Who is to blame for the fact that it is “winter” in the apartment?
It’s so common that in case of trouble, people always look for someone to blame.
When, with the onset of the heating season, the long-awaited warmth does not appear, the question of who is responsible for heating in the apartment becomes urgent. Before finding out, you need to determine why the heating radiator in the apartment is not heating well or the radiators are hot and the apartment is cold. There are several reasons for this:
- When one half of the battery is warm (top) and the other is cold, the reason is either clogged or airy. If the system is old, then it is not surprising that it is clogged with sediment and corrosion. In the summer, heating engineers must carry out preventive cleaning of the system; if this was not done, then clogged radiators and insufficient heating in the apartment are the responsibility of the utility services. You can remove airiness yourself by unscrewing the Mayevsky valve or the plugs from the radiator and releasing the air.
- If the residents of the apartment independently replaced the old heating system with a new design and mistakes were made during installation , then the radiators will not warm up strongly enough. In this case, there is no need to look for an answer outside who is responsible for the heating radiators in apartments. He is unambiguous - the owner of the apartment.
- When the cause of the cold is the slow movement of coolant through the system, the service that supplies heat to the building may be to blame. As a rule, this problem occurs when the circulation of coolant in the pipes is disrupted due to poor pump performance. Heating engineers are required to check the efficiency of all components of the system, so in this case a complaint about heating in the apartment will not be out of place.
The lack of heat in the premises is not always the fault of the organizations providing it to consumers. Often, residents of apartment buildings secretly install water heated floor systems or install a shut-off device on the bypass, which is strictly prohibited. In any case, before writing a complaint about poor heating in the apartment, it makes sense to invite heating network workers to your place so that they can identify the cause of the cold. They are the ones who are responsible for heating in an apartment building. It’s easier for them to detect “illegal” installations among residents of the house.
Where to complain if the batteries don't heat up?
Do you know that the quality of heating largely depends on the pipes themselves? Which pipes are best for heating? What to do if it’s really cold in the apartment If, even after insulating the doorways and windows, the temperature in the room does not meet acceptable standards, where to complain if the radiators don’t heat up is:
- To a special housing inspection hotline, which is available in most localities. You can get her number at the help desk.
- To the Department of Housing and Communal Services.
Write an application and send it by mail. Under current law, you must receive a response to your complaint no later than 30 days. To this period you will have to add several days for postage and postal work. If after a maximum of 45 days the answer is still not received, feel free to write a statement to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Standard battery temperature
Before wondering what to do when you discover poor heating in an apartment, you need to know what rights consumers have. Heat standards are approved by law and only by checking them can you decide whether there is a discrepancy between them and the services provided.
Only after this should you go and make a complaint about the heating in the apartment or write a complaint about the heating in the apartment (the 2017 sample will be provided to you by the relevant service).
The approved criteria for heat in residential premises are:
- for corner apartments, the optimal temperature is +20;
- in rooms it should be no lower than +18 degrees;
- in the bathroom - +25.
These figures may vary depending on the region.
The norm is considered to be a decrease in the temperature in the apartment at night to 3 degrees (during the daytime, a drop of 2 degrees is considered a violation) and if this happens, then a recalculation of the heating in the apartment is required. Whether it’s cold or not in the room doesn’t matter. The consumer is not obliged to pay in full for services that do not comply with approved standards.
You can carry out the test yourself using a regular medical thermometer, but for this you need to fulfill 2 conditions:
- Measurements are taken only on internal walls , but the distance from the external wall, if there is one, must be at least a meter. The thermometer should be kept one and a half meters from the floor.
- You need to add 2 degrees to the results obtained.
And only after that think, if there is no heating in the apartment, where to call and who to complain about poor heating in the apartment. There are several examples of complaints about the lack of heating in an apartment, but, as a rule, it is often enough to report the problem to the Housing Office for a commission to come from there and record the fact that the client is right.
