How to punish persistent non-payers of utilities. Fighting debtors - non-payers of utilities, claims from the Criminal Code, Homeowners' associations. Enforced order - with the help of bailiffs

1. Stickers on the doors

Public utilities of the Samara region have come up with an unusual way to deal with non-payers for housing and communal services. According to the Dom63.ru portal, the debt of residents of 270 apartment buildings, which are managed by one of the large Novokuibyshev management companies Novogradservis, has reached 130 million rubles. Therefore, they decided to shame the debtors personally. On the doors of the apartments of Novokuibyshev residents, who owed more than 20 thousand rubles for housing and communal services, warning stickers appeared with the inscription: “Attention, a malicious defaulter lives here!”. Stickers of two colors: yellow triangles signal that the debt for rent is from 20 to 40 thousand rubles, green - more than 40 thousand rubles.

2. "Dark" future defaulters live here

The chairman of one of the HOA on the doors of the entrances posted draft posters depicting a dilapidated dilapidated house - what a completely new housing can turn into if residents do not pay attention to the maintenance of the building and do not pay for utilities.

3. Colored receipts

Last year, Moscow housing and communal services employees decided to mark non-payers with colored receipts. The traditional white receipt was left only to conscientious tenants who do not have debts. A blue payment was sent to those who delayed the payment for a month. A red receipt was received by the owner, who did not pay from a month to three years. A similar idea was adopted by the public utilities of the Nizhny Novgorod region, an experimental action to combat debtors was launched there in February 2011. According to the official website of Nizhny Novgorod, orange promissory notes will be delivered to residents of Dzerzhinsk who have debts for housing and communal services every month during the year.

4. Odes to defaulters

In one of the management companies of the Ural Federal District, they tried to influence the feelings of unscrupulous tenants with a rhyme. Poems in the style of Mayakovsky began to appear on payment receipts. For example, debtors received invoices with the following lines: “We will definitely return your debt! At what cost? - Decide for yourself. As reported, this action was a success - the debtors began to pay utility bills. In another region, by this new year, some non-payers received such warning sheets: “According to the old Russian sign, how you celebrate the New Year is how you spend it. We invite you to enter 2011 not as a malicious debtor, but as a conscientious payer. We suggest that you pay off your debt in full by December 31st. And as a gift for the New Year, our organization is ready to refuse the forced collection of fines.” By the way, the idea of ​​poetry is not new. In 2008, in the Amur Region, similar warning verses were pasted in the form of stickers on the entrances. “Let's turn off the hot water and electricity, we will invite you to the court to hold the answer!” - 800 such formidable verses decorated the entrances of the Annunciation houses.

5. Funeral March

One of the most unexpected and creative ways of working with debtors in 2009 was demonstrated by Troitsk employees of housing and communal services. They hired actors who acted out scenes of good and evil under the windows of non-payers to the sounds of a funeral march. First, the action "Debtor, we are coming to you" was tested on several houses, then it began to be carried out throughout the city. During the action, most of the non-payers, in whose honor the funeral march was played, paid off their debts.

6. Phone torture

No less curious methods were offered by the Criminal Codes of St. Petersburg and Togliatti. According to the portal "Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti", service companies in Togliatti introduced "torture" by phone: every hour a bell rang in the house, and a computer voice sternly reminded them of the need to pay for services on time.

7. Turn off water, electricity and block the sewer

Installing plastic plugs on sewer pipes of debtors is already quite a common practice. The devices do not completely close the pipe, but reduce its cross section, which means that the non-payer faces inconveniences: blockages and a decrease in the rate of water discharge. In Primorye, in the village of Trudovoye, the Management Company cuts off electricity from those who have not paid bills for three months. By the way, the mechanism for limiting debtors is provided for by the Rules for the Provision of Public Services: a written notice must be sent to them a month in advance with a demand to repay the debt, if the amounts are not paid, then tenants are additionally warned about the disconnection three days in advance. Turning off the entire house or entrance due to one non-payer is strictly prohibited.

8. Do not let out abroad

At the check-in desk at the airport, debtors are waiting for ... bailiffs. For those who do not have money not to pay the debt, but have the means to travel abroad, the flight is “ordered”. Most debtors pay their bills right at the airport. Also in Primorye, bailiffs meet malicious non-payers from “shop tours” to China. The property will be assessed and arrested, and the debtor will be offered to pay the entire amount of the debt within ten days. If this is not done, then all purchases will be confiscated in payment of the debt.

