Medvedev introduces advance payments to housing and communal services. They plan to provide discounts for paying utilities in advance Advance payments for utilities

In a new building, it often speaks of low prices and larger area. However, when receiving the keys, all buyers face one unpleasant moment - they must pay for housing and communal services 3-6 months in advance, otherwise they will not be able to enter the long-awaited apartment. Why would you ask?

The buyer bears the burden of operation from the moment of signing the apartment acceptance certificate. Since the developer is not responsible for the apartment from the moment the transfer and acceptance certificate is signed, he cannot demand payment “in advance” either. Also, the developer cannot demand such payment for housing and communal services before signing this act. Theoretically, he can only demand compensation for documented expenses if he paid housing and communal services for the participant from the moment the apartment acceptance certificate was signed until the participant concluded an agreement with the management company. But as practice shows, this rarely happens.

As a rule, it is the HOA/management companies that require payment for housing and communal services. This is because these organizations may incur one-time costs that are higher than their normal monthly payments. However, this is a deliberately contestable point in the contract with organizations, since in this case there is a violation of a number of provisions of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights and the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. These conclusions are confirmed by judicial practice.

“The developer cannot force the participant to pay more than what is required by law. If the developer (or management company) insists on this, inquire about the reasons and contact the supervisory authorities (prosecutor’s office, commission for the protection of consumer rights), and then go to court,” advises Sofya Lebedeva, general director of the MIEL-Novostroiki company.

According to Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the obligation to pay operating and utility costs for residential premises arises from the moment of registration of ownership. According to Maria Litinetskaya, general director of the Metrium Group company, this rule is applicable only in the event of a change of owner, that is, when buying and selling an apartment. “Shareholders under registered DDU make operational and utility payments from the moment of signing the apartment acceptance certificate, unless other terms are specified in the agreement. Members of the housing cooperative are obligated to pay for maintenance and utilities from the moment the apartment is transferred. Payments are collected either by the cooperative itself or by the operating company hired by it to maintain the house,” she says.

The management company insures itself

“By law, the owner is obliged to bear the burden of expenses, that is, the cost of paying housing and communal services for the maintenance of the property, upon registration of ownership of this property,” also notes Vera Bogucharova, Deputy Head of the Legal Service of the Est-a-Tet company. - In practice, the buyer of an apartment begins to bear expenses from the moment he received the apartment for actual use (for example, for repairs), it is quite logical that for actual use developers require payment in advance for several months, thereby compensating their expenses for “utilities” "

It is worth noting that employees of management companies ask to pay for utilities several months in advance because the period of settlement usually takes quite a long time, and the management company needs money in order to maintain the house. Of course, there is nothing criminal in these requirements, but management companies also have no legal grounds for this. The newcomer can simply refuse. He will still get the keys. Although it happens that he cannot receive it, since the management company may declare that you will not receive the keys until you pay. However, if the client knows the laws of the Russian Federation well, then he can “pump up his rights” in court. And we note that there are now a lot of such clients who are suing.

“Maybe many people go to court, but I know of extensive practice when the courts took the position of the developer or management company in this matter - provided that before receiving a certificate of ownership, the apartment was actually transferred to the buyer by deed,” says Vera Bogucharova. - Since in this case the maintenance of the house has already begun. And even though many residents have not completely moved into their apartments, they are using the living space, at a minimum, making repairs.”

“It was possible to win the court in cases where the developer violated the rights of the buyer,” notes Sergei Galsky, general director of MIG Real Estate Management Company. - For example, if initially the contract did not contain a clause on the need for prepayment of housing and communal services, but at the time of signing the acceptance certificate, the buyer was faced with such a requirement. An even more egregious case is if communications (water, gas, electricity) are not yet operational, but you already need to pay for them. Another possibility is that the period for which you need to make an advance payment is too long - more than 6 months. The most common payment method in the Moscow region is 4 months in advance.”

No surprises

If the participant purchased an apartment under the DDU or UDDU, it is necessary to indicate the inadmissibility of these points in accordance with the law and demand the transfer of keys without payment “in advance.” If the developer does not agree, he will have to write a statement to the prosecutor and subsequently go to court. The same should be done with management companies.

