Every citizen of the Russian Federation knows what constitutes a major repair charge. However, not everyone thinks what exactly this board goes for. For what each of us monthly gives a certain amount of money in the housing office? How should the overhaul of an apartment building go, and how does it really go? All these questions will be answered in the article.
Overhaul concept
Every multi-story building will begin to wear out sooner or later. In order to prevent an emergency, buildings must be repaired and modernized in a timely manner. Naturally, the necessary amount of money for the repair work does not come from nowhere. Therefore, residents themselves must pay for repair work.
Before describing the legal aspects of the law governing the repair work of buildings, it is necessary to talk in more detail about what is included in the capital repair system. What procedures and functional responsibilities of the housing office can be identified here? If we are talking about a minimum set of services and responsibilities of a housing company, then the following functions should be distinguished:
- replacement, repair or installation of various kinds of house communications; it is heating, water supply, gasification and many other systems;
- repair or replacement of elevators;
- repair or installation of a house roof;
- basement works, foundation strengthening;
- repair or renovation of the facade - sealing joints, restoring plaster, replacing or updating tiles, repairing gutters, etc.
Thus, the overhaul of an apartment building includes a fairly large number of a wide variety of works.
General characteristics of overhaul laws
It is immediately worth noting that at the moment in Russia there is no single bill entirely devoted entirely to overhaul. All functional duties that are combined in the overhaul of apartment buildings are regulated by various laws and regulations. Here are some points of federal bills, and certain judicial decisions, and some articles of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. However, the largest and most well-known law is still worth highlighting: this is Federal Law No. 271 - on amendments to the Russian Housing Code.
Until 2012, everything was very bad in the housing sector. The confusion was made up of both numerous legal contradictions and the lack of a clear system of laws that could regulate the repair of houses. Of course, there was a Housing Code. However, before the appearance in December 2012 of Federal Law No. 271 and with him everything was not as it should.
What changes have followed since the introduction of the presented regulatory act? The main thing that should be noted here is that the overhaul charge began to be levied on citizens (before this, the authorities were completely engaged in the repair). Whether this is good or not is a moot point. However, it is unlikely that the fact that the system of contributions and work has become more convenient will be denied. But has it become fairer and better? Attempts to find the answer to this question will be indicated below.
Excursion into the past
As you know, everything is known in comparison. Therefore, it’s worth going back a little and trying to remember how the overhaul system worked earlier.
Back in Soviet times, the roof of houses was steadily updated every 15 years, the foundation was renovated every 25 years, and the housing and communal services roofs were occupied every year. In principle, nothing has changed much to this day. Any housing management company sets such deadlines. If the work is not carried out, then the building will simply acquire an emergency condition, and ultimately collapse.
In the USSR, the overhaul of apartment buildings lay entirely with power structures. All buildings were in state ownership. Citizens were required to pay a certain amount of money on time, and the municipality carried out all the necessary construction and repair work. However, with the start of privatization caused by the collapse of Soviet power, most of the buildings passed into the hands of private owners. From now on, residents no longer pay local governments.
Complete confusion lasted until the beginning of 2000. Many houses became outdated, became emergency and unsuitable for life. That is why the authorities decided to take bolder measures. A major overhaul program has been developed. A little later, the law on the overhaul of apartment buildings followed. Residents were required to pay 5% of the amount necessary for the implementation of housing transformation. However, the general trend has not yet acquired a positive color: to this day, many houses simply remain without maintenance.
Overhaul utility fee: size as of 2017
The Russian authorities should pay attention to European practice, providing for the obligation of each tenant to create the so-called repair capital. A certain amount of money is collected, which is subsequently sent to work on the transformation of housing. The advantage of such a system is obvious: all actions with finances are visible to every person. There is strict reporting that allows you to spend money strictly for its intended purpose; not a single penny can go into someone’s pocket.
Nevertheless, in the Russian Federation such a scheme would be applied with great difficulty. The main obstacle here is ordinary poverty. Many citizens simply could not make timely payments due to the banal lack of finances. And what system operates today?
The authorities developed a thirty-year plan (it will operate until 2042), according to which the municipality is engaged in fundraising. The same authority draws up a repair schedule for each individual house. The law on the overhaul of apartment buildings (Federal Law No. 271) states the need to pay a sum of money equal to at least 15 rubles per housing m 2 . Of course, the authorities say about the "incredible effectiveness of the created system" and about "thousands of quality renovated houses." Do these statements correspond to today's realities? Each resident must answer this question himself. As an “auxiliary material”, several theses from the corresponding bill can be cited.
Key software nuances
Every citizen should remember about their housing rights - you just have to open the Housing Code and read its individual provisions. The following will be the main points about what constitutes a payment for major repairs. The law speaks of the following points:
- All repair periods are set directly by the municipality. In case of violations, citizens have the right to file a complaint. The municipality will assemble a commission and, if necessary, will try to repair the building in the right time.
