcy

It was already noted above that one of the ways to completely get rid of utility debt is to declare an individual bankrupt.

It is immediately worth noting that this method is quite lengthy, complex and can only be used in exceptional situations if the appropriate prerequisites are present.

In paragraph 1 of Art. 25 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that a citizen can be declared bankrupt if the court finds that he is unable to satisfy the demands of creditors, as well as fulfill his obligations to pay various bills.

In general, the bankruptcy procedure for citizens is regulated by the provisions of Chapter X of the Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On Insolvency”. In order to resort to this option, the following basic conditions must be met (clause 2 of Article 213.3):

the total amount of debts must exceed 500,000 rubles;
the period of delay is at least 3 months.

In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 213.27 of the above-mentioned Federal Law of the Russian Federation, in case of bankruptcy, debts for housing and communal services are repaid in the third place. However, if the debtor’s property is not enough for final settlement with all creditors, then the remaining debts are written off (clause 6 of Article 213.27).

If residents have been away for a long time

It’s worth noting right away that temporary absence from an apartment is not grounds for exempting its owner from paying utility bills (this is especially true for heating bills).

At the same time, persons who were temporarily absent from the apartment have the right to submit an application to the Criminal Code for a recalculation. This is possible subject to the following conditions (clause 86 of section VIII of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354):

the owner of the premises stays in another place for more than 5 days in a row;
the apartment is not equipped with an individual meter for recording consumed resources (provided that their installation is impossible for technical reasons).

As a result of the recalculation, the cost of housing and communal services for a specific period will decrease, which will accordingly reduce the amount of fines accrued for late payments.

Other options for reducing the amount of penalties

In addition to the above methods, another option for reducing the penalty accrued for housing and communal services debt is to submit a corresponding petition to the court. In this case, you can refer to the following reasons in your application:

The management company incorrectly calculated the cost of utilities, which led to a significant increase in the amount of the penalty. Moreover, in this case, you must attach to the application your own calculation, as well as current standards and tariffs.
Disproportionality of the accrued fine to the consequences that arose as a result of the delay. In this case, the court may decide to reduce the amount of the penalty (clause 1 of Article 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Difficult financial situation (loss of ability to work, lack of permanent work, etc.) - often when considering a case of non-payment of housing and communal services, the judicial authorities also take into account the family and financial status of the defendant.

Cancellation of penalties in bankruptcy

An individual declares himself bankrupt - this will serve as a reason to cancel the entire amount of the rent debt along with penalties. After all, bankruptcy means a person’s inability to pay debts.

You can completely remove utility penalties:

if at least 3 months have passed since the onset of insolvency;
if the total debts of an individual exceed the threshold of 500 thousand rubles. (this is not only unpaid housing and communal services receipts, but also overdue loans and other debts).

Of course, large penalties for utilities are not a reason to declare bankruptcy. This procedure takes a long time, requires a lot of effort and certain financial expenses. In addition, we are not talking about simply liquidating the bankrupt’s debts - they are partially paid off with money received from the sale of all the debtor’s property. Only a single apartment or plots of land cannot be taken away and sold.

How to challenge late fees for utility bills

Sometimes in practice situations occur when the management company sets unreasonably inflated penalties for utilities that the owner of the premises did not pay on time.

If you find yourself in such an unpleasant situation, in order to challenge the decision of the representatives of the Criminal Code, you must act as follows:

First of all, you need to request a detailed calculation, on the basis of which the total amount of penalties for the existing debt is derived.
Having received all the necessary documents from the Criminal Code, you should carefully compare everything and make your own calculations. It is best to hire a competent specialist who can competently perform this task.
If discrepancies are detected, the owner of the premises should write a statement to the Criminal Code stating that an error was made in the calculation of the penalty and the accrued amount must be adjusted. In this case, you should attach your own calculations to your letter.
If representatives of the management company refuse to fulfill this requirement or completely ignore it, then the next step may be to file a corresponding statement of claim with a judicial authority.
If the claim is satisfied, the apartment owner will not have to pay an inflated penalty. The amount will be subject to forced adjustment.

The sequence is relevant for 2021.

Application for a reduction in penalties for utilities

If the owner of the premises is already being investigated for debt collection, he has the right to apply to the court with a petition to reduce the amount of the accrued fine.

A sample of such a document includes the following main points:

“Head” of the document - information about the judicial authority (name), the plaintiff (name of the management company) and the defendant, who is the applicant (full name of the debtor, telephone or email address), is consistently reflected here.

Immediately after the “header” in the middle of the sheet, the full name of the document is indicated. It may look like this: “A petition to the court to reduce the amount of the penalty.”

Introductory part - the following general information regarding the trial is stated here:

name of the court;
details of the civil case;
name of the plaintiff (CC);
name of the defendant (debtor);
subject of dispute.

A request to reduce the penalty with the obligatory indication of the grounds on which it is put forward (disproportionately large amount, difficult financial situation, error in calculations, etc.). You must also provide a link to the relevant provision of law.

Additional documents are attached to the completed application (for example, a self-made calculation of the penalty), the applicant’s full name is written again, and then his signature and date are affixed.

Is it legal to charge penalties on the amount of debt for housing and communal services after a court decision?

The decision to reduce the amount of the accrued penalty is not a basis for its complete cancellation. The debtor must pay the assigned penalty until the existing debt on utility bills is fully repaid.

The situation is completely different when it comes to the expired statute of limitations or the bankruptcy of the apartment owner. If there is an appropriate court decision, the management company will be obliged to write off the existing debt for housing and communal services, including the accrued penalty.

To summarize the above, it should be noted that the accrual of fines is an inevitable punishment for late payments for utility services. In the absence of certain circumstances, the owner of the apartment will be forced to pay this amount. However, in some cases, its size can be reduced or even canceled (write-off procedure).

How else to reduce

Not the easiest, but the most effective way to reduce debt for overdue utility bills is to go to court. The reasons for the claim include:

incorrect calculation carried out by the management company, which affected the final size of the utility bill (the application must be accompanied by its own calculation and payment receipts);
discrepancy between the guilt and the punishment (if the fine is greater than the offense, the court makes a decision to reduce the penalty);
impossibility of repaying the debt due to a weakened financial situation (disability, loss of job).

The court takes into account all the points that may affect the timing of payment of utility services; it is unlikely that it will be possible to write off the debt completely, but it is always possible to postpone the payment deadlines without charging additional fines. They refuse only in cases where similar applications from a citizen have already been received and were satisfied earlier, which did not lead to a change in the plaintiff’s attitude towards payments.