If the purchase of an apartment was under a different agreement (for example, a preliminary agreement), then much depends on its form and provisions. In this case, the developer may simply delay issuing keys and signing the relevant acts (until he receives a certificate of ownership), which, as a rule, does not suit clients. However, there is a way out - after paying such payments, the client can sue and get the money paid back.

We also note that this obligation - to pay for housing and communal services several months in advance - is spelled out in the contract. Therefore, this should not come as a surprise to the buyer. “It was not by chance that such a clause appeared in contracts - the developer is forced to write it down, since most people are sure that until ownership of the apartment has been obtained, they can use utilities and energy resources for free,” says Sergei Galsky. - Having received the keys, most immediately begin to do, and this is a very energy-consuming activity. As a result, hefty bills for water and electricity fall on the developer, who, in turn, is forced to go to court and collect money from buyers for the energy consumed.”

I'm not the owner - I don't pay

Another problem is rent. While people are most often willing to pay for electricity, they are not willing to pay rent (or maintenance fees). “The logic here is simple: the buyer identifies the rent with the real estate tax, that is, he believes: “I’m not the owner - I don’t pay,” says Alexey Shmonov, CEO of the real estate portal Move.su . However, having received the keys and the acceptance certificate, the buyer assumes responsibility for the maintenance of the apartment: cleaning the territory, removing garbage, etc., that is, rent for him is the same relevant payment as paying for electricity and water supply.

If the buyer does not intend to carry out any work in the apartment and use utilities, then the easiest way for him not to pay the advance is to simply refrain from receiving the acceptance certificate and keys until the moment when ownership can be registered. The third way: stipulate in the contract the installation of meters and the obligation to pay for all utilities in accordance with their indicators - that is, for the energy actually used, from the moment the acceptance certificate is signed and the keys to the apartment are received.

Filing a lawsuit against the Criminal Code

“There is a clearly defined list of services that the management company provides. You need to familiarize yourself with them before concluding a management contract,” advises Maria Litinetskaya. It makes sense to sue the management company if the owners of premises in an apartment building are dissatisfied with the quality of the services provided to them. In this case, they can hire another company. If a similar decision was made at the HOA meeting, then a special group of owners is created, which takes the initiative into its own hands. Next, this group carefully studies the agreement with the management company. The legal basis for termination is the expiration of its validity period, however, the contract can be terminated without waiting for the end of the validity period if there are violations on the part of the management company, for example, failure to perform any work or provision of services not in full or of inadequate quality. Then, with the help of a good lawyer, you can initiate termination of relations with the management company. After this, the initiative group selects a new operating company, prepares a new agreement, and at the next HOA meeting the procedure for signing it occurs.

It's all due to inattention

There is no point in accusing the developer and management company of blackmail, since you can understand them - they are afraid and therefore insure themselves in advance. It is beneficial for the developer, taking advantage of the moment and leverage on clients in the form of providing access to their apartments (providing keys), to collect the amount of utility bills for the entire period before choosing a management company and registering ownership, rather than every month coming into conflict with one or another individual shareholder .

“Usually, developers stipulate the need to pay such an amount immediately in equity participation agreements, which are concluded a long time before the actual construction of the house, and therefore shareholders do not particularly delve into this condition, considering it quite fair,” notes Evgeny Zimin, director of the company’s Legal Department Blackwood. “If the agreement has already been signed, then it is difficult to challenge this condition, although from a legal point of view it is quite controversial.”

As mentioned above, most of the problems of buyers is that few of them read the contract that they sign when buying an apartment, and then they are surprised. “There are often cases when buyers simply did not bother to read their contract carefully - and then are faced with an “unexpected” need to pay for something,” notes Sergei Galsky. “And we are not talking about “points in small letters,” but about completely normal texts of agreements.”

Those who are willing to pay in advance will pay for housing and communal services at reduced rates, and debtors will not be able to sell their apartment. A bill on this has been sent to the government, Deputy Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Andrei Chibis told RG.

The size of the discount will be determined in each specific case by agreement between the apartment owners and the management company (MC). Relations between the management company and resource supplying organizations will be built in a similar way - in order to receive a bonus, the management company will only need to pay for water and heat supply services, as well as electricity supplies, in a timely manner.

