Judicial practice in cases of apartment flooding

Cost of examination services

When the DEZ does not issue an act

In accordance with the requirements of the Housing Code and the agreement for the management of an apartment building, the management company is obliged to record the fact of flooding of the apartment by drawing up an appropriate act. In most cases, this requirement is met by utility companies. But, in a situation in which the company managing the house is the culprit of the flood, they try to either not issue the act at all, or draw it up in such a way that it cannot be filed in court.

In general, utility services, if they are to blame for the flooding of an apartment, constantly try to shift the responsibility onto the tenant. At the same time, they diplomatically keep silent about the fact that they are obliged to clean the risers, monitor the condition of the heating systems, and especially not to allow excess pressure in the water supply pipes.

So what should you do if the management company does not fulfill its duties in good faith in terms of fixing the flood of the apartment? The DEZ act on the bay is a document showing the cause-and-effect relationship between damage to the apartment and the fact of its flooding. In the Legislation of the Russian Federation (neither in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, nor in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, nor anywhere else) there is no direct requirement to submit to the court the act of the Criminal Code. But there are requirements to provide specific evidence.

Such evidence is also provided by an examination of the reasons for flooding of the premises. Moreover, such a document has much greater weight in court for the following reasons. Firstly, this document is not just filled out with a pen on one piece of paper, but contains a detailed research part with photographs and measurements. Secondly, the one who draws up the document has undergone appropriate training in a forensic specialty and has a certificate. Thirdly, for his conclusion, the specialist signs under criminal liability for knowingly false testimony.

Thus, an expert opinion is indispensable in cases where it seems impossible to get the truth from the DEZ (management company or HOA).

MAIN CAUSES OF FLOODING:

• water hammer
• battery failure
• bathtub overflow
• failure of flexible liner

Current issues

Documents for court in case of flooding of an apartment

The practice of insuring movable and immovable property, unfortunately, is still not widespread. The damage caused often falls heavily on one of the parties. It is quite difficult for many citizens to come to a compromise. Judicial practice is replete with similar cases.

The legislation of the Russian Federation regulates the actions of citizens in case of flooding. If the amount of losses does not exceed fifty thousand rubles, then the magistrate’s court will consider the claim.

More significant material damage becomes a prerequisite for transferring documents to the authority in civil cases. Judicial practice is replete with examples when a management company or a municipal or government structure acts as a defendant. In this case, the arbitration court handles the paperwork.

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Cost assessment is carried out by the competent authority – the appraisal company. The legality of the activities of this structure must be supported by a license. The organization specializes in:

1. On assessing the extent of damage caused by flooding.
2. Examination of the consequences of the gulf.
3. Drawing up documents requesting compensation for damage. The examination is carried out in the presence of attesting witnesses and the defendant. They sign the examination report with their own hands. According to practice, it is better to carry out an appraisal examination some time after the apartment has been filled. This allows you to most clearly see the full impact of the flood.

One of the fundamental documents in the paperwork about the bay is the assessment act. When drawing up an act of flooding an apartment with upstairs neighbors, judicial practice recommends observing a number of important nuances: (if you want to know what to do if your upstairs neighbors flooded you, read here)

1. Indicate the exact time and location of the incident.
2. Attach objective results of a professional damage assessment.
3. Provide a detailed description of the elements, structures, and interior parts damaged as a result of the incident.
4. Determine the cause of the flooding.
5. Provide a list of names and positions of the assessment commission, citizens who took part in drawing up the act.

Judicial practice regarding the flooding of an apartment welcomes evidence in the form of photographs and video footage from the scene of the incident. This will help to fully assess the scale of the bay, the extent of material losses, and influence the court’s decision.

According to practice, you will need to prepare the following documents:

1. Statement of claim.
2. Extract from the Unified State Register.
3. Documents confirming the ownership of housing.
4. Act.
5. Results of the assessment examination.
6. Receipt for payment of state duty.

Regardless of who is to blame for the bay, inattentive neighbors above or the management company, an attempt should be made to come to an agreement without the intervention of competent authorities. Judicial practice requires notarization of the agreement. Otherwise, you will have to wait for the court's verdict.

As judicial practice shows, if the defendant is a management company or other legal structure, most likely, the interests of the defendant will be defended by professional lawyers. In this case, it is advisable for the injured party to enlist the support of legal experts.

