Where to complain about lack of heating: list of inspections and example of filing a complaint

The heating season started in Moscow on September 13. It is expected that by the end of this week the heat will reach all apartments in the capital. Residents of some areas are already enjoying hot radiators, while some still have to be content with woolen socks and liters of hot tea. We tell you how Muscovites warm themselves in their homes while waiting for heat, and also where to go if it never arrives in their apartment.

Photo: portal of the mayor and government of Moscow/Maxim Denisov

Why are the batteries cold?

Many apartment residents often have a question: where to complain if there is no heating in the apartment? But before answering it, we need to consider for what reasons there may be no heating?

Lack of heating can be caused by the following reasons:

The problem lies in the apartment itself. The coolant supply may be blocked. Or maybe the heating system has failed. In order to find out whether this is a problem in one apartment or the entire entrance, you need to talk to your neighbors, find out if they have heating;
an accident occurred on the central highway or thermal power plant. Then there will be no heating for the entire entrance, house, and, possibly, the entire microdistrict;
neighbors are carrying out repair work or upgrading the heating system: installing additional sections to the battery, heat pumps for more efficient heating of the room. To carry out such work, the heating must be turned off. Therefore, neighboring apartments may be affected;
utility services are delaying the start of the heating season.

In any case, you need to know where to complain about the lack of heating in the house. There is no need to wait long for the situation to be corrected. And especially if there are small children in the apartment. Then the problem must be solved as quickly as possible. But you need to act without panic and wisely.

Where to turn if the batteries are cold?

Many residents have a question: where to call if there is no heating in the apartment? First you need to contact the district emergency dispatch service. You can find out the contact phone number by calling the help desk. You can also find the number on the Internet. The dispatcher is obliged to accept the request and send a specialist as soon as possible to identify the cause of the lack of heat supply.

In order to confirm the lack of heating in the apartment, a technician must draw up a report.

And always in two copies. The specialist takes one with him, the second leaves it to the owner of the apartment. You can expect a solution to the problem in the near future.

It should also be noted that a plumber must once a year routinely inspect the elements of the heating system for operability. If the mechanic did not carry out the inspection, this must be reported in a conversation with a utility service specialist.

But where can one complain about the lack of heating in the apartment if contacting the dispatch service did not produce results? The most effective way out of this situation would be to send a complaint to the regulatory authorities.

Where else can you turn if the heating has not been restored?

Knowing where to complain if there is no heating, you can achieve a quick solution to the problem. If, after inspecting the heating system by a utility worker, the heating is still not turned on, you can contact the following authorities:

to the management company servicing the house;
to a housing association at home;
to a service that maintains the house;
to the city housing inspectorate.

If the requests and demands of the residents were ignored by the employees of the above authorities, where to complain about heating in this case? Then more stringent measures should be taken. You should contact:

Rospotrebnadzor. You can send a complaint by mail or using the online service of this organization;
prosecutor's office The complaint is sent in the same way as in the previous case;
local administration;
court.

But a complaint about the lack of heating should be sent to these authorities if the utility service specialists have not taken any measures and ignore the complaint of the residents of the house. After all, it is possible that a housing office employee will arrive as soon as possible after the call and quickly solve the problem. If a utility service does not perform its duties at the proper level, higher authorities can identify the culprit and fine the organization, bringing it to serious responsibility.

Heating interruptions can occur not only in a residential apartment, but also in a company’s office premises. Employees often have a question: if there is no heating at work, where can they complain? First, you should inform the head of the company about the presence of such a problem, and also inform the landlord if the office is rented. Further actions are the same as in the absence of heating in the apartment.

When can you complain about poor-quality heating?

There are standards for temperature in a living room.

The temperature in the apartment should not be less than 18 degrees.

If the heat indicator is lower than that established in the standard, you can contact the housing office or other authorities. Thus, if there is no heating at all or the radiators are barely warm, where to complain is now clear.

Is it possible to request a recalculation?

According to the new government decree, if there were violations on the part of the utility service provider, which may become the basis for recalculation for the heat provided:

Room temperature during the heating season	Must exceed 18 degrees
In regions where the air temperature per day	Below 31 degrees, then in a living room the indicators should be above 20 degrees
In case of an emergency, interruption of heat supply	It should not be more than 16 hours a day and no more than 24 hours a month in total. Recalculation will not be performed if the room temperature exceeded 12 degrees
Deviations are allowed	From the norm by 4 degrees, both in one direction and the other, in the daytime. At night the temperature cannot drop by more than 3 degrees

The basis for recalculating heat consumption is deviations from the specified standards. The main reasons for recalculation are:

the supplier provides low-quality services;
heat supply was stopped;
absence of residents from the apartment for a long period of time.

