Deadlines for payment of utility bills according to the Housing Code

What are the payment terms for housing and communal services?

Every month we are all faced with the need to pay utility bills. There are many ways to do this. They all differ in place of payment, interest rates, means of payment, etc.

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Some methods will take some time to credit funds. That is why it is important to know the exact timing of payment of utility bills.

What should you pay for?

The list of housing and communal services may differ in importance from the arrangement of a residential building. This will largely depend on the presence of sewerage, gas, garbage wires in the house and on the form of management of the apartment building.

Housing and communal services bills indicate all types of payments for which payment is required. Between themselves they can be divided into:

Utilities include:

thermal heating;
gas supply;
electricity;
sewerage;
water supply.

Housing services include:

waste removal;
repair and maintenance of housing;
elevator maintenance (if there is one);
intercom;
radio point;
TV antenna;
work of the management company.

The legislative framework

According to Article 40 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, every citizen is guaranteed the legal right to residential premises suitable for living.

At the same time, not every family in the country has its own living space or the funds to purchase it. Therefore, at the state level, various programs are provided to make housing more affordable, as well as slightly reduce the cost of maintaining it for some categories of beneficiaries.

It does not matter how the apartment was purchased or obtained, the residents in any case have the obligation to pay bills for the resources used. At a minimum, we are talking about gas, electricity, water, drainage and so on.

According to Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the following are required to pay utility bills:

owners of residential apartments;
employers of social apartments;
persons renting an apartment and paying rent;
relatives of the homeowner, if for some reason he is absent at the time of payment.

As for housing services, owners must pay for them in accordance with the standards established in the region of their residence, with meter data and Government Decree number 354.

Deadlines for payment of utility bills

Depending on the payment method used, payments may be delayed in transit. Accordingly, payment can be made on time, but the enrollment date differs by several days. As a result, you will have to pay a fine for those few days of forced delay.

Therefore, it is recommended to pay all bills at least a few days before the end of the term.

The payment is considered finally made only at the moment when the funds are received in the account of the organization providing the services.

What is the fine for non-payment of utility bills? See here.

When and where to pay?

Let's look at the deadlines for paying utility bills under the Housing Code in 2020 and by what date you should pay.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, payment of utility bills must be made before the 10th day of the month following the payment period. However, the period can be changed under a separate agreement with the management company.

Until what date should rent be paid?

Important

If the debt is long-term, the case of non-payment may be referred to court. Until what date do you need to pay utility bills? This period is set taking into account the statute of limitations prescribed in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation

. If a conflict situation arises related to the payment of a mandatory fee for the use of resources, then the only documents that will allow you to confirm the fact of payment will be these “payments”.

Without such documents, proving the deposit of funds will be extremely difficult and will take a lot of time. What dates are housing and communal services paid? Until what date should rent be paid? The current legislation quite clearly regulates the procedure for making monthly payments for utilities, but many people who do not understand the laws do not know how this procedure should be carried out correctly.

Deposit methods

Today there are many ways to pay utility bills. Payment can be made:

cash;
through plastic cards;
from an electronic wallet.

The simplest and one of the most common methods is payment through the cash desk of a banking institution. This can be done at most banks and they all charge a percentage for this in the form of a commission for transferring funds. In order to make a payment, you must have a receipt.

The main disadvantage of this method is that there are usually long queues at banks and the payment process can take a lot of time. Moreover, you have to depend on the bank’s opening hours.

Another equally common method is payment through an ATM. Most citizens of the country have at least one plastic card (for example, a salary card). In this case, you will still have to pay interest, but it is slightly lower than when paying in cash. In order to complete the operation, you need to know the personal account number consisting of 10 digits.

Another payment method is terminals. In each of them, interest is additionally paid, which amounts to 3-5%. Payment is made in cash. Moreover, the entire amount is deposited, without issuing change. If there is a balance, it is transferred to the payment account for the next month.

