How to check the housing and communal services management organization?

Tariffs and Standards

The process of licensing management companies has completed its active phase. In theory, it eliminated organizations that committed abuse or provided low-quality services. But, naturally, one can only dream of a complete financial and moral recovery of the MKD management market. However, it is possible to independently limit the possibilities of the management company for abuse. To do this, you need to monitor their activities.

Request for rates

The most common way to deceive residents of houses managed by a management organization is to manipulate tariffs and mandatory payments. In order to find out whether you are overpaying on the receipt that comes to you every month, you need to request a list and amount of tariffs from the Criminal Code. They cannot refuse to provide you with such information.

If problems still arise with obtaining important data, it is necessary to issue an official written request and register it with the secretary of the Criminal Code, indicating the incoming number. Ignoring such a request for the management company is fraught with major troubles.

After you have received the list and amounts of mandatory payments, you need to take your receipt and calculator and check if there is a “mistake” in the Criminal Code. The structure of payments is specified in Article 154 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. If an error is discovered, you should cooperate with your neighbors and find out if they have the same “errors.” As a rule, it is not individual residents who suffer from the abuses of the management company, but the entire building. A typical case is that the management company “forgot” that the house has a communal heat meter and charges according to the standards as if it did not exist. You should know that in Russia it is not uncommon for residents of a building to discover errors in the calculation of payment amounts. Often these amounts exceed hundreds of thousands of rubles.

Report

When drawing up an agreement with the management company, it is necessary to indicate the frequency and requirements for the content of the report on the work done. It should indicate such points as landscaping services, maintenance of common property, repairs and the cost of these services. There should also be information about the volume and cost of purchased utilities from resource supply organizations.

And most importantly - financial activity. Accounting statements, information on income and expenses are mandatory items in the report of any management company. Again, study this report; if questions arise, it would not be a bad idea to involve neighbors with an economic education in its discussion or even bring it to a house meeting. Also ask for certificates of completed work, an appendix to the report, and payment orders. These documents may contain interesting nuances that may not appear in a well-written report. You can also request an estimate of expenses for the coming year.

Having received the report, you need to take it and compare what is written there with what actually exists. For example, the report may indicate that the windows on the staircase were replaced, for which a certain amount of money was spent. But in fact, no one replaced these windows and none of the neighbors saw the workers. You need to check everything, right down to the water consumption for wet cleaning. The management company may also incur financial liability for services not provided.

State Housing Inspectorate

If you just now realized that your contract with the management company does not specify the frequency of reporting, it doesn’t matter. According to paragraph 11 of Article 162 of the Housing Code, the management company must provide owners with an annual report on its activities during the first quarter of the next year. If you did not plan to check the financial activities of your management company, the report is a good reason to do so. And if you or your proactive neighbors with a legal or economic education find inconsistencies or errors in the tariffs, then you should file a complaint with the State Housing Inspectorate. It would also be promising to contact Rospotrebnadzor. In addition, there is the prosecutor's office and, ultimately, the court. The prosecutor's office regularly initiates cases against directors of management companies who decide to spend the money collected from residents to pay for utilities for their own needs. These cases arise, among other things, thanks to the attentiveness of residents. Remember that after licensing management companies, two complaints from residents are enough to remove the management company from managing the house. So it’s just a matter of the initiative of the owners themselves. But it’s important not to go too far. Everyone has the right to make mistakes, including management companies. If these errors are not systemic or intentional, then it is better not to risk changing the management company. The new one may not be any better.

There are many fundamental problems in Russia that are stereotypes. When talking about our country, they immediately notice a couple of main problems - unsatisfactory roads, low wages, and constant problems with housing. In fact, not everything is so terrible everywhere, because problems with roads and money are being solved for the most part, and in general people have not been complaining lately. But, unfortunately, the problem with housing remains and there is no way to get rid of it.

And it lies in the following: in the country, the housing and communal services are responsible for each individual apartment building, which in turn completely monitors the house, as well as the surrounding area, and carries out repairs in cases where it is necessary. To put it simply, housing and communal services ensure the functioning of houses and make sure that people feel comfortable living in these very buildings. These organizations receive a certain amount of money for their activities.

But not everything is so transparent, not every one of them is so honest with the residents of apartment buildings. Very often it happens that the management organization simply becomes impudent and begins to steal money from residents, in the literal sense of the word, although many may not even suspect anything. That is why there is a body from above that supervises management companies.

Organization of regulatory authorities

In order to understand how to check a management company, you need to understand what rights residents generally have and which government authorities should fulfill this. In total, there are three levels of organization that inspects government management companies: local, regional, and federal, all of them have their own characteristics and are needed for a specific purpose.