9. Arrest of property

Everyone knows that bailiffs can take the property of non-payers. The desire to return "acquired by overwork" is a strong incentive to repay debts. But you can part not only with household appliances, a car or valuables, but also with pets. So one of the defaulters from the city of Odintsovo, whose debt for non-payment of utilities amounted to more than 30 thousand rubles, had to part not only with a TV and a VCR, but also with three red kittens. In the Perm Territory, recovering a debt from a resident of the region by a court decision, bailiffs seized 53 geese belonging to her and ... 20 carcasses of this bird. The property of the debtor was transferred for sale.

10. Eviction

If the debt has accumulated significant, and the receipts have not been paid for more than six months, the defaulter can be sued to be evicted from the apartment. Today this practice is rare, but there are already examples in Primorye. According to the Telemix TV channel, in 2010 the debtor had to leave a two-room apartment in the city center and move to a hostel with an area of ​​ten square meters, with stove heating.

The owner of the apartment will turn off the power supply and / or put a plug for the sewer. These are the methods of dealing with debts from organizations that provide utilities. Thus, depriving them of favorable living conditions in the apartment. With a large debt, it can reach the seizure of property or eviction. Also, if you want to go on vacation outside the Russian Federation, the owner of the apartment will face a ban. Therefore, if it is impossible to pay utility bills in full, you should either notify the housing and communal services and apply for benefits for the poor or try to start paying partially for utility bills. Add a comment Popular articles Senior in the house and porch, his rights and benefits, who he can be

Work with debtors of housing and communal services: methods of dealing with non-payers

If the payer then does not begin to pay off the debts, the bailiffs can seize the property: a TV, a washing machine - everything that can be sold at auction. Eviction from the apartment. This measure is rarely used.

Info

And it usually applies to public housing. After all, it is the property of the state, such housing can be legally taken away for debts. True, the tenants should not be evicted to the street, but provided with other housing, cheaper and worse.

It is very difficult to evict debtors from a privatized apartment, but it is better not to take it to extremes. We add that in order to avoid sanctions, you just need to regularly pay utility bills.

New law on debtors for utilities

Representatives of managing organizations, HOAs, RSOs and collection agencies use quite a few ways to recover debts from homeowners. And not all of them are legal. There are frankly unauthorized actions, there are also controversial points.
To begin with, we recall that there are Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings. They are established by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 06.05.2011 No.
№ 354.

Attention

The rules allow limiting or suspending the provision of utility services 30 days after a written warning (notice) to the debtor. A notice can be sent to you by registered mail or brought against receipt if you do not pay utility bills for more than two months.

It is enough, by the way, not to pay only for one utility service to become a debtor. And then you face a series of sanctions.

Legal ways to deal with the debtor for utilities

Lectures are possible on how profitable and useful it is to pay utility bills on time. There are also cases of less civilized relations. Especially if the work of collecting debts is transferred to collectors.

Note that the debt can be transferred to a collection agency before the court and almost from the first day of occurrence. At the same time, according to the law, the work of collectors should be exclusively informational.
It is often possible to challenge the legitimacy of the actions of such agencies - even if there was no criminal bias in their work. When concluding an agreement between organizations supplying housing and communal services with consumers, a separate clause should be highlighted that it has the right to transfer data about an indebted consumer to third parties.

Law on debtors for housing and communal services. debt hole in housing and communal services. methods of legal influence

In practice, such a letter of claim to the debtor is printed out 2-3 months after the formation of the debt. Information to be included in the claim:

• from what date the payment was not received and for what months;
• payment period;
• duties of the owner of the apartment;
• consequences of non-payment.

Sample: a claim from a management company against non-payers Accrual of penalties The standard amount of penalty for non-payment of utilities is 1% per day of the entire debt.
Accordingly, daily debt will grow exponentially, increasing many times over. Disconnection of utility services In case of long-term non-payment (a period of 3 months), according to the law of the HOA or housing and communal services, it is lawful to disconnect the apartment in which the debt from utilities has formed: electricity, water supply, etc.

Measures to influence non-payers of housing and communal services

ATTENTION! None of the ways to collect a debt for a communal apartment should violate housing legislation and the laws of the country as a whole. Personal conversation At first, housing and communal services workers simply have a polite conversation with the non-payer, finding out the reasons for non-payments, explaining the consequences of such actions.