Competent lawyers will provide assistance at every stage of the paperwork. They will help you draw up a statement of claim in accordance with the regulations and will ensure that the final decision will be presented in a positive way. The costs of paying a lawyer and an appraiser are considered losses. According to practice, this amount is included in compensation for damage caused by flooding of the apartment.

Water hammer

Try to imagine such a situation. A radiator or some kind of water supply pipe had been hanging there for three years, and suddenly, out of the blue, it decided to fly off. It’s hard to imagine such a fable, isn’t it? But this is exactly what the management company is trying to make the apartment owner believe, when it is 100% to blame for the flood due to the sluggish actions of its employees. The human factor has not been canceled, and, unfortunately, it becomes the cause of serious damage to the tenant’s property.

When starting heating or testing water supply after shutdown, the pressure in the water supply system is exceeded. water hammer effect occurs . Metal, fiberglass or other material simply cannot withstand the load and bursts either at the joints or (if the pressure is too strong) at any weak point.

This reason for the flooding of the apartment is most easily proven in court, since the chips on the metal show from which side the damaged fragment of the plumbing element was impacted. At the time of conducting a forensic examination due to flooding of the apartment, the expert pays special attention to this. It is especially important when conducting a water hammer examination to record that there is no external damage to the object under study (pipe, battery, etc.). Thus, it is obvious to the court that the impact on the object was from the inside.

Battery failure

This type of accident is especially relevant in the fall during test starts of the heating system or when heating is supplied. The reason for this is either the human factor or the deterioration of the heating system. In any case, the culprit of the accident is the organization responsible for the condition of the common property, namely the management company. Based on our work experience, we often come across attempts by these organizations to shift responsibility onto both the apartment resident and the contractors. However, judicial practice is clearly not on the side of management companies in this matter.

Bathtub overflow

Another reason for apartment flooding is overflow through the bathtub. This situation, of course, occurs much more than a failure of a flexible line or a battery rupture. But its consequences are no less tangible. This cause of flooding occurs where generally socially irresponsible elements live. The tenant, being intoxicated, turned on the water to run a bath and wash himself, and then went into the room and fell asleep. Moreover, he turned on the water under such pressure that the system for preventing the bathtub from overflowing could not cope with the volume of water. This picture is observed in almost ninety-five percent of cases when a flood (and not just one apartment, but the entire riser) occurs due to water overflowing through the bathtub. The owner of the apartment, who does not understand anything, cannot open the door for a long time when representatives of the management company knock on him and try to eliminate the accident.

But there is one great plus in this whole situation. The outcome of the trial with such a defendant leaves no doubt. Since the judge already sees from the very beginning who he has to deal with. And the plaintiff’s provision of evidence becomes more of a formality. Like any defendant, he can claim that there is nothing to be recovered from him. However, this does not mean that the Gulf litigation is hopeless. Because the debt collection system has undergone significant changes in the direction of effectiveness over the past 2-3 years.

Flexible line failure

Connections of sanitary fixtures are vulnerable places from the point of view of leaks. In our practice of establishing the causes of apartment flooding, tearing of flexible hoses (finishing) occurs very often. Moreover, this applies not only to the old housing stock, as it might seem at first glance. But also, oddly enough, to bays in new buildings.

Calling an independent expert to determine the cause of the flooding of the apartment is prompted by the desire to at least avoid liability for damage caused to the neighbor below by the bay. And, in addition, the customer of such an examination is driven by the desire to get the truth from the real culprit behind the flooding of the apartments in the building.

Failure of the plumbing connection (bidet, toilet, shower, etc.) occurs for four main reasons. The first is that the flexible line fell off due to water hammer; for a year the organization servicing the house did not keep track of the employee who exceeded the pressure in the water supply system. The second is poor-quality installation of the eyeliner fasteners. The third is the poor quality of the eyeliner itself (the desire to save money led to huge waste). The fourth is the failure of this element as a result of careless actions of the apartment owner or guest.

How can I prove that the line failure was not my fault? In such situations, they turn to specialized expert institutions. The essence of such an examination is to examine the broken finishing and the element connected to it for the direction of chips. This allows you to determine where the impact on the material of the element came from. More precisely, this helps to prove that the impact (pressure) came from within, that is, to exclude the fourth cause of the accident, which we discussed above. And, accordingly, initially exclude the very possibility that the owner of the apartment is to blame for the bay.