Federal level

Far from being the main level among those who control the work of management companies. This method is not the main one, while they only issue some instructions, instructions on how to conduct housing, introduce only some principles and features, and this level consists of several state parts:

• FAS Russia (Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia) is the part that controls tariffs in the areas of water and heat supply and determines the maximum possible cost of payments from which housing and communal services should be based.
• Ministry of Construction of Russia - which determines drawings and schemes for heating and water supply of houses.
• Ministry of Energy of Russia - which determines the quality of housing and communal services provided. Describes their laws, rules, permits and, in general, the entire concept of management companies, and also checks the accounting for the economic part (Payments for heat and water).

Regional level

The same level that itself exercises control over management companies. Checks how the instructions from above, laws and guidelines are fulfilled. Management companies in this case are subordinate to a special body - the state housing supervision, which carries out all kinds of checks on the following parameters:

• How correctly the maintenance and care of living quarters is carried out.
• Tariffs and fees for various services provided by the management company.
• Carrying out redevelopment of buildings according to certain standards.
• Transfer of various premises from residential status to non-residential status and vice versa.
• Formation of funds for home repairs.

In cases where violations are detected, the authority can suppress and eliminate them at the expense of the management company that allowed them. It is also worth noting that, guided by SanPiN standards, this part also monitors the safety and quality properties of the services provided: water quality, its composition, both chemical, biological and radiological. In addition, the noise level, humidity and ventilation quality are checked.

Municipal level

Most often, this is an organization within a city organization that inspects management companies. These bodies are also assigned responsibilities that must be carried out at the regional level. All these checks according to the plan should be carried out once a year. In cases where complaints arise from residents, unscheduled inspections are carried out. Based on the results, a report must be drawn up with a conclusion on the inspection of the management company. Most often, such a check of the management company is effective.

Order from the municipal housing control authority

The management organization violated the Rules for the maintenance of common property in apartment buildings and the Rules and norms for the technical operation of the housing stock. The municipal housing control authority issued her an order to eliminate the violations and after some time carried out an unscheduled inspection.

As a result, it turned out that the management organization did not eliminate the malfunction, and the housing and communal services department issued a second order. The management organization did not deny the violation, but tried to challenge the issued order in court.

The management organization referred to Part 7 of Art. 20 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, according to which state housing supervision is not carried out in relation to management organizations that manage apartment buildings under a license. Such organizations are checked by licensing control authorities (Part 3 of Article 192 of the RF Housing Code).

In addition, the management organization indicated that after the MA receives a license to operate an apartment building, municipal housing control is exercised only in relation to the municipal housing stock, but not in relation to the common property of an apartment building.

Carrying out unscheduled inspections of State Housing Inspections
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Residents as a controlling body

Residents can also act as a body that controls the housing and communal services management company, since an agreement has been concluded with them on the provision of certain services. That is why residents can request an inspection that will be carried out in relation to the quality of these same housing and communal services.

Residents can request full reports for 1–2 years, based on which it will be clear how honestly the management organization keeps records. If something doesn’t add up, residents can go to court or a regulatory authority. It is important to note that a collective letter will speed up this process. The more residents connect, the faster the issue will be resolved. If the court confirms illegal actions, then all fees will be reimbursed to the residents.

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compliance by state authorities, local governments, as well as legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and citizens with: a) mandatory requirements for: – residential premises, their use and maintenance; – maintenance of common property in an apartment building; – the procedure for transferring residential premises to non-residential premises and non-residential premises to residential premises; – the procedure for recognizing premises as residential premises, residential premises as unsuitable for habitation, an apartment building as unsafe and subject to demolition or reconstruction in accordance with regulations approved by the Government of the Russian Federation; – housing stock accounting; – the procedure for reconstruction and redevelopment of residential premises; – determining the composition, maintenance and use of the common property of the owners of premises in an apartment building; – management of apartment buildings; – fulfillment by persons managing apartment buildings (including management organizations, homeowners’ associations, housing, housing construction and other specialized consumer cooperatives managing apartment buildings, as well as legal entities and individual entrepreneurs engaged in the provision of maintenance services and (or) work on the repair of common property in an apartment building, with the direct management of the apartment building by the owners of premises in such a building), services and work on the maintenance and repair of common property in an apartment building in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation; – establishing the amount of payment for the maintenance and repair of residential premises; – disclosure of information in accordance with the standard for disclosure of information approved by the Government of the Russian Federation by organizations operating in the field of management of apartment buildings; – the creation and operation of a homeowners’ association or a housing, housing-construction or other specialized consumer cooperative, compliance with the rights and obligations of their members; – provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings; – creation and activities of councils of apartment buildings; – determination of the amount and payment of utility bills; – ensuring the energy efficiency of apartment buildings and residential buildings, equipping them with devices for metering the energy resources used and operating such devices; – activities of specialized non-profit organizations specified in paragraph 2 of these Regulations to finance capital repairs of common property in apartment buildings; – the procedure and conditions for concluding management agreements for apartment buildings and other agreements ensuring the management of an apartment building, including the maintenance and repair of common property in an apartment building, agreements containing the conditions for the provision of utility services, and agreements on the use of common property of the owners of premises in an apartment building; – formation of capital repair funds;

b) other mandatory requirements for the use and safety of the housing stock, regardless of its form of ownership, established by housing legislation and legislation on energy saving and increasing energy efficiency.