Perhaps the homeowner simply lost sight of the time of payment, forgot about the receipt. If the tenants still react weakly to the housing office's appeal, then representatives of the water utility and energy sales are sent to their homes.

The prospect of being left without household goods scares more seriously. Accrual of penalties The amount of penalties for unpaid amounts of utility bills at first seems miserable - only 1%.

But over time, the amount increases. If the defaulter considers additional expenses, he will quickly have a desire to pay off debts.
Is it worth bringing the matter to such a high cost? After all, even if the financial situation does not allow paying a communal apartment in some month, you can find a solution by contacting the housing and communal services organization. IMPORTANT! The defaulter not only returns the debt on utility bills by a court decision, he also pays the penalty accrued on payments, legal costs.
Sometimes litigation does not result in the debtor returning unpaid amounts on receipts. He can prove that he is insolvent due to illness, that he has salary delays.

In this case, he will be recognized as a non-payer, but in the end, the housing and communal services will not receive anything. Eviction Such a debt collection measure as eviction is used extremely rarely.

The defaulter finds various reasons to explain the impossibility of eviction. It can be serious illnesses, the presence of children, and more.

But there are cases when the court made a decision on the need to evict a person to a hostel or the private sector. Therefore, you should not be condescending to this measure.

Even the shutdown of utilities that precedes it will cause a lot of trouble. Having your own apartment or house means ensuring a good quality of life, decent conditions for recreation or work, you need to value your property.

In addition, if eviction is not possible, the court may seize other property of the debtor - a car, household appliances, other valuables that will be used to compensate for debts. Useful video A story about the fight against a defaulter by blocking the sewer drain.

Prohibition to travel abroad One of the urgent measures to deal with debtors is a ban on crossing state borders. Even if the defaulter receives a visa, he can be stopped at customs by its employees.

• lack of collection of payers, i.e. forgetfulness of payment of payments on time;
• the physical condition of the citizen - payment is impossible without outside help;
• temporary absence in the village where the apartment is located.

Objective reasons for non-payment:

• non-compliance of high tariffs for CG with their quality, frequent changes in cost and payment details;
• incorrect accrual of amounts - the tenant has the right to receive full information for what and how the accrual is made and, in case of disagreement, to dispute;
• a weak notification system for payments - receipts that did not reach the owner of the apartment;
• long registration of various benefits and subsidies - for several months accrual can be made at the old rates;
• low level of public awareness about penalties for non-payment.

Working with debtors in court If peaceful methods of dealing with debtors for utilities during pre-trial work did not work, it's time to go to court, especially since no one has canceled the statute of limitations. From 06/01/2016, the procedure for judicial collection has undergone certain changes. The process takes place within the framework of writ proceedings without calling the defendant, provided that the applicant has collected the required package of documents and the amount of the debt is not more than half a million, 100% confirming the existence of the debt. The term for issuing a ruling on a court order is 5 days. If the amount is greater, then the case is considered within the framework of the claim proceedings. After the decision is made, it is required to wait until it enters into force, because the debtor has the right to appeal against it.

According to the norms of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, each owner or responsible tenant of housing is obliged to pay on time for the supplied utilities and services. In fact, the issue of debt is very relevant, generating and managing companies, housing and communal services are faced with a huge total amount of debt of the population. There can be many reasons for this, however, no matter how high the tariffs are, whether the services are of high quality, until such time as there is no court decision, citizens are required to pay the receipts. Only after the debt is appealed by them, and the expediency of the requirements is justified, can we talk about recalculation.

Debt repayment is the interest not only of managing and supplying companies, but also of the debtors themselves. Lists of non-payers are formed regularly in order to warn debtors that the next step they will be held accountable if the debt is not repaid at least partially.

The Housing Code, article 155, establishes what must be done every month until the tenth day. You can find out about the debt in management companies, from the received receipt with a notification and in the structural unit of the provider of each service.

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Who is responsible?

Article 153 of the same Housing Code states that each owner of real estate or a tenant who has a certain responsibility is obliged to pay for the provision of utility services in full and on time.

Who is responsible for payment:

• The owner of the immovable object (if there are several of them, the obligation is shared among all);
• Tenants and tenants of real estate as a result of the conclusion of a formal contract;
• Tenants for;
• Members.