Drawing up an expert opinion on the causes of apartment flooding. A forensic expert conducts research, answering a question posed by a customer or a judge. The evidence base for a particular answer is the research part of the examination, which describes the circumstances of the case and the facts that answer the question. This document (examination of the circumstances of the gulf) is a guarantee for the court of the correctness of the decision made and, as a rule, it is enough to determine from whom exactly to demand the recovery of funds in court. After all, at the beginning of a Gulf court case, many parties are involved as third parties. And they end the process as a defendant. Such a nuisance for them occurs due to the establishment by a court expert of new circumstances of the gulf that occurred.

Determining the cause of the flood after repair.

Such specificity in our work can be found mainly when an examination is ordered by a court ruling. That is, the situation is like this. Two or three years ago there was a flood; it took about a year for the residents to make all sorts of promises to each other and try to resolve the problem out of court. The trial is in full swing, but the repairs have already been done , since there is no desire to live with leaks and peelings. What to do then? How to determine why the flood happened?

In such a non-standard situation, experts work mostly with documents. Namely, with the materials of the court case, where the entire history of what happened is described in detail, and they also make additional requests to public utilities. Management and operating companies keep a history of maintenance of their facilities. For example, the ODS magazine contains many details of floods and other emergency situations in apartment buildings. By comparing data from various materials, the expert establishes a picture of the flood that occurred. But judicial practice also knows a few cases when an expert directly states in his conclusion that it is impossible to establish the cause of the flood. But this is rather an exception to the rule. After all, an experienced specialist knows all the signs of a technical process, which is also the filling of an apartment. And where these signs can be found.

Small but important details

Complain to higher authorities if they don’t want to do roof repairs.
In an unpleasant situation, when your apartment is flooded from the roof, you should not just ask for help. It is necessary to take into account some details that can be of significant help in this situation.

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The first of these includes your attentiveness when taking into account everything that has suffered. A camera or video camera will come to your aid in this case.

Saved receipts for the purchase of furniture and equipment can also be of benefit to you. Since the true cost of the purchase is indicated there, you will be able to demand compensation for material damage for its damage.

The commission that comes to you is obliged to draw up a report that will indicate the nature of the leak, the cause, possible culprits and the extent of damage to the apartment and property. The document must be signed by those who compiled it; one copy remains with you. The date and time of flooding, as well as the surname, first name and signature of the person who compiled it, must be indicated there.

If after the arrival of the experts nothing has changed, the roof has not been restored, repairs in your apartment have not been made, write a statement in duplicate to your management company addressed to its boss. Often, after drawing up a report, utility services are in no hurry to correct not only the results of the accident, but also its cause.

Getting your roof repaired can often be quite a hassle. But bringing the matter to its logical conclusion is in your interests. Otherwise, damage to the roofing will cause you problems over and over again, with every rain or snow.

Often, an application to the management company is enough to satisfy your requirements. The only thing you need to do is follow all the rules for drawing up an application and submitting it. One copy of this document with the signature of the person accepting it must remain with you. When submitting an application, have your passport and its photocopies on hand, as well as copies of a document confirming your legal right to specific housing, that is, a warrant.

How to correctly determine the cause of the flood?

After all, it depends on this exactly who should pay for the damage caused to an apartment or non-residential premises by the bay. The main dispute over who is to blame for the flooding of the apartment occurs between the upstairs neighbor and the management company. After all, public utilities (DEZ, contractors, etc.) are doing their best to shift the responsibility, and therefore the financial costs of eliminating the damage, onto some resident from the house they service.

And in our practice of conducting an independent examination of the reasons for the flooding of an apartment, we often hear from a client over the phone that the DEZ said that it was the owner’s fault, not theirs. The most common alleged reasons for the flood, according to management companies, are the following.

In a situation where an apartment is flooded with sewerage, it is called a riser that is clogged with tenants (though it is not clear what exactly and how they determined this). That is, employees of the service organization openly make it clear that there is no need to make claims against them. True, this is only in words. But this approach also has a very strong effect on people who are in a stressful situation and are not particularly versed in the intricacies of housing and communal services.

When an apartment is flooded due to a breakdown of the meter (which, by the way, was installed by an employee of the emergency department), a burst battery, or due to another reason for the failure of the general building plumbing, they also try their best to convince the apartment owner that it is he who is to blame.

