Millions of Russians have utility debts. And when the amount exceeds 20 thousand rubles, the owner of the property is sued and forced to pay the debts.
What to do if you have debts, and how to quickly pay for housing and communal services if you have no money? Let's look at the main ways that will allow you to pay off debt on utility bills, even if you have accumulated debts of over 80 thousand rubles.
Or use the Internet. All information on debts can be easily found on the website of management companies and homeowners associations. But in Russia, each resource supply company has its own website, where users go and find out payment information. If you don’t know how to find your company’s website, go to the management company catalog on the website my-gkh.ru and select your region.
What liability is provided for utility debts?
In accordance with Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, all users of housing and communal services are required to make monthly payments. Owners also pay for maintenance of the surrounding area and entrances.
The systematic rise in prices of utility services and the financial crisis lead to the fact that the number of defaulters is regularly increasing. As a result, payment arrears accumulate and the citizen is unable to make monthly payments. But the difficult financial situation does not worry public utilities. As a result, the case of the defaulter is referred to the court, which forces the debtor to repay the debt.
Eviction of debtors
Eviction is permitted if the period of delay is more than six months. However, eviction is possible only for those citizens who live under a social tenancy agreement and subject to the provision of other living space of at least 6 m2 per registered person.
Eviction from privatized housing is impossible.
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What to do if you have accumulated utility debts?
First of all, do not panic and do not reject the manager’s call from the housing office.
Even when the amount of debt exceeds 60 thousand rubles, calculate all finances, determine how much you can pay now and go to the management company. Talk to a company representative and explain your situation. A housing and communal services employee will go to the meeting and tell you how to proceed. If you start paying off your debts gradually, no one will sue you. Do not argue or conflict, as this will not lead to anything good.
Reducing penalties for utility bills through court proceedings
As a general rule, if no attempts are made to reduce the penalty for utilities, then the court will, of course, take as a basis the calculation provided by the plaintiff. Therefore, I recommend filing a petition to reduce the amount with justification for the objection under Art. 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (more details at the link).
In such cases, according to established judicial practice, there should be a comparison of the accrued penalty with the amount of debt, when it is clearly disproportionate to the violated obligation - it is necessary to review the accrued penalties in the direction of reducing utility bills, in particular, a good example in the form of the Moscow City Court’s Ruling dated 05/06/2016 serves as confirmation in case No. 4g-4416/2016.
Other reasons for reducing penalties for utility services include:
- Other noteworthy circumstances of the case under consideration, for example, incorrect calculation of the initially indicated amounts, which led to a dispute (payments to the reserve fund for major repairs, fees for the maintenance of the common property of the house, etc.)
- Penalties should not be collected for the first month, such are the new rules for calculating fines for this category of cases
- If the defendant did not receive information about his debt, for example, the order of delivery of receipts was violated, there was no written requirement to repay the debt in the receipts provided, then all this should be used when deciding whether to reduce the amount of the penalty for a communal apartment
In addition, be sure to analyze the claim of your management company for the limitation period, because if penalties are accrued on the amount of debt outside the three-year limitation period, then you have every reason to demand that these accruals be excluded completely from the calculation of claims.
Why don’t utility companies voluntarily reduce or remove penalties if a person cannot get out of housing and communal services debt?
Everyone can find themselves in a difficult situation when various events occur in life: loss of a job, illness of a utility payer or their close relatives.
Of course, in such cases there is no time for payments that are not paramount. The question of how to avoid paying penalties for rent is the first thing that comes to mind. But the law is the law, even if it is sometimes unfair in relation to a particular citizen...
If utility companies cancel penalties without trial:
- Other residents will suffer, because they pay in good faith, and the negative consequences of delays and losses of managers, in connection with this, may hit their wallets
- Writing off penalties on rent by the head of an HOA or housing cooperative may turn against the chairman, against whom residents and employees may complain that he is reducing revenues by such actions, has entered into a conspiracy, etc.
That is why it is possible to solve the problem of reducing utility services only in court through Article 333 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
When is a property owner disconnected from utilities?
If the resource supply company plans to suspend the supply of services, the property owner will be notified. Notification is given one month before service is discontinued. They have the right to turn off electricity and gas.
But if, after serving the notice, the owner begins to repay debts, they will not suspend the provision of services. If the owner ignores the notice and does not intend to make partial payments, the company notifies that it is sending a technician to suspend the service. This takes another 30 days. It turns out that to completely disable the service, the property owner has two months to begin fulfilling his obligations.