It is most profitable for citizens who are clients of Sberbank or Bank of Moscow to pay through Russian Post. They do not charge any additional commission.

If you have enough funds in your account, you can make the payment using your mobile operator. You can also pay online through the Sberbank Internet resource. To do this, you need to be an account holder with this bank and have the “Mobile Banking” option activated. You can make a payment if you have a personal account.

When paying through the Sberbank website, funds can be transferred only on business days. This must be taken into account to avoid delays.

Another online payment method is the State Services website. Payment is made by bank card. To do this you need to be registered on this site. Payment also occurs according to the personal account number.

How long should I keep receipts?

At the moment, the legislation does not provide for storage periods for receipts. However, this provides for a so-called statute of limitations, during which a citizen or legal entity can file a claim against the debtor demanding forced payment of the debt.

Currently, the statute of limitations is three years. During this time, the payer has the right to submit an application for recalculation of utility bills, and the management company may try to collect arrears in payment of bills.

If the payer does not have receipts that can confirm that he actually made the payment, then he will have to do it again. It is for this reason that it is advisable to keep receipts for at least three years from the date of payment, in order to prove that you are right in any case.

In addition, Article 199 of the Civil Code provides that, regardless of the limitation period, the court still accepts the application for consideration. Only during the proceedings can the defendant indicate the expiration of this period.

Until what date are payments allowed to be made without interest or penalties?

According to the general rules, the deadline for paying rent for the past month is the 10th of the next period. On the other hand, there are many different options for making payments, including setting a specific order.

If a citizen has suspicions about incorrect charges for consumed resources, he can use his personal account number and check all charges. If an error is discovered, you will need to submit an application for recalculation
. Otherwise, the procedure for paying for housing and communal services is standard, and management companies usually set the deadline as the 20th of the current month.

Missing this deadline may result in penalties and fines. As a result, the management company has the right to decide to completely disable a certain service

. Even missing one month can cause the debt to begin to accumulate and grow rapidly. In the future, this may lead to financial difficulties and the inability to repay the debt.

Responsibility for delay

If payment is not made within three months, the supply of housing and communal services will be stopped. If you connect to the systems yourself, a fine of 10-15 thousand rubles may be imposed. If the debt is not paid for too long, the case may be taken to court.

How to pay housing and communal services without commission via the Internet? Information here.

Are there any benefits on utility bills for pensioners? Details in this article.

Accrual of penalties

According to paragraph 14 of Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, if payment for services is not made on time, a fine in the form of a penalty may be charged, amounting to 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation per day.

The fine is accrued within 31 days to 60 days. After this, the fine increases to 1/130 of the refinancing rate per day.

It is necessary to pay utility bills monthly in any convenient way. It is important to comply with the deadlines, taking into account that payment does not occur immediately and a delay is possible. Even if everything is paid on time, the money may only arrive in the company’s account in a couple of days.

Existing order

The procedure for paying for utility services provides for several main payment methods:

Using postal orders or depositing cash from a bank account. Both cash and non-cash transfers can be used, depending on what is more convenient for the payer.
Payment of bills through proxies using any type of payment that does not contradict the drawn up agreement.
Payment of utilities on time, but in installments, subject to a pre-arranged agreement with the management company.
Making payments in the form of an advance payment for utilities.

If housing was provided on the basis of an asocial rental agreement, the payment point, if desired, can be specified in advance in the drawn up agreement. If such a clause was indeed indicated when drawing up the contract, then in this case in the future the tenant will have to act in full accordance with the established procedure, paying rent within the specified time frame.

If this condition is ignored, the tenant may be subject to all sorts of penalties and interest, since any deviation from the terms of the concluded agreement will already be considered a direct violation. In particular, current legislation even provides for the possibility of permanent eviction of defaulters if they are found to be maliciously evading payment for utility services.

If any conflict situations arise related to debt payment or the inability to make monthly payments on time, you can always submit an official application to the authorized bodies and ask for a deferment. At the same time, it is immediately worth noting that you need to contact only the management company that ensures the supply of natural resources to the territory of the specified housing.