The law clearly defines the limits of liability for damage caused by the gulf. But just facts are not enough for the court. You also need to somehow prove DEZ’s guilt and, accordingly, your innocence. Yes, it is clear to you, as an actual eyewitness to the incident, who is right and who is wrong in the gulf, but the judge must literally chew this out. This is the essence of such a court document, which is called the conclusion of a forensic expert on determining the causes of apartment flooding . The essence of the expert's examination of the source of the bay is the research part of the examination. It contains photographs, measurements, location references and other points that show all the nuances of what happened. But the main component is the conclusions of the construction expertise. It is in them that the expert finally determines the cause of the accident and puts his signature on them.

The expert confirms his authority with certified copies of his permits, including the certificate of conformity of a forensic expert in a certain specialty.

Having added such a construction and technical examination to the materials of the court case, the judge with full confidence makes a decision to hold the DEZ (management company) accountable for damage from flooding of apartments.

Going to court

If your apartment is flooded from the roof, and your applications to the building management company, as well as to the city housing and communal services department, have no effect, you should go to court.

In this case, it is necessary to collect all documents related to the case. An act drawn up by commission experts or independent experts, a copy of the application to the housing and communal services, photo and video materials, a document on the assessment of material damage.

A statement is written to the court, which indicates the reason for the appeal, the time that has passed since the flooding, as well as detailed coordinates of your housing with the names of those who are inactive.

Before going to court, try again to convince your utility companies to fix the leak without lengthy proceedings.

Justify this by the fact that during and after the trial the company will incur additional material losses. Of course, legal proceedings drag on for quite a long time, and take up not only time, but also nerves.

Therefore, try your best to resolve the issue peacefully. Often this is enough, but only if you show persistence and patience. By abandoning the case halfway, you will not only not defend your rights, but will also give utility services a reason not to respond to your future requests.

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A roof that is not repaired on time will leak more and more each time during rainfall. Therefore, it is in your best interests to get it repaired as quickly as possible, as well as the restoration of your damaged repairs and furniture.

By knowing your rights and how to proceed, you will definitely achieve your goal with a little patience and persistence in the process.

Petition for appointment of an examination

During a flood damage lawsuit, each side presents a different type of evidence. Related to both the actual extent of flood damage and the cause of the damage. And when the evidence of both sides is generally similar to the truth, but at the same time is essentially opposite, the judge is forced to resort to the services of a forensic expert.

In accordance with the legislation, an expert is a person who has special knowledge in a certain field and has the appropriate legal status, confirmed by the certification system of forensic experts. Questions about the cause of flooding of the apartment and the ensuing amount of damage to the apartment are referred to construction and technical experts for consideration.

The applicant for the appointment of a forensic examination is one of the parties to the process (plaintiff or defendant). But information about the expert organization must also be attached to the application itself. To do this, we ask you to send us a corresponding request (a letter in free form) stating that you require this court hearing data. In response, we send you an information letter for the court about our readiness to conduct an examination of the bay, where we indicate all our data, and we also send you a certified copy of the certificate of conformity of the forensic expert. You then need to print out these papers and attach them to the application for examination.

If the court satisfies this request, then a ruling is issued in which our organization appears with the task of conducting a judicial construction, technical or appraisal examination. Next, the court courier or our employee delivers the case materials directly to the company’s address to organize research.

The apartment was flooded from the roof: what to do, how to file the damage and who will return it?

/ Bay / How to file damage and who will return it if the apartment is flooded from the roof?

Did you find yourself in an ambiguous situation when your apartment was flooded from the roof? This can happen due to the fault of any party: the owner himself, his neighbors or the management organization. The latter’s guilt can be proven if the premises were flooded due to poor roof maintenance. This problem is especially relevant for owners whose apartment is located on the top floors of buildings.

What to do when there is a flood?

You should not immediately buy materials and try to restore the previous appearance of your home yourself. According to Article 162 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the management company is a representative of home owners and is responsible for the maintenance of common property.

If flooding of any category is detected, it is necessary to remove valuables, documents and other accessible property from the premises.

If leaks are detected, they must be recorded and documented. Take photos or video of any areas where water has leaked from the roof. You can also invite neighbors who can testify to the fact of the loss incurred.

What should you do if your apartment is flooded due to the fault of the management company? Here is an approximate list of priority actions for the victim :

1. Register the scene of the emergency by inviting witnesses and taking photographs.
2. Contact the local housing and communal services department on duty, who will send a specialist to your apartment.
3. After inspection by a specialist, you must submit an application to the Criminal Code.

When considering your complaint to the Criminal Code in case the apartment was flooded from the roof, you should contact an independent appraiser. The specialist will give an opinion on all losses associated with the necessary repairs of the premises, the purchase of new household appliances or furniture to replace damaged ones.

