Who to call if the cold water in the house is turned off without warning?

Where to contact?

To find out why it was turned off, you should contact the emergency dispatch service or call the city water utility hotline.

Moreover, it is better to call the emergency service first, since 90% of unplanned outages are caused by an accident that occurred in the water supply networks.

But there are other reasons:

• Disconnection for debts.
• There is a fire or natural disaster nearby.
• Poor water quality.
• Exceeding the permissible level of consumption by any of the residents.

Important! It often happens that employees of the organization supplying water simply made a mistake and disconnected the wrong apartment.

Should there be warnings about shutdowns?

In almost all cases, housing office employees must warn that water supply will be interrupted for some time.

The population is notified in the local media and by posting notices at the entrances of houses that are disconnected from the water supply.

Warn:

• When shutting down according to plan . Warn 30 days in advance
• In case of debt . They give a month's notice. Only hot water is turned off (Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 23, 2006 No. 307). The warning comes to the debtor with a receipt, the debtor is given time to repay the debt and tries to make concessions.
• an illegal connection is detected ,
• When the service provider receives an order to stop water supply from local or state authorities. organs _

How to state the problem?

When talking with the dispatcher, it is necessary to provide all the information as clearly as possible:

• give the address
• tell when lack of water is detected.
• Next, you should find out about the reasons for the shutdown and ask when the cold water supply will resume.

In case of serious emergencies, utility services try not to turn off the water for a period exceeding 4 hours.

Therefore, it is worth asking whether a temporary resumption of water supply is planned in order to have time to stock up on drinking water.

Reference! Anyone has the right to find out about the location of the accident.

Where to complain if the management company does not respond to turning off the water?

If there is no water supply, and the management company does not react in any way to this situation, then it is important to know that there are higher authorities above the management company that control their work (Articles 13 and 20 of the Housing Code and Procedure No. 170). The inappropriate work of the management company will then be dealt with by :

• District administration,
• housing and communal services management,
• housing inspection,
• Rospotrebnadzor,
• local prosecutor's office.

Alternative solutions

Cold water is not allowed to be turned off for more than 4 hours; only in case of serious accidents on central highways, a shutdown for a day is allowed.

But public utilities do not always work according to regulations. There are situations when they are in no hurry to restore water supply, and people are forced to remain without water for a long period of time.

If calls to emergency services are unsuccessful, then you can move on to more decisive actions in the fight for your rights and comfort - filing a complaint.

Here is the list of competent authorities:

• Rospotrebnadzor.
• Court.
• Prosecutor's office.
• City Administration.

The Gosuslugi resource allows you to file a complaint without leaving your home using the Internet. The complaint can be from one person or collective.

Attention! Complaints to Rospotrebnadzor and the prosecutor's office are considered the most effective, and with the help of the court, you can achieve a recalculation of the water tariff if there has been no water supply for a long time.

Common reasons for water outages

Water stops flowing into housing for various reasons. Sometimes the reason for this may be the owner of the apartment, house, and so on.

For example: if the owner does not pay for water consumption or has unauthorizedly connected to the water supply system.

There are other factors affecting water supply:

• water supply reconstruction,
• renovation work,
• preventive work,
• repair or replacement of system parts.

Preventative work is carried out in the summer, as well as in advance of the onset of winter and a drop in air temperature, in order to check the water supply system.

Read also: The most comfortable air temperature for humans.

During this period, water may be turned off for a long time.

Sometimes water supply may be stopped if local authorities .

Where can I find out the reason for the lack of water supply?

There is guaranteed to be no cold water in the apartment if an accident occurs in the city. Most of the pipes were installed back in Soviet times, so with the onset of the first frost, cases of pipeline breaks are not uncommon.

If there is no hot water, then the thermal power plant and water distribution network are under repair or maintenance.

You can contact the city emergency service, housing office, housing inspection, Vodokanal, management company. It’s easy to find the telephone number of an organization in your region on the Internet or on a water utility receipt.

The easiest and most reliable way to find out the reason for the lack of water is to call the house management company, housing office or emergency service.

During planned repairs, the Housing Office notifies residents in advance of the date, time and duration of the water outage. Perhaps you simply did not notice such an advertisement on the information board of your home. In this case, call several neighbors and find out the reason for the lack of water.

