Modern man accustomed to the benefits of civilization, in particular to the fact that every day from the tap water is coming. But a situation may arise when there is a tap, but there is no water. Hot water turned off. And when will it turn on? And for how long can the water be turned off by law?
The basic provision regulating the relationship between management companies providing service and end customers is the Government Decree “On the provision of public services to owners and users of premises in MKD and residential buildings» dated May 06, 2011. The specified Regulation establishes the rules for recalculating payments for low-quality service.
The first appendix to the specified resolution and SNiP 2.04.02-84, SanPin 2.1.4.2496-09 provide for the circumstances of the legal lack of water:
For cold water, the shutdown rates are:
- Up to eight hours per month (total time);
- Up to four hours at a time (in case of an emergency emergency of the central network).
For hot water:
- Up to eight hours per month (in total);
- Up to four hours at a time;
- Day (in case of an emergency on a dead end branch);
- You can turn off hot water for 2 weeks during a routine inspection and repair. Similar activities are carried out once a year during the summer period.
For water drainage:
- Up to eight hours per month;
- Up to four hours at a time (in case of an accident).
Should I warn
With a planned shutdown of hot and cold water, residents of the house should know in advance. Water utility employees can block access to water when:
- Debts on payment of the rendered services for half a year. You can prevent such a shutdown by drawing up an agreement with the water utility on the phased payment of debt. But the debt must be paid strictly according to the schedule, otherwise the organization has the right to stop the water supply. This rule applies only to hot water supply. Blocking access to cold water is prohibited by Government Decree No. 307 of May 23, 2006 “On the Procedure for Providing Public Services to Citizens”;
- Arbitrary connection to the internal pipeline;
- The presence of instructions from state institutions or local authorities;
- The emergency state of internal water systems due to the fault of the landlord.
If the pipes “leak”, the water is urgently turned off throughout the “riser” in order to prevent flooding of other residents of the high-rise building. This is an exceptional situation. When water supply is interrupted for other reasons, residents must learn about the date of shutdown, its period and reasons from the Criminal Code thirty days in advance.
A water utility can stop supplying cold water without warning only under two conditions:
- Threat of damage to communications or system breakdown;
- emergency.
Hot water supply: concept and requirements
The lack of hot water for several hours or a whole day in the summer has long been the norm in new and old high-rise buildings. Many take for granted the absence of water for more than 14 days or lukewarm water from a hot tap.
According to the regulations, hot water supply provides for uninterrupted access of the client to hot water supplied through a centralized highway, of the established quality and in the appropriate volume for the whole day
Government Decree No. 354, which regulates the activities of public utilities, sets clear requirements for the quality of service:
- Twenty-four-hour water supply throughout the year;
- Deviation from temperature standards at night (24.00-5.00) up to five degrees, during the day (5.00-24.00) up to three degrees;
- Water supply, the quality of which complies with SanPiN;
- Providing water supply under pressure established by SNIP.
Who can help
Faced with the fact that the tap produces only a hissing sound, a logical question arises, for how long the water was turned off, who is to blame and where to complain. Supervision of the activities of the Criminal Code in accordance with Articles 13 and 20 of the Housing Code and paragraph 124 of Procedure No. 170 is carried out by state institutions and local authorities within the limits of their powers. Therefore, a complaint about the lack of hot water supply can be submitted to:
- district administration;
- Management of housing and communal services;
- housing inspection;
- Rospotrebnadzor;
- local prosecutor's office.
Who is responsible for poor service delivery?
Before talking about the responsibility of officials, it is worthwhile to figure out whether the water could have been turned off legally (perhaps there was an announcement, but you just didn’t notice it) and for how long.