Now management companies can only give discounts on housing services (maintenance and repairs of housing), that is, on those that they themselves provide, Andrei Chibis explained. The amount of payment for utility services (water, heat, electricity, etc.) is calculated based on the volume of resource consumption and the tariff established by the state, and by law cannot be changed.

Now management organizations will be able to provide discounts to bona fide owners, while stimulating advance payment, and launch other consumer incentive programs.

On the other hand, debtor citizens should think about their behavior. The amount of penalties for debts may almost double - from 1/300 to 1/170 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for each day of delay. Today this corresponds to 17 percent per annum of a standard market loan.

In other words, defaulters are given a choice: either pay on time, or at any time, but at a higher price. At the same time, the apartment on which the debt “hangs” can neither be sold nor obtained a mortgage loan against it. Transactions with “bad” apartments will not pass state registration.

“In Russia, approximately 5 percent of the population are chronic debtors for housing and communal services,” said Andrei Chibis. “A third of them are quite wealthy people who forget or are simply lazy to pay for housing and communal services on time. Such negligence, of course, must be fought.” As follows from the documents provided by the Ministry of Construction to RG, it will be more difficult for ineffective and openly thieving management companies that take advantage of the inertia of apartment owners. If such a company has accumulated a 3-month debt to the utility service provider, the latter will be able to initiate the residents’ decision to change the company.

The bill also simplifies the procedure for holding general meetings of owners in apartment buildings. Now each of them will be able to demand such a meeting, and it will be much easier to ensure a 50 percent quorum. An in-person and absentee form of holding meetings is being introduced, in which one can cast one’s vote in any way, even by e-mail (currently only in-person voting is possible). This means that making decisions and working together to maintain the house in good condition will be much easier.

Help "RG"

In 2000, according to Rosstat, the debt to pay for housing and communal services exceeded 17 billion rubles, which is almost 13 percent of all accrued payments.

In 2012, debts already reached 104.6 billion. Which amounted to only 6.4 percent of the “total receipt.”

Problem

Hello,

LLC "Management Company "My House-1" requires an advance payment of 6,000 rubles for the supply of utilities. Moreover, the management company, represented by director Elena Vladimirovna Roslyakova, refers to clause 4.2 of the Agreement for the provision of services for the management and maintenance of an apartment building at the address: Kaliningrad, Irtyshsky Lane, house number 12, which was signed by us.

Clause 4.2 states:

From the moment the residential building is put into operation and residential/non-residential premises are transferred to shareholders, the Owner pays the Contractor the costs of ensuring the supply of utility resources and maintaining the residential building according to the estimate specified in Appendix No. 1 to the Agreement. Payment is made by the equity holder to the Contractor in the form of an advance payment in the amount of 6,000 rubles based on an invoice issued by the Contractor. The specified amount is accepted for credit by the Contractor when calculating the payment for housing and communal services provided. The basis and moment for making the calculation and issuing it for payment is the Certificate of transfer of keys to the premises signed by the Developer with the shareholder (owner), indicating identification data and meter readings.

The receipt is in the attached documents, as well as a copy of the contract sheet with clause 4.2...

I purchased an apartment from the Housing and Social Construction Fund of the Kaliningrad Region with a mortgage and have a certificate of State Registration of Rights, which was issued on 10/24/2012 on the basis of an apartment purchase and sale agreement (mortgage created by force of law) dated 10/18/2012.

I did not participate in shared construction. The house is new.

How legitimate is the Criminal Code's requirement? After all, I am not a shareholder, but in clause 4.2 it is written: Payment is made by the shareholder to the Executor in the form of an advance payment in the amount of 6000 rubles???

Solution

According to the Law on the Protection of Consumer Rights, any term of the contract that infringes on the rights of consumers is considered void. That is, first the service, then the payment. And there may be many who want to receive payment in advance without providing services.

Most likely, the management company will invite me to court for non-payment (that’s what the director told me, without bothering to explain anything). I read on another resource (I can’t find it now) that if the contract specifies an advance payment, then I have to pay it. But here the question is different, in the agreement with the management company I go through the first page as the owner, and then in paragraph 4.2. the words owner/shareholder are mixed in there... what's the difference between these words? Or is this generally the same thing??? I am not going to pay for services in advance... But for specific services I am ready to pay for the elapsed time (garbage removal, janitor...) from the moment State Registration of the right, which was issued on October 24, 2012 (Housing Code of the Russian Federation | Article 153. ). But no one sends me an invoice"Simplex" . And this receipt for 6000 rubles looks like some kind of scam...