For late payment or non-payment at all when consuming the supplied resources, one will have to bear responsibility in accordance with the current acts of Russian legislation. This issue is governed by:

• the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 25);
• Government regulations regarding the provision of public services;
• Other legislative acts.

For non-payment, they have the right to suspend the supply of electricity or another resource, as well as limit the volume of supply. Also, violators can expect penalties, forfeits, lawsuits, seizure of property, termination of the contract with the municipality, and in some cases even eviction with the sale of housing at auction.

Who can not be afraid of eviction?

Not all debtors can legally be evicted with the subsequent sale of their property. So, referring to Article 446 in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, it is impossible to seize an apartment from a citizen for whom this is the only housing. In addition, they do not have the right to withdraw housing taken on a mortgage, if it has not yet been fully paid.

The Housing Code, article 90, also says that it is impossible to evict a tenant if the debt that has arisen has good reasons. These include:

• Young children and disabled people who are fully supported by the debtor;
• Illness of responsible tenants with hospitalization;
• Delay in payment of wages or pensions.

When it comes to debtors living in an apartment under a social tenancy agreement, municipal authorities have the right to evict them if the debt is not repaid within six months. However, no other accommodation is provided. In general, the list consists of the operation, maintenance and repair of housing, the services of a management company or housing and communal services, electricity, water supply, drainage, heating, gas, elevator maintenance and cleaning of the local area.

How to see lists?

Each debtor for utilities, as well as a list of similar non-payers, can now be seen in the public domain, since it is public. This decision is due to the fact that in apartment buildings there is always property of common possession and use, and making public the debtors with the amount of their debt can contribute to the speedy resolution of the issue. Since the common house property does not belong to one person, accordingly, all residents are required to pay for its maintenance. This means that the payment is distributed among everyone, and in case of non-payment by one of the tenants, everyone will suffer, even those who always pay on time and in full.

Lists are periodically posted in printed form on the bulletin boards of each apartment building. They are also available at the office of the management company or housing and communal services, are published in local media and posted on official government websites online. Obtaining information about debtors via the Internet is a very convenient way, available at any convenient time and completely free of charge. Almost all management companies have their own websites, where lists with debtors are posted.

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Prevention by sanctions

Penalties for non-payers for the provision of public services are calculated in accordance with the current Russian legislation. Unlike standard fines that are issued to violators, in this case penalties and interest are applied.

In addition to financial impact on non-payers, other measures are also used, for example, restriction and disconnection from communication systems, arrests, and eviction.

The amount of monetary sanctions is determined by article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, paragraph 14. It states that the penalty is 1/300 of the refinanced central bank rate. The penalty will be charged to the debtor daily, for each day of delay in payment. Thus, the amount of the penalty is calculated according to the standard formula, where the number of days of delay is multiplied by the refinancing rate divided by three hundred.

The termination of the provision of public services in part or in full is also legal, as can be seen by paying attention to government decree No. 354. Before any action is taken, the debtor must be notified in writing one month in advance.

Eviction and trial

As already mentioned, a defaulter cannot be evicted from his living space if he has no other housing. If there is, there are no good reasons for non-payment and delays in payments, and payments have not been paid for six months, the debtor can be sued. Without a court decision, eviction is impossible. Every citizen has legal rights to appeal against a court decision, which must take place in a certain manner established by law.

Going to court is the last way to influence the non-payer. A management company, housing and communal services, or any of the companies that supply a certain resource can file a claim. The task of the court is an impartial consideration of the arguments of both parties, after which the decision may be as follows:

• Establishing a defaulter of limited terms in which the debt must be repaid;
• A resolution according to which the debtor will be evicted and his property will be sold at auction;
• Seizure of an immovable object;
• Decision on other measures depending on the individual circumstances of the case.

The debt is collected from the amount of the sale of the seized property. The decision is appealed through the Court of Appeal.

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Example of a sequence of actions

The management company, housing and communal services or a homeowners association have the right to take appropriate measures that will be aimed at the irresponsibility of debtors. Having their lists in the public domain, it will not be difficult to deal with this issue at any time. To influence the non-payer, a number of sequential actions are carried out, namely:

If the responsible authorities apply their sanctions without notification, this is a violation, even though the debtor really is. Turning to lawyers for help, you can appear not as a violator, but as a victim, but this will not free you from repaying the amount of debt.