According to the rules, rent for the previous month must be paid no later than the 10th of the next month.

Today, there are quite a large number of options for how to pay for utilities by cash and non-cash payments, and each of them has its own rules and procedure for conducting payment transactions

If you suspect incorrect calculation of utility bills, you can check the rent on your personal account.

You can learn how to properly fill out and where to submit an application for recalculation of rent from this article.

Video about payment deadlines

Due to frequent changes in legislation, information sometimes becomes outdated faster than we can update it on the website.
All cases are very individual and depend on many factors. Basic information does not guarantee a solution to your specific problems.

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Mosenergosbyt explained how to pay for electricity according to the new scheme.

In 2012, new Rules for the provision of utility services came into force, which introduced changes to the usual procedure for calculating and paying for electricity. Briefly, the changes can be summarized as follows: each electricity consumer must submit the readings of their electricity meter to the energy sales company by the 26th day of each month, and the energy sales company must send monthly bills to consumers for payment.

Earlier, the head of the territorial branch of Mosenergosbyt OJSC, V. Ryzhikov, told the active Zelenograd residents about the new electricity payment scheme. And in order to make it easier for all Zelenograd residents to understand these innovations, employees of Mosenergosbyt OJSC have compiled a list of pressing questions from residents and answers to them.

How is the amount due on your electricity bill calculated?

based on the electricity meter readings provided by the consumer;
based on electric meter readings taken by employees of Mosenergosbyt OJSC;
in the absence of readings provided by the consumer or taken by Mosenergosbyt employees, the amount payable for 3 months is calculated based on the average monthly consumption volume, then based on the consumption standard.

How will the calculation be made if I do not submit readings every month?

If the consumer has not submitted readings for several months in a row, then in the month when the transfer is made, a recalculation will be made based on the transferred readings and previous readings available at Mosenergosbyt OJSC (transferred by the consumer or taken by Mosenergosbyt employees).

How will the calculation be made if my meter does not work or is missing?

In this case, the amount payable will be calculated based on average monthly consumption over the last 3 months, then based on the consumption standard established by the Regional Energy Commission of Moscow. If there is no meter, then based on consumption standards.

When is it necessary to transmit evidence?

Meter readings can be transmitted to Mosenergosbyt OJSC no later than the 26th day of the current month.

What is the most convenient way to transmit electricity meter readings?

To transmit readings, Mosenergosbyt recommends using:

— the client’s personal account on the LKK-MES.RF website is the most convenient service. It also allows you, after entering your readings, to immediately pay for electricity with a bank card without charging a commission; the operation will take no more than one or two minutes.

- around the clock, without holidays and weekends using the phone's tone mode, by dialing the telephone numbers of the company's Contact Center 8-495-981-981-9 or 8-800-55-000-55 (free call): follow the prompts of the voice assistant and enter data directly from your phone's keyboard. On weekdays (from 8:00 to 20:00), you can also transfer readings to the Contact Center operators at the above telephone numbers and, in the same way as in the client’s Personal Account, pay for electricity with a bank card.

— boxes for receiving readings located in each client office of Mosenergosbyt OJSC.

In what cases can you not transmit meter readings?

There is no need to transmit readings if the meter allows readings to be transmitted remotely to Mosenergosbyt OJSC. We independently take meter readings using AIIS KUE, which we inform you about in your monthly invoice.

How often will Mosenergosbyt OJSC employees take readings from my electricity meter?

Mosenergosbyt employees will take readings to verify calculations from the consumer's metering device at least once a year. If the consumer has not provided meter readings for 3 months in a row, the company has the right to take unscheduled readings.

Is it possible to pay for electricity “upfront”?

Yes, you can. Advance payments will be taken into account against future billing periods. To make an advance payment in the electricity bill, the consumer can indicate any amount to be paid.