Most likely they won't go to court. Too risky. Usually judges frighten those who do not know how to read the laws. Even if they apply and invite you to a court meeting. and you will be able to correctly refer to the Housing Code and the Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”, then the matter will not move forward. You should also require documentary evidence from the management company that they provided these services. And then, what does the shareholder have to do with it? I was also a shareholder. The terms of the shared construction agreement end after the house is transferred to the owner. Construction and maintenance of housing are fundamentally different things.

Thank you for your answer Zinaida. Could you write about which article? Housing Code and h Is it necessary to refer to the Consumer Rights Protection Act? I don’t understand this issue at all (although I’m trying)... My education is not the same =). And what will happen with payment for the services rendered (the container with garbage actually stands and changes as it is filled), because it is not clear when I will receive a normal invoice... Is it possible that there will be a penalty for failure to pay on time? Thank you in advance...

Law on "Protection of consumer rights, Article 4 - (quality of work, services) and Article 16 - invalidity of contract terms that infringe on the rights of consumers. Housing Code, Article 162 "Management agreement for an apartment building."

Other provisions of these laws may be useful depending on the circumstances. You need to buy texts and read them regularly. You don't need any special education for this. They are written in clear language. But in our country we have as many rights as we know and can protect. Therefore, it is necessary to read the laws. I'm not a lawyer myself. You just have to stand up for your rights

The State Duma committee, which oversees housing policy and housing and communal services, has prepared a number of amendments to the law on changes to the Housing Code of Russia and certain legislative documents of the Russian Federation.

The amendments prepared by the State Duma are designed to improve payment discipline in the housing and communal services segment.

Resource providers will be offered different business rules

Preferential conditions will also apply to those consumers who prepay for the use of utility services. With the adoption of such an innovation, conscientious payers will be encouraged, and RSOs themselves will receive a number of powers to introduce special preferential rules.

The State Duma does not exclude the possibility of possible difficulties in approving such a procedure, since the RSO cannot influence the size of established tariffs for utility services.

In some regions of the country there is already a discount program

The first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Housing and Communal Services and Housing Issues, Elena Nikolaeva, made a statement regarding existing discount programs.

According to her, such incentives are already practiced throughout the country, but they are applied most often to consumers who make an advance payment for services. The size of this discount is within 10%.

According to the politician, as an effective measure aimed at resolving problems with non-payment of housing and communal services, the government proposes to introduce a number of incentives in relation to management companies, cooperatives, homeowners associations and citizens making advance payments for the use of utilities.

As an example, E. Nikolaeva cites the management company “North-Eastern” in Orenburg, which adheres to a similar program. For the past 2 years, the organization’s clients have been enjoying discounts.

The program provides preferential terms to those who faithfully make advance payments over a long period of time. It is possible that this approach will be applied at the state level.

The politician notes that there are now no prohibitions on management companies independently introducing similar programs. The main difficulty lies only in the reluctance of the RSO to provide resources to management organizations at wholesale prices.

The introduction of discount events is not profitable for RSO

The executive director of the Guild of Management Companies in the Housing and Public Utilities Sector, Vera Moskvina, expressed approval for the introduction of discounts.

The expert, taking part in a preliminary discussion of the future regulatory act, said that the introduction of a discount program for utility bills paid in advance will have a positive impact on the housing and communal services sector.

True, along with the adoption of such rules, it is worth obliging RSOs to provide a discount on wholesale purchases of resources, and not leaving them the right to independently conduct pricing policies.

According to the executive director, the idea is good, but resource companies will resist it in every possible way.

After all, wholesale supplies of resources, in addition to setting a low price for them, will oblige the supplier not to raise the cost until the end of the contract. Working on the opposite principle, supplier companies significantly increase their capital.

That is why it is important to apply a discount policy here as a mandatory standard for the work of a resource supplying organization.