The heating in the apartment does not work, where can I complain? Read about it below.
The radiators in the apartment do not heat up: what to do, where to go?
In accordance with established sanitary standards:
- Temperatures below 18°C are not allowed in the living room and kitchen.
- In the corner room the temperature should be at least 20°C.
- Also, at least 20°C should be in the apartment in the first year of operation of the building.
- The temperature in the bathroom should be kept at 25°C.
- On the staircase - not lower than 16°C.
The main thing that dissatisfied residents should also pay attention to is that during the winter season, not only the windows, but also the doors in the house must be insulated. Only in this case will the residents be right, and not the housing and communal services.
Poor heating in the apartment: where to complain?
Where can I complain about the lack of heating in my apartment? Often, residents of multi-storey buildings simply do not know where to complain when there is no heating in their apartment, and believe that they need to immediately go to court. This is fundamentally the wrong approach.
To file a complaint about poor heating in an apartment, there is also a sequence of actions:
- First, you need to start with your housing office or organization that provides heating services. To do this, in our time it is absolutely not necessary to go to these institutions and stand in queues there. It is enough to call and submit a complaint, writing down the name of the person who accepted it and the number under which it was included in the application registration book. A personal visit to the utility service will speed up the process of considering the complaint, and service employees can come on the same day to record its legitimacy. By law, heating network technicians are required to check the cause of the complaint within two days. If they did not appear or considered that the consumer’s claims were unfounded, then you can move on to the next stage of action.
- Secondly, the following complaint about poor heating in the apartment (a sample is provided in the office) is submitted to the head of the housing office or the organization supplying heat. You can go further and immediately send your application to the head of the housing and communal services department of the district administration.
All applications must be submitted in duplicate, indicating their number in the registration book, the date of submission, the signature of the person who accepted them and the stamp of the organization.
By law, the service to which the complaint was sent is required to respond to it within 30 days. Only after these authorities have ignored the statements and measures to correct the problems in the heating system have not been taken can it be possible to sue the heat suppliers.
The radiators at home are not heating where to complain
Instruction 1 So what to do if the cold weather has already arrived, and the batteries are barely warm? First of all, you urgently need to contact the management company directly and leave a complaint about poor heating there. You can also call the joint dispatch service in your area that serves your home. In this case, it is advisable to write down the date, application number and personal data of the operator who accepted the claim. According to the rules, on the same day a poorly heated apartment must be visited by a caretaker technician or an engineer from the management company. 2 The arriving utility worker will definitely carry out control temperature measurements to verify the veracity of the complaint received. As a rule, the temperature is measured at the inner wall of each room, and in the kitchen and bathroom - at a distance of one meter from the wall, at a height of one and a half meters from the floor. Incorrect connection of the radiator The most common mistake in installing radiators is the incorrect position of the bypass valve. This is a piece of pipe to connect the forward and return lines. If the shut-off valve is open, the coolant flows through the bypass to the “return”, bypassing the heating battery, and it does not heat.
Incorrect placement of the bypass valve prevents hot water from flowing through all sections of the radiator. Other reasons causing the lack of hot water in the system are:
- improper selection of pipes and fittings for the heating system of an apartment building,
- incorrect combination of the type of boiler and radiator,
- non-compliance with slopes.
Recommended reading: How to fix a leak in a heating radiator Diagram of incorrect connection of the inlet and outlet pipes of a heating radiator, in which half of the radiator sections remain cold.
Legislation
- The Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulates relations in the field of property, non-property and intellectual rights, property, and contractual obligations.
- The Housing Code of the Russian Federation establishes criteria for the quality of service provision in housing and communal services.
- The Federal Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” dated 02/07/1993 No. 2300-1 regulates the rules of interaction between sellers (suppliers) and buyers, defines the concept of quality of services and products, and prescribes the ZPP mechanism.
- Federal Law “On the procedure for considering appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation” dated May 2, 2006 No. 59-FZ is applied in the case of complaints about the work of state, municipal or private enterprises.
- Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 6, 2011 No. 354 “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of residential premises in apartment buildings” defines the criteria for the quality of utility resources, the procedure for their payment and provision, the responsibilities of the parties, and the practice of recalculation.
Who is responsible for the quality of heating services in an apartment building?
When naming who is responsible for heating in an apartment building, it is impossible to single out one organization, since this scheme involves the companies servicing the building, the housing office, and resource suppliers. Most of the responsibilities in the provision of utility services are assigned to service organizations - management companies (MCs) and homeowners' associations (HOAs).
The homeowners' association or management company are those who are responsible for the heat in the apartment, in particular, monitoring the temperature standards of equipment and residential premises, as well as the level of pressure and heating of the coolant at the entrance and exit from the house. Their area of responsibility also includes maintenance of building utility networks.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the Combination of cases into one proceeding and preventive measures
The housing office, in turn, is responsible for the condition of the main networks leading to the connection point of the heating system of a residential building.
The resource supplying organization is obliged to ensure heating and delivery of the coolant in accordance with the standards, as well as control its pressure while moving through the main pipes.
How to measure air temperature correctly?
Methods for monitoring air temperature are established by GOST 30494-2011 “ Interstate standard. Residential and public buildings. Indoor microclimate parameters."
It is allowed to take measurements in the cold season when the outside air temperature is no higher than minus 5˚C. It is impossible to measure during daylight hours with a cloudless sky. This is because sunlight entering the rooms will heat the room, so the measurements will be inaccurate.
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Measure the room temperature at a distance of 10 cm, 1 m 10 cm and 1 m 70 cm from the floor. Measurements at these heights are taken in the center of the room and at a distance of 50 cm from the outer walls. The temperature of walls and floors is measured at the center of the surface.
Where can I complain about poor heating in my apartment?
Knowing this, you can quickly solve the problem. First of all, you can contact the following authorities:
- to the management company servicing the house;
- to the city housing inspectorate.
Please note that since 2020, changes have been made to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Federal Law No. 59-FZ dated 04/03/2018). Now residents of an apartment building can enter into direct contracts with resource suppliers and, accordingly, transfer payments for electricity, water, heating and gas directly to the organization that supplies these resources, and not to the account of the management company.
But, even if there is a direct agreement with resource suppliers, you can still complain to the management company . By law, she is required to keep all systems in the house in order, even if the residents do not pay her for utilities.
Therefore, if you have problems with heating, you can contact the management company. The management company is obliged to accept the appeal and respond. But the supplier, not the management company, will be responsible for the quality of services under a direct contract.
If complaints to the management company and the housing inspection do not bring any results, you can subsequently contact:
But a complaint about the lack of heating should be sent to these authorities if the utility service specialists ignore the complaint of the residents of the house and have not taken any measures .
Application procedure
If you are faced with a problem when the batteries do not heat up, what to do is necessary to solve. Initially, you need to make a call to the dispatch company, which is responsible for heat conservation at home. This can be either a private or public organization. You must record the time and date of submission of this application, and the number of the operator who accepts it. Within a day, the submitted application must be processed, and based on its results, a specialist is sent to the site. His task will be to inspect the thermal circuit, as well as measure the temperature in the premises. Based on the information, an inspection report is drawn up; one of the copies must remain with the owner of the apartment. The document will be reviewed by the company within a week or less. However, it is worth remembering that the established deadlines are not met in all cases. If after this the batteries do not heat up, what to do next needs to be decided. Based on the report on the previously carried out measurements, you need to draw up a claim report. A lawyer will help with this; the document should indicate that the services are provided improperly.
What factors influence the temperature in your apartment during the heating season?
We have dealt with the responsibility for the technical condition of heating networks in an apartment building. As for the temperature during the heating season, which should be in the apartment, there are a number of factors that place responsibility for functionality on you. What happens in your apartment, what temperature in the house suits you is your concern. No one can interfere in your household affairs unless this is contrary to established standards and regulations.