Recording damage

If the apartment is flooded from the roof and certain actions are not taken immediately after this, then demanding compensation from the management company for material damage will be a pointless exercise. After registering a flood, you must submit a statement to the head of the management company.

The request must indicate:

1. Details of the recipient of the application (full name of the boss, information about the management company).
2. Information about the applicant (full name of the victim, address of the emergency site).
3. Information about flooding, its causes and extent.
4. Demands to eliminate the leak, as well as compensation for material damage.

The statement about flooding from the roof is written in two copies. One of the versions of the document remains in the Criminal Code, and the second is issued to the applicant. In this case, the last copy of the application must contain a note from a company employee confirming acceptance of the application.

Along with the complaint, you must attach printed photographs indicating the consequences of a leak from the roof. itself can be written in free form . When submitting an application, the applicant must prepare a passport and documents for the apartment that suffered material damage.

After receiving a request from the victim, the management company must assemble a special commission to assess the consequences of the flooding. It includes representatives of the management organization, neighbors, the victim himself and the elder in the house. Based on the results of the inspection of the apartment, the company must issue a flood report. The document indicates all the consequences, causes and approximate amount of the loss.

If for a long time specialists from the management company have not shown interest in the emergency, then an act of flooding of the apartment can be drawn up independently by inviting witnesses: the house manager, neighbors and family members.

According to the Federal Law “On the Protection of the Rights of Housing and Public Utilities Consumers,” compensation for material damage as a result of poor-quality provision of housing and communal services must be made within 30 days . During this period, from the moment of receiving a request from the victim, the management company must determine the method of compensation: repair of the premises or payment of material damage.

Simultaneously with the demand for compensation, it is worth filing a request for roof repairs. The management company must respond to this and take measures to further prevent flooding. If the roof is not repaired, water can again cause property damage.

Current issues

How to determine the cause of the flood?

Usually this question is answered by the management company’s act, which is drawn up when the flood occurs. But in our practice, there are times when such information in it (this act) is indicated in two ways, or is completely absent, or the act itself is missing. This happens primarily when the apartment is flooded due to the fault of the EPD and utility workers do not want to take responsibility for the damage.

First of all, the expert needs to examine the wet areas of the apartment (kitchen and bathroom), as the most common source of uncontrolled water flow into the apartment, and the heating risers are also being examined. If necessary, the units and connections of plumbing elements are dismantled. The humidity level in these places is checked, as well as the nature of traces of use of the apartment’s plumbing.

How can I prove that I am not to blame for the bay?

A feature of the judicial process is its bureaucratization. Even obvious things require confirmation either by reference to a specific article of a specific law, or reinforcement by a legally significant document. Therefore, your salvation at the trial will be two main points. Or appealing to the necessary law or regulation, stating that the source of the flood is not in your area of ​​​​responsibility (and for example the management company). Or an examination that will clearly show that the flooding process, from a technical point of view, did not occur through your fault .

Is it possible to eliminate the accident before the expert arrives?

Of course, this can and should be done. After all, the paramount importance is not recording the fact of the incident, but minimizing the damage. At first glance, the question seems strange, but the answer is obvious. But this is exactly what we are often asked by our clients who find themselves in a stressful situation. At the time of eliminating the leak, it is important to take as many photographs as possible, both of the source of the leak and of the process of eliminating the accident itself. All these photos can then be transferred to an expert or added to the materials of the court case regarding the flooding of the apartment . We pay special attention to the need to preserve for future examination the damaged element of the plumbing structure (burst fragment of the riser, flexible finishing, water supply meter, valve, etc.). These details are studied in detail by experts to determine the cause of the flood. Namely, it depends on the reason who will be to blame and who will pay a lot of money to the neighbors, you or DEZ.

I didn't have a gulf, and they blame me.

As a rule, this situation arises when the culprit of the accident is trying to shift the blame for the flood onto the tenant. They say that the battery in your apartment burst, which means you are to blame. The average person immediately gives up from the shock of what happened and such a phrase. But having pulled himself together, the apartment tenant understands that he has nothing to do with it. Only the obvious fact must be conveyed to the judge. For this purpose, an inspection of the place of water penetration into the apartment is carried out. The expert report on the cause of the flood in the research part clearly demonstrates the entire cause-and-effect relationship of the accident and subsequent damage from it. And the conclusions voice a point that will determine who is really to blame for the flooding.