What happens if I continue to fill out receipts myself and pay them by the 10th day of the month following the billing month?

If you pay for electricity on time according to the electricity meter readings, you will not have a debt to Mosenergosbyt OJSC. The main thing is to comply with payment deadlines!

I do not agree with the debt accrued to me. What should I do to sort out the situation? How can I pay for electricity while the trial is ongoing?

In this case, the electricity consumer can use the Customer Personal Account service on the company’s website www.mosenergosbyt.ru, which contains all the information about his payments, as well as the readings transmitted to him and the readings taken by our employees during scheduled control activities. If the information received is not enough, then specialists from the company’s contact center will help you understand the situation by calling +7 (495) 981-981-9 and 8-800-55-000-55.

During the trial, the client must pay for electricity according to his meter readings. It must be remembered that failure to pay within three billing periods is grounds for limiting the energy supply to the debtor’s apartment.

Features and methods of paying for utilities.

Speaking about how to pay for utilities, it is worth noting that this must be done within a strictly established time frame, taking into account the rules in force in this area. Utility payments include the provision of housing with electricity, gas, water (both cold and hot), heating and sewage system. In addition, payment for utilities includes a fee for cleaning the area located near the house, as well as the removal of household waste.

Tariffs for paying for housing and communal services are established by the bodies entrusted with the functions of the executive branch. This is also influenced by the municipal administration and the energy commission. Their activities are based on the rules of law.

There are several ways to pay for utilities, including standard ones, which include payment through the cash register, systems developed by banks, terminals and via the Internet. The payer himself decides how to pay. In any case, you need to obtain a document confirming payment for utilities; without a receipt it is difficult to prove that you voluntarily fulfilled your obligations.

Housing services

Tariffs for current repairs and housing maintenance (garbage removal, replacing light bulbs in entrances, cleaning entrances) still depend on the agreement of apartment owners with their management company, and in practice, most often, they are simply set by the Criminal Code (and are often inflated) .

And whether to agree with such tariffs or not is the right of apartment owners. And if you don’t like the Manager, you can change him
. In any case, this right of tenants is provided for by the Housing Code. To do this, you need to convene a general meeting of owners and resolve this issue.

Major repairs at your own expense

Starting this year, another line “major repairs” will appear in payment documents. And the homeowners themselves will have to chip in for major repairs of their home.

. Payment under this line will become mandatory and provides for two options for its implementation:

Payment is in the form of monthly payments, which go to the general regional fund and are spent according to an approved program for the repair of houses in the region. This option is not very suitable for residents of new houses, because, most likely, dilapidated houses will be repaired first
The owners of the house, through the HOA or management company (by decision of the meeting of residents), will transfer these funds to a special bank account and accumulate them there for future repairs

Based on the experience of regions where residents are already paying for major renovations, rents may increase significantly.

What will happen to the debtors?

The fight against debt is getting tougher. According to statistics, 94% of Russians pay utility bills regularly, but 6% can safely be classified as persistent non-payers.

Don't pay on time - you pay more. Because the amount of fines will increase, penalties will increase by approximately 2 times (up to 17% per annum). In addition, an apartment with a debt cannot be sold, undergo state registration, or get a mortgage loan for it.

On the contrary, reliable payers are offered to reduce utility bills in a completely legal way.

A new idea is proposed - advance payments. The homeowner must pay utility bills at the beginning of the current month for services not yet received

.
And such payers will have to receive a discount
. Its size will be determined individually in each specific case and by agreement between the owner of the apartment and the management company.

The idea of compulsory home insurance is still in the air. But experts have not yet decided how to do this in practice.

We pay through the cash register

Most citizens are accustomed to paying for utilities through a cash register located at a post office or bank.
In this case, you need to personally visit the post office or bank, wait in line at the cashier, where you can then pay for housing and communal services using a receipt. The specialist will carry out all the steps required for payment, after which he will give you a receipt, which will reflect the time of the operation, date and amount. Paying using this method is considered the most reliable. This is due to the fact that it has been tested for many years. An undoubted advantage is that you don’t need to know anything regarding paid services, you just need to fill out the books and submit them to the cashier. However, in 2020, payment methods that do not require visiting a cash register in person are becoming more common. In particular, they use ATMs to pay for utilities. With their help, you can avoid standing in line, thereby saving time.