To submit an application to the management company with requirements for recalculation, you must prepare the following package of documents and certificates:

heating payment receipts for the entire recalculation period - in case of loss of receipts, you must provide an extract from the relevant organization;
heat metering cards;
information about the area of the room.

In order to document the receipt of services of inadequate quality, the management company must conduct an inspection of the premises.

If a refusal is received, the verification is carried out independently. The necessary measurements are made in the presence of two neighbors, and the data is entered into the act.

The act must contain the following information:

date and time;
temperature indicators in the room;
period of time without heating.

The indicators that were recorded serve as the beginning of the reporting period of the violation. The document must be submitted to the Criminal Code.

Another reason for recalculation is the long-term absence of people who live in the apartment. Evidence of this fact is:

travel sheets;
hospital discharges;
tickets and bills, which confirm the fact that the citizen was away;
certificate from the gardening and dacha association;
international passport with notes on leaving the country and returning;
certificate of temporary registration in another place.

Thus, the management company or homeowners association must routinely resolve all issues related to the supply of heat to houses.

If the company ignores this problem, citizens can contact the housing inspectorate, and then higher authorities, such as the prosecutor's office, Rospotrebnadzor or the court.

If it has been recorded that the temperature in the apartment is below the established standards, then the citizen has the right to recalculate the cost of utilities.

How to write a complaint?

Having determined where to go if there is no heating, you need to file a complaint. But regardless of which structure the claim is sent to, it is a fairly effective tool for influencing unscrupulous utility workers. It is only important to draw up the document correctly and competently.

Regardless of where to contact if there is no heating, the complaint is drawn up as follows:

In the upper right corner you must indicate the name of the structure to which the document is being submitted. Below is the tenant's full name and residential address. In order for the organization to contact the owner of the apartment, you should write a contact phone number;
in the middle of the sheet the problem is detailed. It should be indicated from what date there has been no heating, what measures were taken, which authorities were contacted and to whom exactly they were contacted. If there are acts or other important papers, copies of them must be attached to the document;
in conclusion, it is necessary to state the requirement that the selected structure take appropriate measures to solve the existing problem. It would also be useful to add that if the heating issue is not resolved, then in the future the complaint will be sent to court;
at the very end, the date of drawing up the document is indicated and the person who compiled the complaint puts his signature.

Knowing who to complain to about the lack of heating is not enough; you also need to competently draft a complaint. Of course, you can find a sample on the Internet or fill out a ready-made template. But drawing up a document on your own is still not easy. In order for a complaint to be drawn up correctly, you need to know various legal aspects and nuances. If there is no experience in drawing up similar appeals, then there is a very high probability that the claim will be written unreasonably, and they simply will not consider it.

In this regard, when filing a complaint, it is better to seek help from an experienced lawyer. A specialist in this field knows all the nuances of the current legislation and will help you avoid existing pitfalls. You can consult with a lawyer online. Today there are many forums. Consultation can be either paid or free. Remote recommendations from a legal specialist guarantee savings of effort, time and money for applicants. The lawyer will tell you what to do if there is no heating in the apartment, where to complain in each specific case, and answer all your questions.

Regardless of who to complain to if there is no heating, it is advisable to file a collective claim. Since public appeals, as a rule, are considered necessarily and first of all. Usually the decision is made from 10 to 30 days after receipt of the document. The complaint must be submitted in several copies. Residents of the house must have a second version of the document in their hands.

But before you decide who to complain to about the lack of heating, you need to check whether the tap is closed, which is blocking the path of the coolant. In this case, just turn the lever and heating in the apartment will resume. In some cases, it may be necessary to replace heating radiators.

Knowing where to complain if there is no heating, teaming up with residents of the house who have a similar problem, competently drafting a complaint and sending it to the appropriate authority, you can achieve a quick solution to the heating issue.

Poor heating in the apartment? What to do and where to complain

If you think that the temperature of the heating radiators in your apartment is lower than required by the standards provided by law, then in this case you need to know the following.