The battery blew. Who is guilty?

, the management company is responsible for the maintenance of all systems in an apartment building . It is she, and not the operator, contractors, developers, etc. Each resident has (at least should have) an agreement for the management of an apartment building with the management company. In accordance with this agreement, which, by the way, most residents have never even seen, the owner of the apartment pays money (utility bills), and is provided with a service for comfortable living. is responsible for the failure of the heating system, including the battery . Therefore, if damage occurs from flooding of the apartment due to a burst battery, it is necessary to file a lawsuit only for damages.

Expert specialty 16.4.

In accordance with the certification system of forensic experts operating on the territory of the Russian Federation, in order to conduct examinations and draw up appropriate expert opinions, a certificate of conformity of a forensic expert is required.

To determine the cause of apartment flooding , specialists who have been trained in the forensic specialty under number 16.4 are brought in. “Determination of the causes and conditions of destruction of construction sites.” Construction and technical expertise for the court, performed by these specialists, is the basis for the court to make a decision on the relevant case.

Why do we need an examination of the cause of flooding in an apartment?

An expert opinion drawn up by a suitably qualified forensic expert is a document that has legal force. This means that it can be accepted as evidence of your innocence in court. What seems obvious to a tenant is not so to a judge. Therefore, you need to lay out in detail on paper things that at first glance seem obvious. Thus, this examination determines who exactly the judge will assign the obligation to pay a huge amount for damage caused by flooding of the lower apartment. You or utility services.

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What to do first

They promise to contribute money to the budget for the next quarter to renovate your apartment. The “next quarter...” is coming. They tell you “oh, sorry. We have postponed the costs of renovating your apartment for another quarter. Wait a little." Then another and another quarter. And so on ad infinitum.

Your vigilance is simply lulled until she falls asleep completely.

When your apartment floods, the first thing that gets damaged is the ceiling. Unsightly stains on it and falling drops will seem attractive to few people.

Write a statement about a roof leak, the management manager will receive it from you

Every resident is primarily concerned with the question: if the roof is leaking, where to go first, and what to do about it? Therefore, placing a container under the flow, pick up the phone handset.

Dial the number of your housing and communal services, where the dispatcher will accept your application. Next, you should wait for the appearance of a plumber who likes to introduce himself as a mechanic.

The locksmith, who is also a plumber, will try to assure you that the leak is not serious and will clog spontaneously when the precipitation stops. Only the most ignorant believe such versions, because a leak, without outside intervention, is not capable of eliminating itself.

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Undoubtedly, this will require cosmetic or major roof repairs. But what should the owner of an apartment that is already damaged by water, due to an accident on a leaking roof, or flooding from above, do?

Find out the coordinates of your housing and communal services, and write a statement addressed to its head. The fact is that the plumber, who is also a locksmith, who comes to your call will most likely only state the fact of a leak, but is unlikely to fix it.

Moreover, if the roof leaks, it is necessary not only to repair it, but also to eliminate the consequences of its damage. Therefore, the application is written in two copies, one of which is left in your housing and communal services, and the other is kept by its initiator.

Next, you should wait for a commission from members of the housing and communal services and the house committee to visit your apartment. Several people will come who will record and endorse not only the fact of the leak, but also the troubles caused to the apartment and the owner.

Anyone who knows where to go if the roof is leaking first of all persistently worries the utility workers, and only then those who stand above them.

Because when they arrive, utility workers may begin to assure you that everything is not so problematic, and the troubles can be corrected by making fresh repairs in the apartment.

If you are satisfied with this situation, follow their advice, make repairs at your own expense and wait for the next troubles. And they will most likely come in the form of regular roof leaks and damaged ceilings.

Therefore, after an unsuccessful visit from your service representatives, or if they do not appear at all, you should write a complaint to the head of the housing management department of your district or city.

It is also written in two copies. After such a measure, as a rule, the matter moves forward.

Now, if the roof of your apartment is leaking and you have suffered damage of any kind, a commission should come to you upon application. The commission is usually made up of several employees from your utility.

It is advisable that when it appears, your neighbors come to see you, as independent experts and as witnesses. The commission is obliged to draw up a report on the nature of damage to the premises and its causes. Please note that the cost of damage caused is not indicated in the act.

This item is indicated in the defective statement, compiled later on the basis of the roof leak report and the fact of damage and material losses resulting from the situation. Specifically, the act indicates only the nature of the accident that occurred on the roof, as well as the features and details of the troubles that followed.