There are often situations when the radiators in the apartment are red-hot, and the living rooms are freezing cold. Or vice versa, the heating season has begun, everything is working fine for your neighbors, but your radiators are barely warm. This means that you are such careless owners and your apartment was not ready for the onset of cold weather.
Note: Basic measures to increase the thermal efficiency of residential premises will increase the temperature in the apartment by 2-30C. Sealing window openings, sealing gaps between panels, insulating entrance doors, blowing out heating radiators are steps that you can do yourself.
Both the management company, the housing office, and you are responsible for the quality and technical condition of the batteries in your apartment. A timely inspection of the condition of the radiators in the house will allow you to eliminate air locks in the system and clean the batteries. If the batteries are in poor technical condition, it is important to replace them in a timely manner. If you can deal with the batteries yourself with the support of specialists from the management company or the housing office, then eliminating other causes of poor heating in the house is not your problem. The work of communications in the house and the functionality of shut-off valves are handled by the housing office and representatives of the management company.
For example. It is possible to find out whether the operating pressure in the heating system corresponds to the required value only with the participation of specialists and with the availability of appropriate equipment.
It should be taken into account that any large-scale objects, and heating systems also include them, cannot be completely perfect. Climatic, technological, and human factors can always make adjustments to the operation of the heating system of an apartment building. Mistakes can be made even at the system design stage and during the construction of a residential building. An elementary example. The use of pipes of smaller diameter when laying intra-house communications becomes one of the main reasons for insufficient heat supply to residential buildings.
The quality of the heating system will be determined by a heating engineer who may visit you in response to a complaint. The corresponding measurements carried out by a specialist mean one thing - the management company is trying to fulfill its obligations. Another thing is whether appropriate actions will be taken in the future by the housing office or the management company to eliminate deficiencies in the operation of the heating system.
The lack of response to your complaints to the management company leaves you with a choice. Continue to fight for your rights or look for other, alternative sources of heating in the house. Unreasonable expenses that you will incur without receiving the required kilocalories of heat in return may force you to take a more radical approach to solving the problem. Abandoning centralized heating and switching to individual heating will allow you to forever forget about the discomfort in the house and squabbles with various authorities.
Causes
Practice shows that radiators and radiators remain cold during the heating season for the following reasons:
- One of the most common reasons is an air lock. If the radiator is cold at the top and warm at the bottom, that is why it does not warm the room. One solution to the problem is to install an automatic air release valve.
- Batteries can be cold due to clogging when dirt has been brought to the junction of the fins. The core may become clogged if the radiators are not flushed (this must be done every year). Clogging is often observed with heating appliances installed in the apartment. In this case, you will have to contact specialists, since you will not be able to solve the problem yourself.
- If the riser is cold, then technical faults to occur outside the apartment. If the riser is hot and the radiators are cold, this indicates a possible blockage of the heating system or closed valves.
- If only the last radiator in the system is cold, this indicates insufficient pressure or an unregulated system.
- If, at the beginning of the heating season, authorized persons did not open the valves or the boiler room did not reach its designed capacity, then the batteries will also not warm up the premises.
The problem may also arise from neighbors living upstairs.
ATTENTION! If some of them had repair work carried out unprofessionally, then for them the internal temperature may be sufficient, but for people lower down the riser the radiators will be cold, since they do not receive heat. In this case, it is recommended to contact the Criminal Code.
By the way, if one of your neighbors above has a pipe burst (for example, due to a window being left open for a long time in winter) and they are drowning you, you must also complain to the Criminal Code and other authorized organizations.
Whose property is the battery in the apartment?
Legislation on common property of apartment building residents
Many residents of apartment buildings (MCDs) know that geographically similar buildings are divided into two zones:
- the first is individual property, that is, apartments and the adjacent territory of individual residents of the house;
- and the second is the common property of all residents, represented by the entrance area, elevators, entrances and similar areas of the apartment building.