You need to file a claim with the management company or organization that directly provides heating services for your home. In the content of the claim, namely in the demanding part, it is necessary to demand an increase in temperature to the sizes established in the standards and also a recalculation of heating charges, taking into account the fact that the air temperature did not meet the standards. In your claim, you need to refer to the Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings.

Clause 15 of Appendix No. 1 in these Rules regulates the requirements for standard air temperature in residential and non-residential premises: in residential premises the air temperature must be at least +18 degrees, in corner rooms +20 degrees, in areas with colder temperatures and residential premises in In these areas, the temperature should not fall below +20 degrees, and in corner rooms not below +22. It is not permissible to reduce the standard temperature at night (from 0:00 to 5:00) by no more than 3 degrees, and a decrease in temperature during the day is not allowed.

Know that for every hour of deviation from the air temperature in a residential area, the heating fee is reduced by 0.15% of the fee determined for the billing period, for each degree of temperature deviation.

If a consumer has overpaid for utility services, then, in accordance with Article 1102 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, he can recover the amount of overpayment from the person who provided him with this heating service, citing unjust enrichment.

If you feel that it has become cold in your apartment, then you are obliged to report this to the emergency dispatch service (including by phone). Information about your message must be entered in the application log. If the cause of the violations is not known to the emergency dispatch service employee, then he is obliged to discuss with the consumer the exact time and date of the inspection of the quality of utility services.

Also, the employees conducting the inspection must, based on the results, draw up an act on the provision of utility services of inadequate quality, which must be signed by the consumer (or his representative), the act is also signed by the contractor himself (or the contractor’s representative), the act is drawn up and signed in two copies, one copy remains from the consumer (or representative), and the second from the performer.

Further, if the management company or heat supply organization avoids drawing up a report, then you, as the owner, need to:

Draw up a unilateral act on thermometer readings;
Be sure to file a claim with the management company or heat supply organization;
A statement must be attached to the claim;
Afterwards, you submit the claim along with the act to the management company or heating supply organization against signature and make sure that your copy of the claim bears the date, full name and initials of the employee who accepted the claim. If you refuse to accept the claim, then send it to them by registered mail with a notification and a list of attachments to the legal address of the organization, their signature of the notice will just be confirmation that they received the claim, and if the case goes to court, then you will have confirmation that your we received the claim but ignored it, and you tried to resolve the issue out of court.

In your claim, you must demand that the management company or heat supply organization draw up a low temperature report and restore proper heat supply and recalculate payment.

If your request is not satisfied or not fully satisfied, then you have the right to go to court on the basis of the consumer rights protection law.

But before the trial, you need to send a complaint to the housing inspectorate with a request to conduct an inspection, and also write a complaint to the Territorial Department of State Energy Supervision. This authority can issue an order to the management company (heat supply organization) to restore the heating supply system, ensuring its reliable and economical operation.

This is how you need to act if your apartment has poor heating, in any case, do not be afraid to enter into disputes with the management company if it violates your rights, you pay for services in full and they must be of proper quality, remember this and know your rights . And if you do not have experience in litigation, then first get advice from a competent specialist, he will tell you everything and put it in its place. Wish you luck!

Is it worth paying for heat that didn’t actually exist?

If there has been no heating for a long time, the residents of the house are not required to pay for it.

But where to go if there is no heating to recalculate the amount of payment for services?

Of course, to the utility service. She will recalculate for all the times when there was no heating in the apartment. But it should be noted that utility companies will not reduce debt on their own initiative. Therefore, the initiative regarding recalculation should come from the apartment residents.

To do this, you should send a written application to the home maintenance organization. Such a document is drawn up similarly to a complaint. The only thing is that at the end another requirement should be stated, which concerns the recalculation of the amount of payment for the heating provided.

Remote heating control system

Many residents of country houses or empty apartments install a remote heating system. This makes it quite easy to monitor the temperature in the house and manage it effectively. Heating control occurs using a telephone via GSM network standards. Turning off or on the heating via SMS is a very convenient option for controlling the heating system from a distance.

GSM controllers can be connected to an electric, gas or convective heating system. The only thing is that you need an automation system and a good mobile signal. All data about changes in temperature conditions will be sent via SMS message.

Thus, the temperature in the apartment can be monitored from a distance by installing a remote system. Heating problems are not uncommon for apartment residents. The reasons for the lack of heat can be different. It is important to know what to do and where to complain about the lack of heating in the house. And the ability to competently write a complaint will increase the chances of a quick solution to the problem.