You have the right to leave a written request on the website of your management company or housing inspection. After three days, you have the right to complain about the inaction of the utility service.

Housing and communal services hotline operating hours

Depending on which housing and communal services hotline citizens contact, there are a number of restrictions on its operating hours:

By choosing the method of filing a complaint, homeowners in an apartment building can submit their complaints about the quality of service at any time convenient for themselves.

Consumer responsibility to housing and communal services or how to avoid becoming a willful defaulter?

With all organizations that provide utility services, consumers must certainly enter into agreements in which the areas of responsibility of both parties will be clearly stated. After all, a deterioration in the quality of service provision may become a valid reason for residents to reduce their level of payments.

The rules for the provision of services to the population by public utilities are regulated by a document called the Housing Code.

It states the following:

1. In cases where there are no federal regulations, tariffs may be set by local authorities.
2. The management company or organization with which the contract for the supply of services has been concluded has the right to independently regulate tariffs, which must be specified in the contract.
3. Payment must be made by the 10th day of the month following the billing month, inclusive. Also, from 2021, cold water supply and wastewater can be paid using the advance method.
4. In case of non-payment or late transfer of funds, a penalty will be charged.

Responsibilities for paying for utilities fall on both residents living in the apartment under social tenancy agreements and the owners who have undergone the privatization procedure.
In the agreement between the payer and the management company or directly the organization supplying resources to the consumer, it is necessary to indicate the form of payment:

• cashless payments;
• cash.

Owners are advised to install gas, electricity and water meters. Thus, the subscriber will pay only for the volume that was used only in his apartment. In this case, all expenses for the purchase, installation and verification of meters are borne by the owner himself.

It is important to know that even if your living space is empty, you are not temporarily living in it, this fact will not be considered a basis for exemption from paying utility bills.

Companies with which subscribers have concluded contracts are required to send out special notification receipts on a monthly basis. From them, the payer must obtain information about the composition of payments and the amount of amounts to be paid.

If utility bills are not paid, utility companies have the right to impose sanctions, ranging from restrictions on the services provided to eviction from the living space.

If you systematically ignore payment receipts, be prepared to be considered a defaulter. You become such if a three-month debt accrues to established organizations. That is, if payment for utilities is not received for 90 days, then you are already a defaulter. The epithet “malicious” can easily be added to this unpleasant word if debts to supply companies are not repaid within six months.

The following sanctions apply to malicious debtors:

1. Fines and penalties for each new day of delay.
2. Penalties determined by the court.
3. Complete shutdown of gas and electricity.
4. Disconnection of water drainage.
5. Limitation of water supply by installing special devices in the sewerage system.

If you have a difficult financial situation, but you want to avoid being included in the lists of defaulters compiled by utility companies, then you should pay small amounts of debt at least once every three months. Thus, the moment of payment may delay the imposition of sanctions for another three months.

When can the water be turned off?

This question is answered by Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation No. 22 in paragraph 40. The basis for limiting or stopping the provision of a service may be the improper fulfillment by owners/tenants of the obligation to pay for this service.

However, having determined the right of the RSO to cut off resources, the Supreme Court immediately established the boundaries of the application of this sanction. Firstly, the mere existence of debt cannot be an unconditional justification for the immediate application of restrictions on water supply or other services. Secondly, such punishment to the user must be proportionate to the violation.

In other words, you cannot block access to a resource for a debt of 200 rubles. The third condition is that the application of a sanction should not worsen the living conditions of others. For example, in a communal apartment or if minors live with the debtor. Lack of water or light in these situations can harm them.

An important limitation for suspending the supply of a utility service is that the sanction is applied only when other methods have been exhausted. Often, defaulters go to court after disconnection. The courts take their side if the Criminal Code neglected the procedure for peaceful settlement of the issue.

A measure of coercion to pay a debt can be applied if the amount of the debt is at least two months' payment.

Before applying a restrictive measure, the RSO must notify the debtor about the formation of the debt and offer him to pay the debt. The period for payment is at least 20 days. If the debt is not repaid, the owner/tenant is warned about a possible restriction of water supply 3 days in advance.

If this notification is ignored, the supply of the resource is limited. If there is no possibility of limitation and the debt is not closed, the water is turned off 30 days after the first notification. Moreover, if it is not technically possible to preliminarily restrict the supply of a resource, the supplier must inform the debtor about this.