According to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (LC RF), their owners are directly responsible for the first type of zones of an apartment building, but for the second - the management company or the homeowners' association.
Who should be responsible for replacing or repairing unusable batteries?
How to find someone responsible for battery maintenance and repair?
Now that all readers of our resource understand who owns the heating radiators in apartment buildings and under what circumstances, we can also consider the procedures relating to their repair or replacement.
In fact, the situation in this matter is outrageously simple - whose battery is responsible for it, or rather, undertakes:
- repair and replace in a timely manner;
- monitor its condition in order to prevent emergency situations;
- when the latter occur, eliminate the resulting consequences (for example, compensate for material damage to residents below who suffered from a break in the old radiator).
It is worth noting that if the actual owner does not want to repair or change the faulty battery, his opponent in legal relations has every right to go to court, which will resolve all controversial issues.
When resorting to judicial debate on the “battery” issue in the MKD, it is important to take into account that the judicial body, when rendering a verdict, will focus specifically on the previously mentioned radiator valve. Therefore, if you are in a disadvantageous position, suing is not only pointless, but truly stupid.
This is largely due to the fact that the court verdict obliges the losing party not only to repair the battery, but also to reimburse all expenses of his opponent in legal proceedings that were incurred during the legal debate. Are you interested in this prospect? Most likely no.
Who is responsible for heating the apartment and supplying heat?
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In addition to the nuances presented above, the “radiator” issue in MKD has one more feature.
It consists of the procedure for replacing batteries. Many apartment building residents are interested in whether they have the right to spontaneously hold this event or not?
To better understand the essence of this procedure, let's look at the order of its implementation for two possible outcomes of events:
- The first option is the owner of the battery, the owner of the apartment. In this situation, the latter has every right to change radiators at his own discretion, but to carry out this procedure he must:
- Notify about future replacement of the Criminal Code;
- Coordinate with the expert the procedure, since making major changes to the configuration of the heating system of an apartment building, even in a separate apartment, requires obtaining a special permit from the government agency authorized in urban planning activities.
After carrying out the above measures, the owner of the apartment can carry out a replacement, naturally, at his own expense.
- The second option is that the battery is in common ownership and either the management company or the homeowners’ association is responsible for its operation. In this case, in addition to the previously presented measures, authorized persons must obtain written permission from the apartment owners to replace the radiator. The exception is situations when the battery is in poor condition and may burst at any time; in such circumstances, permission from the owners is not required.
As you can see, answering most of the questions that arise regarding “radiator” disputes in MKD is not so difficult if you know some of the legislative nuances of this topic. We hope the material presented above was useful to you. Good luck in defending your rights!
You can learn how to replace heating batteries by watching the video:
Watch this video on YouTube
What are the rules for recalculating payments for heat?
Grounds for recalculation - violation of supply and heating standards:
during the heating season, the temperature in the living room is below 18 degrees, in regions with an average daily temperature in winter below 31 degrees - below 20 degrees;
due to accidents, the heat supply was interrupted for more than 16 hours at a time or for more than 24 hours in a whole month (recalculation will not be made if the room temperature exceeded 12 degrees);
Important! A deviation from the norm of 3-4 degrees is allowed.
To carry out recalculation, you must submit an application and a package of documents to the management company:
heating payment receipts for the entire recalculation period, if receipts are lost - an extract of payment from the management company;
heat metering cards;
statement about the area of housing.
To document a violation - lack of heating or low temperature in the apartment - call representatives of the management company to check the premises. You can also carry out the check yourself in the presence of two witnesses; you can invite neighbors for this purpose. Based on the results of the inspection, draw up a report and indicate:
date and time of measurements;
actual room temperature;
period of violation from the moment of measurements.
Send the completed act to the management company. If your request for recalculation has been ignored or the deadline for considering the application is being delayed, you can contact higher authorities - the housing inspection, the prosecutor's office, Rospotrebnadzor.
