The provision of public utilities in Russia often leaves much to be desired. Residents often have claims against management companies in this area. But not everyone understands where to go with a complaint about housing and communal services. What should every citizen know about this process? What features of the drafting document to pay attention to? All this will be described later. In fact, dealing with this question is easier than it sounds. Just a few simple rules and recommendations will greatly facilitate the procedure for applying to the appropriate authority.
A complaint is ...
The first step is to understand what kind of document we are talking about. What is a complaint about housing services? When and under what circumstances is it written?
A complaint is an appeal sent to a particular body in order to protect its own rights and interests. If we are talking about utilities, the document will reflect the poor quality of these. In other words, such paper is asked to correct improper maintenance.
When to complain
It is recommended to think about where to apply with a complaint about housing and communal services only after a person 100% makes sure that he has the right to do so. There are certain situations in which an appeal to one or another body takes place.
So when it is allowed to send complaints to the management company and housing services? In practice, the following situations are most often distinguished:
- improper provision of communal and housing services;
- tariffs increased without justification (bills come too high);
- lack of certain utility services without reason;
- absence or incorrect preparation of the house for housing and communal services (usually when connecting heating in winter);
- violation of a contract with a management company.
In other words, if a citizen is not satisfied with the quality of the services offered or the invoices received for their payment, you can complain.
Types of treatment
There are several types of complaints. Depending on what kind of document in question, the writing methodology will differ. Not too big, but there will be differences.
To date, complaints are:
As practice shows, they react faster to the second types of calls. Personal complaints also occur, but they are considered longer.
Personal appeals are written on behalf of one citizen. And collective ones are papers expressing a common opinion. Most often, such documents are found in case of improper work of the Criminal Code.
Where to go with a complaint about housing and communal services? What tips and tricks will help bring the idea to life?
Paperwork
An important role is played by the rules for writing an appeal. What are they? Any document must be drawn up correctly. Only then can we hope for its timely consideration and response from one or another body.
If a citizen thinks where to complain about the housing and communal services, he needs to learn a few simple rules on how to draw up his appeal. With their help, the process will not cause trouble.
The rules for filing a complaint may be as follows:
- In the upper right part of the sheet write the name of the body to which the document is sent. It is advisable to indicate the head of the organization here.
- Below a person publishes information about himself. Information is written in the upper right corner of the page. This is the heading of the document.
- The word "Complaint ..." is written in the center of the sheet. A clarification of the appeal is usually placed below. For example, "Complaint about the quality of the provision of housing services."
- The following is the main part of the document. This is a kind of story, a description of the situation. Here it is necessary to indicate only information important for the case.
- After the main part is a listing of the documents attached to the appeal. They are indicated in numbered order.
- The paper ends with the date of writing the complaint and the signatures of the dissatisfied tenants.
All these rules and recommendations will help you to figure out how to write a complaint about housing and communal services without too much difficulty. A sample document will be presented below. We will only talk about the main part - the "cap" and the conclusion, as a rule, do not cause difficulties.
Complaints Authorities
So, the appeal is ready. Now you need to figure out where to go with a complaint about housing and communal services. In Russia, many bodies work with similar documentation. It all depends on what rights of the citizen or residents were violated.
In general, it is proposed to send their appeals to the following organizations:
- management companies;
- utility service providers;
- housing inspections;
- Rospotrebnadzor;
- FAS;
- HOA;
- the courts;
- prosecutors;
- municipal administration.
Accordingly, it is impossible to accurately predict which particular authorities to visit. In reality, everything is simpler than it seems.
Management companies and suppliers
Where to complain about the work of housing and communal services? As already mentioned, it all depends on the circumstances and nature of the violations. You can contact the management company and the providers of certain services.
When are such actions called reasonable? If:
- low-quality services are provided to citizens;
- in case of disagreement with incoming payments;
- if one or another utilities are missing without any reason.
In general, for any claims regarding housing, it is recommended that you first contact the management company. It is likely that at this stage it will be possible to resolve issues.
FAS
Where to go with a complaint about housing and communal services? You can send the document directly to the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Then, on the basis of the data presented, the organization must organize and conduct an audit.
The FAS recommends complaining if there is a suspicion of unreasonable tariff increases. The body's task is to investigate the case. As already mentioned, verification is being carried out. In the course of it, it turns out how these or those tariffs meet the standards. If the funds requested to be paid do not find a rationale, the FAS will apply the sanctions provided for by law.
Housing inspections
The Housing Inspectorate is another body to which claims are allowed. Usually it is necessary to come here after an appeal to the Criminal Code or Housing Office has not brought results.
There is a specific list of cases in which complaints are allowed to be submitted to housing inspections. Among them are:
- failure to comply with housing maintenance regulations;
- non-compliance with the terms of preparation of apartments for the heating season;
- illegal convocation of owners of residential real estate;
- failure by the management company of its obligations.
Where to turn to the inaction of the housing office in a particular case? To housing inspections in a particular locality! It is these organizations that will help resolve the issue in pre-trial order.
Rospotrebnadzor
But the scenarios do not end there! The thing is that sometimes violations are more serious. Or without a court to resolve a particular problem is not obtained.
It has already been said that sometimes you can go to Rospotrebnadzor to protect the rights and interests of owners of residential real estate. As a rule, such appeals in practice are not too common.
Rospotrebnadzor will help in the following problems:
- violations of the law "On Protection of Consumer Rights";
- failure to provide information on the provided housing services or the provision of false data;
- with increasing tariffs and doubts about their validity.
There is nothing difficult or special in the procedure. The order is no different from contacting any other organization. Usually, after the inaction of Rospotrebnadzor, citizens file a lawsuit to protect their own interests and rights before the management companies.
Cardinal decisions
Housing inspection, HOA, Rospotrebnadzor - all these are bodies that work with citizens and their claims in the pretrial order. It is this scenario in practice that occurs most often. But sometimes it happens that all appeals have not yielded results. In Russia, everyone has the right to defend his position in the face of the law.
Accordingly, you can go the other ways. Where to write a complaint about housing and communal services in Moscow or any other city? Among the radical solutions to the problem are:
- Litigation. Usually they arise when all attempts to peacefully resolve the issue have failed. Courts not only restore justice, but also call on the culprit to rectify the situation.
- Handing over the case to the prosecutor. In practice, cases are extremely rare. You can write a complaint to the prosecutor when it comes to serious violations. For example, in the appropriation by the head of a service company of the residents' money.
- Visit to the city administration. Or a complaint to the municipality. You can try to protect your rights and interests of other residents by writing the document under study and sending it to the city administration. Before this, it is recommended that every effort be made to try to resolve the issue peacefully.
In reality, radical methods are not always necessary. In most cases, it is simple enough to persevere - and the authorized bodies will willingly and quickly deal with claims.
Sample Complaint
And what will the complaint look like? Suppose a citizen decided to look at the addresses of housing and utilities management companies, find his UK and apply to it with the appropriate document. Which template will help compose the original claim?
For example, it might look like this:
I, Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, (passport data), living at: St. Petersburg, Dmitry Donskogo street, 5, apartment 33, I ask you to check the charges for housing and communal services for March 2005. I received receipts in which the debt "for light" is listed - 5,000 rubles. All the time I paid regularly. The service company refused to give an answer to a similar situation. Payments and checks for payment of utility bills are included.
There is nothing difficult or special about this. Here is such a small complaint about housing and communal services. HOA can also consider such cases. But in practice, people either work with the Criminal Code, or act through the courts, or turn to housing inspectorates.