Important! It doesn’t matter how the utility bill is paid, it is worth remembering that a small percentage will always be charged as a commission. That is, you will need to pay from 1 to 5 percent for the operation.

Using ATMs

Utility bills can be paid via ATMs. It is worth noting that only persons with a bank card can use this service. If you use an ATM, it is worth remembering a simple sequence of actions that will help you pay for utilities. In particular:

you need to find out where an ATM is located nearby and come to it with a card issued by a banking organization;
after inserting the card, you will need to enter a code;
select “Payment point for services” in the menu;
a list of payment recipients appears in front of you, from which you will need to select your housing department;
then enter the ten-digit payer number;
indicate for what period utility bills are paid;
the amount of debt will appear on the screen, you need to click on the payment button, after which the funds are debited from the bank card that you previously inserted into the ATM;
at the end of the transaction, you should be given a check indicating that payments have been made to the organization operating in the housing sector.

You can make payments not only through the ATM of the banking organization that issued the card to you, but also by others. Then you need to take into account that the commission may be a little higher.

Before paying the fee, you need to clarify the deadlines for paying utility bills. This is necessary to ensure that the payment will be considered completed by a certain date. Particular attention should be paid to this when paying through payment systems.

You can also pay for utilities through terminals that have payment purposes. They work on the same principle as ATMs. However, there are still differences, and they lie in the fact that a bank card is not required, you can pay in cash. To do this, you will need to select the required section and enter the amount you want to deposit. It also happens that the terminal accepts bank cards for payment.

The terminals are convenient because they are easy to find when you need to pay for utilities. As a rule, they are located in shops, shopping centers and other public places. This payment method is especially convenient for Moscow and other large cities where there are metro stations, since the metro also has terminals. That is, you can pay your utility bills at any time while you are going about your business, and the deadline for paying utility bills will not be missed. The terminals operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The current regulations for the payment of housing and communal services receipts

Today there are several options for paying for consumed services. We are talking about the following possibilities:

Using a regular postal order or transferring the required amount from a bank card (account). You can arrange a cash or non-cash transfer, taking into account which option is more convenient for the payer.
Carrying out payment of bills by delivering receipts to a trusted person.
Payment of fees on time, but in installments, if this has been previously discussed with the management company.
Processing payments as an advance payment for consumed resources.

If the premises were provided to a citizen (family) under a social lease agreement, then the clause regarding payment of utility bills is mandatory for such a document. Subsequently, the tenant will have to navigate these provisions when paying charges and make all calculations taking into account the designated period.

If this requirement is ignored, a penalty will be charged and various penalties will be applied. If there is no payment for the use of resources, the agreement with the tenant may be terminated, and the citizen will be evicted from the premises. All conflict situations are first considered pre-trial and then in court.

Payment via the Internet

In 2020, housing services can be paid for using the online payment option provided by banks.
To implement this method, you will need to go through the registration procedure on the bank’s website. You can do this yourself or ask a specialist for help. Once you have registered, you will be able to make payments from anywhere and at a time convenient for you. In addition, you can find out by what date you need to pay utility bills and activate autopayment, that is, in this case, you will pay on time and there will be no debt.

After registration, go to your personal account, where you select the item you need from the menu. Next, you will need to enter the payment details, your data, in particular, you will need to indicate your personal account, the address where you live and your initials with your last name. The form needs to be filled out once, after the first payment it will be saved and you will not need to enter the data again. Next time, you will only need to indicate the amount you want to deposit and confirm the payment. There is no need to worry about receiving a receipt; it can be printed after payment. To do this, you will need to save the payment document.