How to leave the list?

When everything is formalized and carried out according to the law, with the direction of notifications and compliance with the deadlines, in order to get off the lists of debtors, the following actions should be taken:

In the case when the sanctions with the disconnection of the communal resource were carried out with violations, this must be reported to the prosecutor's office. A special commission will be appointed there, the task of which is to verify the authenticity of the complaint with the issuance of an appropriate decision.

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Last updated February 2019

Today, not all citizens manage to fully and timely pay utility bills. Many Russians have a difficult financial situation, and there is no money left to pay for services. However, not everyone knows that delays in payments for more than 1-3-6 months can lead to the accrual of penalties, and the housing management organization goes to court to collect the debt. And then the bailiffs will seize money and property. In some cases, the debtor may suffer the fate of eviction from the apartment.

Liability for non-payment

If you are overdue payment for utility services by more than one month, what will happen, what does it threaten?

Penalty will be charged on the main payment

Penalties begin to accrue from the second month of delay. The rights of public utilities to their accrual are reflected in paragraph 14 of article 155 of the Housing Code. Penalty is charged for each day and its% varies depending on the number of months of non-payment:

• 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation - from 2 months to 3 months
• 1/130 for the next - starting from the 4th month.

Penalty amount = debt * number of days of delay * 1/300 * refinancing rate.
The size of the current rate can be found on the website of the Central Bank www.cbr.ru. Since the beginning of 2016, the rate is 11%.

Example: The total debt for services as of March 10, 2016 is 2,400 rubles. Of these, 1200 rubles. for February, and 1200 rubles. for January 2016. You made the payment only on March 20, 2016 (the number of days of delay is 10).

Penalty calculation: (1200 * 10 days / 300) * 11% \u003d 4.40 rubles.

Shutting off the use of utilities

Temporary restriction or disconnection from the use of utilities (gas, electricity, hot water, intercom services) until the debt is paid off. The debtor is threatened with this measure if the rent debt is more than three months.

How to apply the restriction:

• the debtor is notified in person or in writing (by post);
• if the debtor ignores the notification, the contractor personally notifies the consumer after 3 days and disconnects, if technically possible.

What utilities cannot be disabled?

• heating;
• cold water supply;

The resumption of the work of utilities is carried out no later than 2 days after the payment of the debt for services or the signing of an agreement on debt restructuring (see).

Sending a case for debt collection to court

The public utilities have the right to start a lawsuit to recover the housing and communal services debt from the moment they are convinced that the user has stopped making payments, first:

• the debtor is notified of the resulting debt in person or in writing (see);
• offer to pay the debt voluntarily within 30 days or enter into an agreement to repay the debt;
• in case of refusal or non-payment, a package of documents is prepared and sent to the court. much simplified and now, when submitting documents to the court, a positive decision is made in absentia within 5 days by court order.

The price of the claim may increase significantly, since it will include not only the total amount of the entire debt and penalties for the entire period of delay, but also legal costs.

Ways to collect a debt after the entry into force of a court decision

Voluntary order

The debtor may be offered to pay the debt in full at a time, or to conclude an agreement on debt restructuring (as a rule, it is concluded for a period of 6 months, but can be extended). This agreement is the most advantageous option, since it allows you to pay off the debt over a certain period, in equal installments, and not the entire amount at once. The form of the restructuring agreement is drawn up by the public utilities, based on the application you submitted.

Sample application for debt restructuring for housing and communal services

Head of UK "Zarya"
Antonov A.S.
from Yakimov S.T.
residential address: Mirny, st. Unions 31-2
tel.34-37-21

Statement

I ask you to consider the issue of concluding an agreement with me on the restructuring of debt for the use of services (indicate the type of service: heating, sewerage, water supply), for a dwelling owned by me on the right of ownership, located at the address: Mirny, st. Unions 31-2.

As of March 1, 2016, the debt is 46,341 rubles. My last payment was made in October 2015.

The reason for the lack of payment is a reduction from work, a difficult financial situation.

Date__________ Signature_______________

Enforced order - with the help of bailiffs

Recovery by a bailiff can be made from funds from:

• able-bodied population: by sending an executive document to the main place of work, and by combining;
• pensioners: by seizing pensions and other incomes;
• Disabled people: housing and communal services debt can be recovered from the disability pension, except in cases where the person is deprived of legal capacity.