- Major repairs of the house can not be delayed even after the residents themselves carried out all the necessary work to update the housing.
- A commission of housing representatives evaluates the overhaul carried out by the municipality.
- Overhaul fees are regulated by local governments. In this case, the fee may be subject to adjustment, but only subject to notification of all tenants.
The bill also refers to the main types of benefits that must be taken into account by local authorities. This will be described later.
About benefits
According to Federal Law No. 271, certain groups of citizens are entitled to a number of exemptions. So, some people, which will be described later, are not able to pay the tariff in full.
What particular categories of citizens are we talking about? The following citizens may be exempted from overhaul fees:
- families with three or more children;
- disabled people;
- families with children with a degree of disability;
- military personnel, or the families of the dead military;
- home front workers or war veterans;
- families without a breadwinner;
- honorary donors;
- holders of various kinds of state awards.
This also includes some other categories of citizens. All of them are registered in the Federal Law No. 271.
Decryption of housing and communal services tariffs
The fee for major repairs of a house consists of many different aspects. It is worth highlighting the size of the housing, the type of structure, and the presence of certain housing elements (such as an elevator, landings, etc.).
Thus, the content of housing and communal services includes the following minimum:
- yard territory;
- cleaning and repair of landings;
- work with the garbage chute;
- maintenance and repair of the elevator system;
- work with ventilation and sewer channels;
- timely garbage removal from the territory near the house, etc.
If the buildings have some kind of original equipment, or they are located in uncomfortable territories, then the charge for overhaul may be slightly higher than the established norm. It is also necessary to talk about how the specificity of a residential building affects the cost of major repairs. The law regulates the following points:
- residents of pre-revolutionary buildings (as a rule, such buildings are cultural objects) must pay about 3 rubles per m 2 ;
- people living in Khrushchev’s must pay two rubles per m 2 ;
- citizens living in panel houses of the 60-80s must pay 2.2 rubles per m 2 ;
- residents of brick houses must pay a minimum of 2.5 rubles;
- people living in modern buildings pay about 2.7 rubles.
Thus, the type of housing also significantly affects the cost of repairs.
The consequences of non-payment of tariffs
Oddly enough, many citizens simply refuse to pay overhaul tariffs. To do this, they find many different reasons: this is an unfair distribution of finances, and the lack of some kind of “return” from the municipality (after all, often residents simply don’t see any repairs), and poor-quality repairs. Moreover, some people even wonder whether the overhaul fee is legal.
One way or another, the state does not like defaulters, and therefore strives in every way to fight them by imposing sanctions. What consequences can a citizen who refuses to pay for the services of housing and utilities companies be overtaken? The most simple ones are fines according to the bank refinancing rate. This means that a person is obliged to cover overdue payments with another 15% of the required amount of money.
If the case reaches the court at all, then the following measures can be taken with respect to a citizen:
- House arrest;
- the inability to take loans from any bank in the country;
- award of a fine;
- eviction from home (but this is an extreme measure; multimillion-dollar debts are required so that the court can deprive a citizen of property).
The simplest example here may look like this: a citizen owns an apartment of 50 m 2 ; citizen's debt - 3 thousand rubles with a delay of 30 days. The municipality awards a fine of 45 rubles. For a year, a fine can grow up to 800 rubles. Thus, no matter what opinion a citizen may have about a major overhaul system, you still have to pay the necessary amount of money on time.
Expert opinion on the overhaul payment system
Disputes over the built system of payment for overhaul have been ongoing for a long time. What is the opinion of most experts?
The real situation, according to most experts, cannot be called optimistic. On the one hand, the existing system of payment for major repairs is almost impossible to change: a thirty-year plan has been adopted, and therefore for a long time all the problems identified above will be unresolved. The lack of banal transparency in the scheme, the fight against low-quality repair work, public control - all this can be fully implemented, except perhaps with the European system of payment for overhaul. However, such a system cannot yet be effectively applied in the current realities: the level of poverty is still high.
Solution
What could be the way out? The best option is HOA. A new house has been built in a specific area. The overhaul fee is the same as everywhere else. Since the district was recently equipped, residents do not see the point of giving money to the municipality for no reason. That is why citizens decide to arrange a partnership of housing owners. From now on, all payments become transparent and visible to most residents.
Naturally, under such conditions, many problems can arise. HOA can be organized only if there are truly competent and active chairpersons of the home. If any, the question will be about the partnership budget. For many, the question immediately arises: is the overhaul fee mandatory? The answer is definitely positive. Every citizen who is part of the partnership should contribute to the development of the housing structure and maintaining it in a “healthy” state.