During the discussion of the upcoming amendments, the issue related to the difficulties in implementing the discount program was raised by the chairman of the board of the Association of Operating and Management Companies of St. Petersburg, Evgeny Purgin.

According to the speaker, given the current situation, the new rules should apply to all clients of management companies. The official sees another solution in switching to direct payments.

It is not easy to eliminate at least one intermediary in the current situation, because they occupy an important function in the chain. Some are engaged in the extraction of resources, others in their delivery, and still others in the calculations themselves. As you can see, everything is interconnected here.

How do you like the proposal of our (or?) Mr. Medvedev to oblige his citizens to pay for housing and communal services not until the 10th of the next month, but until the 10th of the CURRENT month, that is, to pay in advance for heat, gas and water - to lend to our monopolists?
When I heard this news, I wanted to say a lot of kind words......
I believe that Medvedev’s desire to force us to pay for services not yet specified will hit the wallets of law-abiding payers. We often end up paying for unknown reasons and to unknown people.
Those who didn’t pay don’t care when they don’t pay.

Under the cut there is a lot of text that is not mine.

About why advance payments are being introduced in housing and communal services and what social conflicts in the country this can lead to, Nakanune.RU told State Duma deputies.

Who will get hurt?

Based on the results of the first half of 2013, the total amount of debt for housing and communal services is estimated at 736 billion rubles, says Alexey Tolstik, CEO of the infrastructure company P3infra. “The amount is large and is constantly growing, but there is no solution to the problem yet,” he notes.

At the same time, the new measures proposed for consideration by the Prime Minister are causing a controversial reaction among market participants and experts.

“It is unlikely that the new initiatives will be effective: if a person does not pay, then in principle it makes no difference to him whether he does not pay - after the fact or in advance. Obviously, to solve the problem, other measures are needed, namely a more stringent impact on the consumer, fines, penalties, and the possibility of connecting collection agencies. All this requires a carefully developed legislative framework,” says Alexey Tolstik.

“I am, of course, against prepayment, because all over the world utilities are paid based on consumption. This measure is directed against the population, against conscientious payers,” executive director of the Center for the Efficient Use of Energy (CENEF) Igor Bashmakov tells the newspaper VZGLYAD.

“Since 2008, everyone, including Medvedev, has been telling us that we need to install metering devices and pay according to the meter readings. Now we are being told that we must pay before we consume, when we have not seen any meter readings. Such a system will punish those people who pay regularly,” the expert explains.

In addition, prepayment will lead to a lot of confusion. “For example, in November I paid for December, and in December I can take it and go on vacation for a month - and I won’t consume water and so on for the whole month. Then you will have to recalculate everything. There will be a lot of extra work regarding clarifications, recalculations and mutual settlements,” notes Bashmakov.

In addition, there are now many other ways to force the population to pay. “If someone doesn’t pay, they just turn him off. In some cases this is difficult or impossible to do. But for this, there are courts and other mechanisms to combat defaulters who can pay, but do not want to,” says Bashmakov.

“For example, if a person does not pay for utilities, a “thing” is lowered into his sewer hatch and blocks the exit of any liquid from the toilet. In fact, he can no longer use the toilet. People immediately run and pay. Because the most important thing in the word “vodokanal” is the canal, you can go and buy water. And this method is now used by management companies in different cities,” says Bashmakov.

“Or in some cases, they cut off electricity to those who do not pay for water,” he adds.

And finally, prepayment will not lead to an increase in payment collection, the expert says.

“The problem of shortfalls in payments at the level of 1-2% exists everywhere. But we need to understand the reasons why payments are poorly collected. The population does not want to pay or the population is unable to pay - these are two different situations. If the population is not able to pay, then even if you shoot with a machine gun, you still won’t force them to pay for housing and communal services, because they have other needs. Sometimes people think there is nothing to pay for. For example, you have to pay for cleaning the entrance, but there is always a pigsty in your entrance; of course, people do not want to pay for such services. Our tariffs are rising, but the quality of services is not,” explains Bashmakov.

Another problem is subsidizing payments for housing and communal services. “Subsidies for housing and communal services in many regions of the country are now allocated only when you pay more than 22% of your disposable income for utilities. This is a very large value because in many countries this level is set at 15%. And we have tried many times to convince various authorities to lower this threshold. With such a high threshold, you won’t force them to pay; people will still avoid it at all costs,” says Bashmakov.