If, after consideration of the application, it is established that the water was turned off illegally or the period of non-provision of services has been exceeded, then you will have to answer:
- Management company servicing MKD. It is she who is responsible for organizing public services for high-rise buildings. If the company refers to the debt, then such "evasion" is illegal. The procedure for providing utilities prohibits disconnecting a client who has fulfilled his obligations from the water supply. That is, if two or three apartments do not pay, it is impossible to turn off the water for the entire high-rise building;
- If the tenants of the MKD have created a cooperative or an association of owners, then the governing bodies are responsible for water supply. Public utilities refer to the debt of the HOA as a subscriber with whom an agreement has been drawn up. However, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of March 7, 2007 interprets the HOA as an intermediary, and not an end user. Therefore, the above Procedure applies, according to which it is impossible to disconnect bona fide clients from the services;
- When signing an agreement with service company directly (Article 164 of the Housing Code), the culprit will be the company with which the agreement is signed.
So, what to do if hot water is turned off illegally:
- File a complaint;
- Make a recalculation for an unused service;
- Demand from the culprit the payment of a fine (penalty), compensation for losses incurred as a result of the provision of poor-quality service.
In addition, an administrative penalty may be imposed on the culprit, under Article 7.23 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of Russia.
Sample complaint about the lack of hot water:
Head of the Department of Housing and Public Utilities of Samara
From Petrushov Nikolai Pavlovich, 1972
the year of birth,
residence Samara, Baltiyskaya street, house 5, room 143,
phone xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Being the owner of apartment No. 143 on Baltiyskaya street in the city of Samara, I entered into an agreement with the management company "Nash Dom" on the maintenance of the ICD and the provision of public services. I make all payments under the contract in a timely manner, however, the management company "Nash Dom" in violation of the provisions of Article 4 federal law"On the Protection of Consumer Rights", does not fulfill the terms of the contract, namely, since July 3, 2017, I have no hot water.
There were no announcements of maintenance work. After contacting a representative of the management company, I found out that the water was turned off due to a pipe break. They promised to finish the restoration work in two days. However, the water did not appear at the promised time. Upon repeated appeal, the engineer of the management company Fedorchuk V.M. explained that a complete replacement of the pipe is required.
Based on the provisions of the Rules for the provision of public services to citizens No. 307, the Rules for the maintenance of common property of MKD No. 491, articles 2 and 162 of the RF LC, such restoration work must be carried out by the management company within a month.
However, as of August 5, 2017, hot water is still missing. Representatives of the management company "Nash Dom" answer the questions of the residents that they cannot temporarily purchase a pipe, as the supplier inflates prices.
Based on the above facts and current legislation, I ask for your assistance in carrying out restoration work, recalculating payments for hot water, as well as compensation for non-pecuniary damage in the amount of 5,000 (five thousand) rubles of Nash Dom Management Company.
Date Signature.
Where to file a complaint about housing and communal services - regulatory authorities and a sample claim
Does the management company have the right to turn off the water in the apartment for non-payment and limit the water supply to those who pay regularly?
Related materials:
Do you have financial problems? There are things that are not worth it. For example, on . You can not only lose - it's unpleasant, but not critical, but also lose an apartment. For a long and systematic non-payment, you have the right to be relocated to housing of a smaller area. But what if you pay regularly, and the neighbor owes a certain amount? Does the management company have the right to turn off the water or heating in the entire house?
When can the water be turned off?
According to the law, without warning, public utilities can turn off water or heating in the entire house only in two cases:
- if there is a threat of emergencies on equipment or networks,
- in the event of emergencies or natural disasters.
However, there are other situations where the management company has the right to restrict the provision of utilities.
- In case of incomplete payment by the consumer of utility services. There are several nuances here. First, the debt for one or more utilities must be no less than 6 months. A smaller amount of debt is not a reason for disconnection. Secondly, if the debtor has signed an agreement to repay the debt and is fulfilling it, he also does not have the right to stop providing utilities. However, you should not break the repayment schedule. One wrong step and you could be out of hot water.
- In the case of scheduled preventive repairs and maintenance of in-house engineering systems related to the common property of the owners of premises in an apartment building. First of all, we are talking about the traditional summer shutdown of hot water.
- In case of revealing the fact of unauthorized connection of the consumer to intra-house engineering systems.
- In case of receipt of the relevant order of the authorized state or municipal authorities.
- In case of consumer use household appliances power exceeding specifications in-house engineering systems specified in the technical passport of the dwelling.