Important! The amount of monthly deductions from earnings or other income cannot be more than 50% of the total monthly income (Article 99 of the Federal Law).

Other measures most commonly used by bailiffs:

• seizure of property (including money, securities, current accounts, property in the apartment);
• seizure of seized property and sale at auction;
• introduction of restrictions on leaving the Russian Federation;
• introduction of restrictions on registration actions with property.

Forced eviction for debts on utility bills

Can they be evicted from an apartment for a debt on a communal apartment? Eviction for debts is a separate requirement of a statement of claim by representatives of the public utility. If, after the entry into force of the court decision, the debtor continues to accumulate debt, does not comply with the requirements of the restructuring agreement, and the Federal Bailiff Service of the Russian Federation fails to recover anything from him, the time has come for this extreme measure - eviction.

Check-out procedure:

• written notification of the debtor about the possible application of the eviction procedure;
• drawing up a lawsuit in court for the forced eviction of the debtor;
• after the court decision, the person will be given 7 days for voluntary eviction, and then a forced order is carried out.

Eviction from a privatized apartment- if a person has other housing suitable for living, he can be evicted for debts. The right of the owner is protected by art. 446 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, which says that in the absence of other suitable housing, it is prohibited to foreclose on the only housing, and a person cannot be evicted to a hostel or social housing. Bailiffs have the right to arrest, describe, and then sell at auction any property in the debtor's apartment, and belonging to him personally.

Eviction from council apartment- the possibility of eviction from municipal housing, provided for by Art. 90 LC RF under the following circumstances:

• the debt for housing and communal services is more than six months, and the reason for the lack of payment is not valid (loss of a job, a serious illness requiring treatment costs, loss of a close relative (burial costs), compensation for material damage according to executive documents);
• provision of other housing for social rent that meets the requirements for living in terms of area and sanitary standards.
• the responsible tenant (with whom the contract has been concluded), as well as members of his family, are subject to eviction.

Check-out from the hostel- an employment contract under which a citizen lives in a hostel is signed for a certain period (for the duration of work, study, service). The owner of the hostel may be an organization, municipality. The rights and obligations of the tenant under such an agreement coincide with the social lease agreement. Therefore, the landlord has the right to evict the debtor for debts that have arisen for more than six months (clause 1, part 4, article 83 of the LC RF), without providing other housing, and after a court decision.

Joint and several liability for debts for utilities

How to collect debts from citizens living together with the owner or responsible tenant, under a contract of employment or social tenancy? If it is impossible to pay for a communal apartment by the tenant (owner), the plaintiff (representative of the resource supplying organization) has the right to recover the debt from any of the able-bodied persons living together with him. This is called joint and several liability.

Responsibility is provided for all persons:

• If the apartment is owned- if the owner of the apartment cannot or does not want to voluntarily repay the debt with his own funds, the law obliges to repay the debt by other capable family members living with the owner (spouse, children, parents, other persons settled in the premises with the consent of the owner) art. 31 LCD RF.
• If the apartment is in shared ownership- the obligation to pay can be assigned to each owner separately, by separating personal accounts and concluding contracts for maintenance and repair for each owner.
• If the premises are occupied by persons under a lease agreement- the tenant's family members are subject to similar obligations to pay for the use of services, that is, joint and several liability under the terms of the rental agreement. At the same time, persons living together with the tenant must be indicated at the conclusion of the contract (Article 69 of the LC RF).

Statute of limitations for utility bills

As a general rule, the limitation period allowed for the collection of debt for housing and communal services is three years. Judicial practice shows that such claims are satisfied by the court, and the bailiffs, by their actions, can overshadow the life of the debtor for an even longer period. Therefore, it is better to pay debts immediately than to accumulate them.

If you have questions about the topic of the article, please feel free to ask them in the comments. We will definitely answer all your questions within a few days. However, carefully read all the questions and answers to the article, if a similar question has a detailed answer, then your question will not be published.

Every year utility bills go up. 2017 was no exception for citizens of the Russian Federation. At the beginning of last year, a new law was adopted to tighten the liability for debtors to pay for housing and communal services. What the new law implies and what punishment is provided for persistent non-payers, we will consider later in the article.