Criminal Code problem

In addition, the problem is not only that the population (and budgetary organizations) do not pay, but also that management companies - intermediaries between homeowners and supplying monopolies - do not pay.

“The share of the population in the total debt for housing and communal services services to suppliers according to the results of the first half of 2013 is about 20%, and the rest is debts of management companies,” Tolstik points out.

“On the one hand, we may be talking about the debts of the population to the same management companies, on the other hand, about the inefficiency of the companies in the housing and communal services sector themselves. And it is not necessary to talk about fraudulent schemes; part of the problem lies in the extremely ineffective management and ineffective operation of housing and communal services infrastructure. As a result, the quality of housing and communal services suffers, and the population refuses to pay for them,” notes Tolstik, adding that it is necessary to encourage the population to pay for housing and communal services on time not only with the stick - fines and penalties, but also with the carrot - the quality of services.

And yet, cases of management fraud are not uncommon. It is no coincidence that Dmitry Medvedev demanded that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation check them for violations of Russian legislation. It is especially easy for management companies to cheat in the field of housing services, when residents are billed for repairs or cleaning of local areas, but the work is not performed at all or are being carried out not in full.

Who won

Director of the analytical department of United Traders Mikhail Krylov advocates the introduction of prepayment for housing and communal services, but only directly to monopolies.

He explains that if you introduce only one prepayment for housing and communal services and leave intermediaries, then the debt to management companies will still not disappear, but at the same time it will be increasingly difficult for intermediaries between monopolies and consumers to survive, they will have to shift their problems onto the shoulders of consumers.

The introduction of prepayment and direct payments will benefit primarily the resource monopolies that supply gas and electricity: Gazprom and Rosseti.

“The possible introduction of prepayment for housing and communal services could have been lobbied by Gazprom, since the only sane counterparty in the chain of energy supply contracts is the population. After the introduction of prepayment for housing and communal services, the situation in the Caucasus will radically improve, where Rosseti loses about 20% of its revenue due to chronic non-payments,” says Mikhail Krylov.

“With the introduction of direct gas supply contracts, Rosseti’s sales volume will increase by 70 billion rubles, and Gazprom’s by 154 billion rubles. This will compensate for the revenue lost during the tariff freeze for Gazprom by 91%, and for Rosseti by 65%,” Krylov calculated.

“For management companies, the reform will simply mean getting rid of having to answer to energy companies in court. The debts that hang on them can reach 150 billion rubles. This is only a quarter of the amount that consumers may owe to the companies themselves,” notes Krylov.Economy: Utilities are proposed to be transferred to prepayment

Super effective managers continue to achieve their super efficiency at the expense of the people. Now there are investigations into fraud at Gazprom, where they say in testimony that a kickback of at least 22% from each contract was set from above. That is, by definition, in the price of gas, in addition to the profit of Putin’s cronies directly from the sale, inflated supply prices, the income of Gazprom managers personally pockets, in addition to million-dollar bonuses, there is also 22%.

Is it any wonder that Gazprom, “our national heritage”, which is being stolen in its tail and mane, has “suddenly” become unprofitable. This is not even counting the heaps of tax breaks. And not taking into account loans that must be repaid at some point. Let me remind you that this whole system of theft began to work when Gazprom was headed by Medvedev. And then it only “developed”. Well, naturally, at the expense of whom should this be covered, after all, not at the expense of the enterprises of Putin’s other cronies, who themselves are “successful” and successfully plundered and destroyed the factories that they took over under the EBN.

A separate line is that now prepayment will have to be given for housing and communal services. No real proposals, not populism, are being made for housing and communal services reform. On the contrary, payment for “major repairs” will now be entered as a separate line. In general, capital has always been included in the cost of housing and communal services, and for at least 20 years, under these clowns, people paid for it. Suddenly it turned out that there was no money. Is anyone surprised?

In general, when they ask for money in advance for services not provided and a month before their execution, in 50% of cases it is a scam and no one is going to provide any services. Do they want to steal for the last time, to have at least a month’s supply of money so they can get away with it? Well, this is sacred, we’ll chip in for it, but what would be guaranteed would be the blame.