No one will turn off the heat and cold water. Suspending the provision of a service if there is a debt for another is also prohibited.
| Example Maxim has not paid his utility bills for two months. The management company sent a notice to turn off electricity if the owner does not begin to pay off debts on all utility bills. Maxim paid for electricity, water and gas, but the management company still turned off the electricity, because there were still debts for major repairs and maintenance of the property. Maxim went to court, which declared the actions of the management company illegal. And the management company resumed the supply of electricity only after the court decision. |
Privileges
Benefits for utility services in the Russian Federation are provided for certain categories of citizens. The exact list is established by regional regulations.
Important! Contact your district social protection department and check the list of beneficiaries. You may be eligible for a lower monthly payment.
A special feature of benefits is the need to register them. They don't act unconditionally.
The beneficiary is required to come to the social protection department and receive a certificate of eligibility for benefits.
In most regions, the right to benefits is granted to the following categories of citizens:
- WWII veterans and combatants;
- labor veterans;
- large families;
- guardian families.
The certificate is issued within 15 days from the date of application. The document is submitted to the management company or HOA.
Important! Benefits begin to apply from the moment information is provided to the authorized body. The beneficiary does not receive the right to reduce previously formed debt.
No money to pay for utilities: ways to solve the problem
Let's consider the main ways that will allow you to pay off utility debts if you have no money. The main problem with debt is that due to penalties, the total amount is growing every day.
State assistance
If utility bills exceed 22% of the owner’s income, you have the right to count on government subsidies.
To get help, log in to the State Services portal and submit an application for a subsidy. The application will be reviewed within ten days and a notification will be sent to the owner. If the decision is positive, the Criminal Code will not charge penalties and fines, and the state will use part of the money to pay off the debt.
Benefits for owners
Disabled and low-income citizens, as well as orphans, disabled people and pensioners, have the right to count on benefits. The state allocates money to help such categories of citizens pay for utilities. To receive assistance, you will have to submit an application through the MFC or the State Services portal, presenting the relevant documents for the issuance of benefits.
Installment plan
If you find yourself in a difficult financial situation, contact the management company or resource supply company to pay off your debts in installments. The management committee will go to the meeting. This will not exempt you from paying utility bills, but will reduce the financial burden, since the amount of debt is evenly distributed over 12 months. As a result, you will pay off your utility debts without damaging the family budget.
Read the article “How to get off the bank’s stop list and get a loan?”
Government subsidy
Subsidies are possible for all categories of citizens. However, a prerequisite is that the monthly payment for utilities is more than 22% of the total family budget.
In practice, this option as a subsidy is suitable for single pensioners and low-income families.
A special feature of the subsidy is the need to pay utility bills in full. And the established amount is returned to the recipient’s account at the end of the month.
The amount of the subsidy is calculated for each family individually. Depending on the total family income, on the region of circulation. The subsidy amount can be from 5 to 30% of the total payment amount.
A prerequisite at the time of applying for a subsidy is the absence of utility debt. Therefore, if there is any amount of debt, the authorized body will refuse to assign a support measure.
The body authorized to assign subsidies for housing and communal services is the district social protection department. To apply, you must have permanent registration in the region of application. In addition, only the owner of the premises can receive assistance.
Is it possible to write off utility debts?
There is another way that frees the defaulter from utility debts. This is the statute of limitations. In accordance with the law, it is three years, but amendments to the housing and communal services of the Russian Federation clarify that the Criminal Code has the right to demand money from the debtor for five years. If the Criminal Code requires compensation for the amount over a longer period of time, the debtor has the right to sue and is guaranteed to win the case.
If the owner of the property died, then this is a reason to withdraw established payments from him. But when the documents are reissued to the new owner of the property, all utility debts will automatically transfer to him. The only way for a new owner to waive the obligation to pay utility bills is to relinquish the property.
Pre-trial methods of collection: filing a claim
Homeowners' associations and management companies can file claims in court without following the pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute. If the debtor is a legal entity, filing a claim is mandatory.
We advise you not to refuse pre-trial proceedings with defaulters. The debtor, having received official demands with a warning about the possibility of litigation, calculations of the amount of debt and penalties, can begin to repay the debt in parts or completely close the debt.
At the judicial stage of collection, a large amount of time is spent on creating standard documents, in which only information about the debtor and the contract actually changes. This problem could be solved using a mechanism for mass creation of electronic documents based on a template.
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