- In the event that the communications in your apartment are in an unsatisfactory state through your fault. By law, we ourselves are responsible for the pipes and wiring in our apartments. That is, if there are any problems, it is our responsibility to call the master and eliminate them, otherwise we will create a threat to the life and property of other residents.
Keep in mind - in all these cases, the management company is obliged to notify you in writing of the planned shutdown 1 month in advance. And one more important point. You have no right to turn off cold water and heating for debts. Here is what government decree No. 307 "" says about this: "The contractor has the right to suspend the provision of utilities, with the exception of heating, cold water supply and sanitation."
Can the water supply to a particular apartment be restricted?
The technology for disconnecting debtors is extremely simple - pipes are simply welded to them. Some say - it's okay, I won't let anyone into my apartment, but the water in the whole house will not be turned off anyway. However knowledgeable people strongly discouraged from taking such a position. Especially for such cases, there is a rather expensive, but effective method. A special plug is inserted into the pipe from the basement, the camera helps to determine which input to jam. The invoice for the work is issued to the debtor. That is, in order to restore the supply of hot water, he will have to pay this bill, plus a fine, a late fee. And, of course, the debt itself.
You don't have to pay for others!
However, some unscrupulous management companies, in order not to bother with a point shutdown, simply turn off the water throughout the house. Know it's illegal! In paragraph 85. states: “Suspension or restriction of the provision of utility services (or the supply of utility resources) to consumers who fully comply with the obligations established by law Russian Federation and contract, is not allowed.
In such cases, the algorithm of action is simple:
- apply to management company with a written request to immediately turn on the hot water supply and recalculate for the days of shutdown,
- if water is not supplied within three days, contact the housing inspectorate, Rospotrebnadzor and apply.
However, now management companies are acting more cunningly - they simply distribute the debt between those tenants who regularly pay for the apartment. This is also a reason to apply to the bodies mentioned above. You are obligated to pay only for yourself and the resources used for common house needs, and not for other owners or tenants. However, to prove the fact of fraud in this case, unfortunately, is sometimes very difficult.
? Despite the fact that the question: No hot water - where to call? the local Vodokanal must answer, often the dispatchers of this institution are not aware of the reasons for turning off the water. What can be done in this situation, you will learn from the article.
Who to call if there is no hot water?
In the event of a hot water shutdown, you need to find out the reason.
First of all, we call Mosvodokanal (for Moscow) or another organization (depending on the region) that supplies hot water.
If Vodokanal does not tell you the reason for the shutdown and explains that they are not responsible for this case, we suggest dialing the number of the house management company.
Please note that the utility service provider (in our case, the company supplying hot water to the population) is obliged to provide these services uninterruptedly. It is possible to turn off hot water supply for 8 hours in total per month or a one-time shutdown for no longer than 4 hours. During the period of annual preventive maintenance, it is permissible to switch off for no more than 14 days.
The public utilities do not have the right to turn off the water suddenly. If it is not emergency situation, then the tenants of the house must be warned no later than 10 days.
Don't know your rights?
Who to call if there is no hot water more than 14 days, and the water utility and the house management company do not respond to complaints?
Then it's time to contact the housing inspection or call hotline in the district administration (cf. Where, to whom and how to competently complain about the management company?).
Subsequently, if all the calls did not help, you can write a complaint to the prosecutor's office about the actions of utilities.
Recalculation of water charges in the event of a shutdown
| Download the standard contract form |
In cases where utilities are supplied of inadequate quality or with interruptions longer than the time established by law, the consumer has the right to demand a recalculation for the service.
To do this, it is necessary to confirm the fact of turning off hot water. We call the dispatcher at Vodokanal and talk about our claims. Your complaint must be registered, the time and registration number must be reported. This will serve as evidence.
In cases where the dispatcher knows the reason for the water shutdown, he will report it. If he does not know why there is no water, then he sends specialists to your address to conduct an inspection, which must be carried out no later than 2 hours from the moment the complaint is received. If during the audit all the arguments of the applicant were confirmed, then the recalculation will be made from the moment the complaint is filed until the day when hot water flows from the tap.