The procedure for paying utility bills is regulated by the Housing Code. According to article 153 of the LC RF, this is the responsibility of every citizen, including legal entities who rent any premises. Housing and communal services include:

• payment for hot and cold water;
• the product of payments for electricity (study);
• payment for heating;
• and gas supply.

According to Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, there is a certain period during which utilities must be paid. Payment is made every month until the 10th day upon receipt of the relevant payment document. Military personnel, veterans and other categories of citizens enjoy payment benefits.

The maximum delay in paying for utilities can be 31 days. Previously, penalties were charged for a month of delay, now penalties are charged on the 31st day of the absence of payments. To use installments and deferments, good reasons for delaying payment are required. These include:

• serious disease;
• loss of position or sole breadwinner.

In any of the above cases, documentary evidence of the facts will be required.

What are the risks of non-payment of utility bills?

The new law on non-payment of utility bills provides for the accrual of penalties to debtors who do not pay their bills on time for utility bills. Federal Law No. 307 considers the procedure for calculating penalties for non-payment. The law was amended to improve consumer discipline.

The main methods of dealing with malicious non-payers are:

• penalty charge;
• introduction of restrictions or suspension of the supply of public services;
• The last resort is eviction from the apartment with the help of the court.

Consider the above methods of punishment for late payment, carried out by utility providers, later in the article.

The amount of penalty according to the law

The most common form of punishment is the imposition of fines. A penalty is a penalty for a long delay in paying utility bills. According to federal law No. 307, citizens who are overdue in payment by more than a month will be subject to penalties. You can pay the bill within 31 days after receiving the receipt.

The total amount of the penalty depends on the size of the debt and the number of days of non-payment, as well as the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of Russia.

Rent debtors who are individuals should remember that from days 31 to 90, 1/300 of the refinancing rate is charged for each day the receipt is not paid. And from 91 days the penalty will increase to 1/130 of the rate of the Bank of Russia. The current rate is 9%.

The legal status of the utility consumer affects the calculation of late fees. For organizations supplying heating, water, etc., the following fine will be charged:

• from the 1st to the 60th day - 1/300 of the interest rate of the Central Bank;
• from 60 - 90 - 1/170;
• from 91 days - 1/130 of the discount rate.

For legal entities, the fine will be charged at the maximum discount rate - 1/130. If the debt for the apartment can be paid through the terminal, then there is no penalty. Payment can only be made at a branch of Sberbank or at a management company, which should be done as soon as possible.

Accrual of interest can be avoided if a citizen has to leave for another city for a long period. The interested person is obliged to write an application to the management company and notify of this fact. The deferred payment will be valid for six months. If an extension is required, then the next application is sent by mail.

What are the suppliers entitled to?

In addition to charging penalties, utility providers have the right to resort to other measures to punish debtors. For a delay in payment of more than 3 months, it is envisaged to cut off or restrict the supply of gas, electricity, water for non-payment of utilities. The supplier has the right to act according to this regulation until the receipt of funds from the debtor. Notification of the defaulter is made in writing by mail. After 3 days, if the notification is ignored, the notification is made personally by the authorized person.

Eviction from the apartment for debts is also possible. However, it applies to citizens who rent housing. ATevict the owner legally prohibited from a privatized apartment. The impetus for this procedure is not the total amount of debt, but the time period for not paying utility bills - more than 6 months.

Where to complain about illegal outages?

The Federal Law on rent provides for utilities that do not have the right to turn off, even if payment is not received - heating and cold water supply.

Shutdown of any kind of utility services without proper warning from suppliers illegal! This illegal action can be appealed. A complaint can be sent to the management company or the HOA. If it was not possible to reach a mutual agreement, the claim is sent to the state housing inspectorate or Rospotrebnadzor. This is followed by a written application to the prosecutor's office and the court.

Utility providers may be held administratively and criminally liable. For violation of the regime for providing the population, the housing and communal services impose a fine on officials - 500 - 1,000 rubles, and on legal entities - 5,000 - 10,000 rubles. For arbitrariness and causing damage - a fine of up to 80,000 rubles is charged, or compulsory work is carried out for 180 - 240 hours, or corrective labor from 1 - 2 years, or arrest for 3 - 6 months.

Payment arrears could be the reason for the disconnection from the supply of utilities. If the debtor received the notice on time and the fact of late payment is recognized by him, then the only solution to the problem is the payment of funds. When the debt is repaid, the supply of electricity, gas, water is carried out within two days.