Checking the housing and communal services management company for honesty in three stages:

Controlling authorities in the housing and communal services sector are sometimes not honest, so you have to carry out the inspection in such a way that it is really fast, minimally expensive both in time and in resources and, accordingly, has the maximum impact.

First stage: Gathering information

In order to start checking management companies, you need to be able to study documentation and be quite patient and attentive in this regard. From the management company, collect all the necessary packages, which spell out the tariffs for all services provided by the company. On behalf of the owners, write a statement with which to request settlements. You need to get as many papers as possible.

Second stage: Checking calculations and work performed

Check the accuracy of the organization’s calculations, as well as the justification for the reason for payment for services. It is also advisable to check whether these services were actually performed in full, as well as their quality.

If you can’t do the recalculations yourself to check them correctly, then you should turn to professionals for help. Such expenses, as a rule, most often pay off, but it is worth remembering that you need to take this action in cases where there really is a suspicion of dishonesty of the management company.

Third stage: Final

This actually ends the supervision in the housing and communal services sector. If, in conclusion, the management organization is still unclean, then the next step is to go to court, and also warn the residents that they will have to write a complaint against the management company.

Control over housing and communal services tariffs

On July 25, 2020, the President of the Russian Federation ordered the Government of the Russian Federation to ensure control over the legality of decisions made by state authorities of the regions of the Russian Federation or local governments regarding changes in the amount of citizens’ payments for utilities . FAS prepared the text of the bill, and on October 28, 2020, the Government of the Russian Federation adopted it.

The FAS now has the authority to demand that heads of regions eliminate violations in case of exceeding the established limits for increasing housing and communal services tariffs . But only if the possibility of this excess is identified by the FAS before June 1 of the current year.

According to Section IX of the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 6, 2011 N 354, the grounds for changing utility fees are:

• provision of utility services to the consumer during the billing period of inadequate quality or with interruptions longer than the established duration;
• interruptions in the provision of utility services for the duration of repairs or maintenance work exceeding the established duration.

The resolution introduces another basis for reducing utility tariffs - an order from the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia.

If in the current year the increase in fees for utilities in the region exceeds the established index of changes in the size of fees for utilities on average in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, the index for the constituent entity for the next year will decrease by the amount of such excess.

For late payments for utility services, management companies, homeowners associations and citizens will pay fines and penalties
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Registration and filing of complaints against the management company

In order for the financial and economic activities of the management company to be checked by the authorities above, it is most often necessary to file a complaint, which is subsequently submitted to the court, prosecutor's office, inspectorate or other government department that deals with this.

Drawing up a complaint

Before contacting the supervisory authority, you need to try to get a response from the Criminal Code itself; if the response is not satisfactory or there is no response at all, then you can begin to file a complaint. This is done using samples for filing complaints against the Criminal Code.

Complaint to the housing inspection

The work of this state part is aimed at protecting consumers, that is, residents, but do not forget that it deals only with a certain part of possible problems, this was described above. Otherwise, you will have to contact another government agency.

Complaint to the prosecutor's office

The prosecutor's office is not the one who controls the work of housing and communal services management companies, but still in cases of illegal actions, but it can do the work if the violations are related to cash flow. As a result of the case, it will be possible to bring the organization to criminal liability for committing illegal actions.

Complaint to court

When the bodies that control the work of housing and communal services management companies fail, it is possible to turn to a judge and resolve conflicts and issues related to the Criminal Code and in court. This requires more time and effort, but is more practical than other methods.

What to do if they overcharge: how to challenge the increase?

According to paragraph 7 of Art. 156 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, rent is approved at a meeting of homeowners and the management company does not have the right to independently increase tariffs.

Where to complain? If it turns out that the tariffs were increased without the knowledge of the residents or other violations were discovered on the part of the management company, you should first contact the company itself. If there is no response, the complaint can be sent to the State Housing Inspectorate, Rospotrebnadzor, the prosecutor's office or the court - inspection bodies of state power.

Instructions for challenging unjustified overestimation:

1. Request work reports from the management company and check the tariff.
2. Analyze reports and identify violations.
3. If inconsistencies are found, you should send a written request to the management company to eliminate the violations or file a complaint with the municipal housing inspectorate.
4. Wait for a response from the management company.
5. If you ignore the requirements, contact the prosecutor's office, court or other government authorities.

Documents for challenging a company's tariff increase:

• management agreement (concluded between the owners and the management company);
• minutes of the meeting of homeowners.

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