What is the statute of limitations for paying utility bills?

Why is timely payment important?

Payment for housing and communal services not only reimburses the costs of the resource supply and management organizations, it must ensure the uninterrupted operation of public utilities for the current period. Timely payment is important for recipients of funds.

Delays can cause shortages of materials, raw materials, and labor. Then there may be interruptions in the supply of utilities, and in some cases, emergency situations in which consumers will suffer first of all. To prevent such a development of the situation and protect the interests of persons working in housing and communal services, exact payment terms are established.

Normative base

Relations between utility service providers and consumers are regulated by the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. This legislative act establishes the rights and obligations of management companies and residents based on concluded agreements. Payment terms and tariffs for housing and communal services are regulated by the following laws:

• Civil Code of Russia;
• KAP RF;
• Resolution No. 306 of June 23, 2006;
• Resolution No. 354 of 06/06/2011.

Expert opinion
Nadezhda Fedorovna Vlasova

Economist Housing Office No. 16

It should be noted that the timing of payments for utility services may vary depending on the region of the country and the regulatory framework of the management company or the company responsible for resource supply.

Deviation from the dates established by law in such a case will not lead to the appearance of debt, however, new deadlines must be fixed in the agreement between the Management Company and the residents.

Legislation

The timing of payments is regulated by clause 1 of Article 155 of the Housing Code[1]:

• monthly until the 10th day of the next period, unless there is another approved date;
• on another specified date.

Who has the right to approve another date:

1. Management Company, guided by the signed agreement for the management of an apartment building.
2. General meeting of residents, in the form of association - HOA, housing cooperative.

The number is assigned at the discretion of the deciding authority. It could be the 15th, 20th, 25th. Changing the date does not affect the obligations of management companies and homeowners associations to pay on time with resource suppliers, contracts with which also usually specify strict deadlines.

Recipients of funds for utilities

Consumers make payments to the following enterprises based on the resources they use:

1. Managing organization. It generates payment receipts and indicates the composition of services.
2. Some payments are collected by direct service providers. The law does not prohibit acting this way. You just need to check that invoice data is not duplicated among different organizations, and the consumer is not forced to pay for one service several times.
3. Sometimes, instead of the management company, fees are collected under concluded EIRC agreements. They can inform the consumer about all components of the payment and have information on charges and debts. For collecting payments, the EIRC charges a commission from resource supply organizations. Payment centers distribute the funds received independently.

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.

Payment order

The obligation to pay utility bills on time and in full is enshrined in Article 153 of the Housing Code[2]. Payment methods can be chosen by the payer himself, based on his own preferences. There are many options, you just need to decide on the most profitable and convenient:

• cash;
• electronic payments;
• through bank cards or using banking programs, mobile applications.

It is recommended to make payments in advance so that the money reaches its intended destination within the period specified by law. If the debt is repaid on the same day, this is considered timely payment.

Some management organizations argue that the date the funds are credited to the company’s account is important, no matter when the consumer deposits them. To resolve disputes, it is better to refer to the wording of the concluded contract, since this is where this compliance is indicated. If the payer does not have an agreement, you can request a copy from the Criminal Code. In case of conflict proceedings, the decision will be made by the court.

Until when to pay utility bills 2020

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. Some methods will take some time to credit funds.

Important

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.

If you pay for the service on time

Some consumers have a question: is it possible to delay payments, what will happen for this?

According to the Housing Code, payers who violate the deadlines for paying rent are subject to sanctions - penalties, in the following amounts (clause 14 of article 155 of the Housing Code[1]):

• for debt over 30 days – 1/300 of the Central Bank refinancing rate from 31 days;
• if overdue for more than 90 days - 1/130 of the refinancing rate from the 91st day.
• Penalties are charged on the amount of the actual debt until the day of full repayment.

In addition, management companies can limit the consumption of the service, in other words, disable it. After the debt has exceeded three months, utility companies have the right to apply for collection by court order or file a statement of claim.

Statute of limitations

In order to protect yourself from possible claims from the management or resource supply organization, receipts indicating payments made should be kept for at least three years - according to the statute of limitations. It is good when the payment documents indicate the period for which the payment was made. Utilities can present what was paid, or indicate the amount for a period exceeding three years. To protect his interests, the payer must have evidence of payment in hand.

You should not expose yourself to additional expenses and pay utility bills on time. If you still do not meet the deadline, there is no need to be afraid; you can pay the debt as soon as possible. There is no penalty for delaying payment for several days.

Expected innovations in the housing and communal services sector

State Information System of Housing and Communal Services

Another innovation awaits Russians soon. This year it is planned to launch a single centralized resource GIS “Housing and Communal Services” (state information system).

This Internet portal will receive information from all resource supply organizations, the tax service, management organizations, the Pension Fund, the tariff service, the migration service and from regional authorities.

And any Russian will be able to get all the information on the Internet about personal monthly accruals, tariffs, about his home, about planned repairs, about resource supply organizations, and get acquainted with the reports of management companies.

On the same service, in their personal account, everyone can see the details of their accounts and benefits, which must be published monthly by the management company. You will also be able to independently calculate the cost of rent using a special calculator.

According to the authors of the project, this will help to easily find all the information of interest and will make the activities of housing and communal services more transparent.

You have to pay for mistakes

The bill, which is already under consideration in the State Duma, proposes such a drastic measure: if some management company, due to forgetfulness, does not provide information about its activities to this single information center, then the homeowners it serves have the right not to pay their bills.

Several more bills related to communal services are under consideration: for example, the Ministry of Construction proposes to punish with rubles unscrupulous management companies that make mistakes when drawing up receipts or do not provide (or provide improperly) services.

Another bill provides for all management companies to obtain licenses by May 1, 2015, otherwise they will have to leave work in the utility sector.

Meanwhile…

We are all waiting for the new system of payment for electricity, which we were promised to introduce throughout the country from July 1. But, as it turned out, the social norm for electricity consumption will not appear everywhere yet

. Regions received the right to make their own choice: to introduce or not to introduce new norms on their territory. This decision was made by the government.

This is the news on housing issues for today.

Bye bye…

Until what date do you have to pay housing and communal services for December 2020?

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. Until what date is it necessary to pay the rent? The vast majority of experts recommend making payments for utilities no later than the 20th day of the current month, since this, in fact, is the only guarantee that ultimately the management company will receive the appropriate notification on time and will not start charging all kinds of late fees.