The notice should also contain another warning about disconnection if it is not received after the deadline for voluntary payment.

There is also a three-day warning about the shutdown. All notices are handed to the debtor against signature or sent by registered mail. If payment is not made after all warnings, water shutoff will be considered legal.

All costs for installation and dismantling of structures to limit supply/connection are borne by the debtor. There is also a condition here - they should not be more than 3,000 rubles. All these conditions are regulated by Government Decree No. 354, Part XI.

How to restore water supply after a legal shutdown?

Disconnecting an apartment from the water supply and blocking the sewerage system certainly causes a lot of inconvenience and interferes with normal life, especially if there is a small child in the family, so every tenant wants to get rid of these inconveniences as soon as possible. But he often resorts to measures that are not entirely legal, that is, he tries to dismantle the locking systems himself using improvised means.

Such actions in most cases lead to violations of the integrity of the sewer system, which, in turn, will inevitably entail penalties for the damage that was caused.

If you are truly a persistent offender and all the measures taken against you by public utilities are justified from the point of view of housing legislation, then you will be able to regain your water supply, and thereby comfortable living conditions in your home, only if you pay off all debts to service providers.

You have two options for repaying the debt:

1. Pay the accrued amounts in full, preferably in one payment. After funds are received into the account of the management company or water utility, within two days the water supply will be resumed and all plugs from the sewer drains will be removed. This procedure must also be paid by the person from whom the debt is collected.
2. If your financial situation is quite deplorable and you cannot afford to pay off the entire amount of the accumulated debt, however, you have a desire to cover the debt, then the utility services can and probably will meet you halfway. What to do? In such a situation, it is envisaged to conclude an agreement between the subscriber and the resource provider on the restructuring of the stuck debt. This means that the amount you must pay is divided into parts that are repaid within the terms specified in the contract. And then the water will return to your home again.

At the same time, do not forget to make current payments.
If this does not happen, and debts begin to accumulate again, then you may again find yourself without water, because in such a situation its supply may be turned off again, and this can be done without warning. Since installment plans cannot be provided to all defaulters, what should you do to get it?

The following options are possible:

• if non-payment of utilities is caused by delay in payment of wages. Then you need to contact your management company with a document from the place of work, which confirms this delay, indicating from what time payment has not been made;
• if all family members collectively have an income that does not reach the subsistence level. Then each person living in the apartment provides a certificate from their official place of work (or study, employment center). If you are not officially employed or are not employed, you will not receive the status of a low-income family;
• the presence of the status of a large family, as well as children under the age of majority, family members with disabilities who require costs for their treatment, maintenance, training, confirmed by documents, makes it possible to receive installment plans or subsidies;
• if you temporarily lost your job, this will also be a valid reason.

Due to these reasons, you have the right to both defer payment (or pay it off in installments) and to receive financial assistance from the state to cover the debt to the utility service. This subsidy is valid for six months, however, it is very easy to lose it if you just fall behind on your utility bills more than twice in a row.

What failures are considered normal?

Decree No. 232 of 2021, issued by the Government, established standards that apply throughout the country, which clearly regulate cases of lack of water and guarantees for citizens paying for the services of public utilities.

1. Turning off cold water in the event of an emergency is legal if stopping its supply does not exceed 8 hours in 1 month, and a one-time shutdown should not last more than 4 hours. Every hour of delay will allow you to save 0.15% for every 60 minutes when paying for utilities;
2. Legal regulations do not allow cold water pressure to drop by more than 25%. If the pressure drops by 25%, the hourly rate drops by 0.1%; if the pressure drops by more than 25%, the rate must be reduced for each hour of non-compliance with the standards.

“Hot water” can be paid at the rate of cold water if its temperature does not exceed 40 degrees. The main thing is to record the measurement.

What about hot water? Shutdown standards are similar to cold water supply. The only amendment is that the maximum delay of hot water is 1 day if the breakthrough occurred on a dead-end main.

Hygienic requirements No. 20 of 2009 prescribed the temperature of hot water from a centralized water supply system from 60 to 75 degrees Celsius.

Permissible deviations:

• 3 degrees during the day;
• 5 degrees at night.

If the water does not heat above 40 degrees, you pay for it at cold rates.