What to do
If the radiators are barely warm or there is no heat at all in the apartment, then you will need to send an application to the management company with a request to measure the temperature. The application must be drawn up in two copies, one of which remains with the owner.
The application will need to include the following information:
- name of the director of the management company;
- information about the applicant: full name, residential address, contact details;
- information about the owner of the property and details of title documentation;
- description of the circumstances: when the temperature dropped, what temperature indicator was observed at the time of drawing up the application;
- requirement to recalculate utility bills and compensate for losses incurred within a specific time frame;
- list of attached documentation;
- date of preparation of the document, signature of the applicant and its transcript.
The document can be in written or printed form.
The following documents are attached to the application:
- acts and certificates that confirm the information specified in the application;
- receipts for payment of utility bills, which prove the fact that the applicant has no debts to pay for services.
If the representative of the management company refuses to accept the application, then the documents must be sent to the company by registered mail with notification and a list of attachments. The date of receipt of the letter is the moment when the management company employee receives it.
ATTENTION! Management staff will measure the temperature using specialized equipment. The act must include the readings shown by the instruments. The act itself is also drawn up in 2 copies.
If the radiators are really cold in the house or only slightly warm, then within a week the management company should correct the temperature violations. For all those days during which poor heating was observed in the multi-storey building, the company must recalculate for the residents. For this purpose, a corresponding application is sent to the EIRC.
The application for recalculation will require the following information:
- addressee's name;
- information about the applicant: full name, residential address, contact details;
- the basis for recalculating payment for a specific service (non-compliance with thermal conditions) indicating the date and time when the deviations were documented;
- please transfer the recalculation indicating the period;
- consequences if the Criminal Code refuses to satisfy the applicant’s demands, indicating the relevant legislative norms and requirements (fines, penalties);
- list of attached documents;
- date of application, signature of the person applying.
Corrections and erasures in the application are unacceptable. It is recommended to compose the document electronically and then print it, since it will no longer be possible to correct erroneous data. Some people prefer to call the management company staff for advice on drawing up an application.
IMPORTANT! Documents confirming the information specified in it are attached to the application. One of such documents is the act of measuring the thermal regime carried out by representatives of the management company.
For every hour of non-functioning heating, the cost decreases by 0.15%. For every 3 degrees decrease in temperature, the cost decreases by 0.1% per hour.
Possible reasons for filing complaints
Before taking any action because of a poorly heated room, you need to find out the scale of the problem. If the heating is turned off in the entire house, it is recommended to make a collective appeal. In addition, the following situations may be a reason for filing a complaint.
Complaint about low temperature or lack of heating in the apartment or individual rooms
If you suspect that the heating of the apartment is weak, i.e. below the established level according to SanPiN No. 2.1.2.2645-10 (with the latest changes and additions in 2020), you need to take independent measurements. This can be done by purchasing special devices or hiring independent experts. In the latter case, appropriate certificates should be requested. Based on the results of the work, a report is drawn up.
An employee of the management company must be present in the apartment while measuring the heating level. The organization should write about the upcoming event in advance.
Optimal and permissible air temperature in residential premises.
Common areas in the apartment building are not heated - entrances
You can complain about unheated public places, i.e. halls, entrances, utility rooms, on the basis of Article No. 36 of the Housing Code of Russia. According to the regulatory provisions, these areas of an apartment building are included in the list of common property subject to payment. Therefore, the management company is obliged to monitor the condition of the batteries and turn on the heating on them.
High temperature in living areas
GOST R 56501-2015 contains information about what level of heat in an apartment is considered normal. Thus, according to the document, radiators must heat the air within 18-25°C. Changes in temperature indicators depend on a number of factors:
- weather;
- season;
- room location;
- subjective feelings.
At the same time, systematically increasing the heating mode, leading to overheating, is just as dangerous as cooling. Since an excessively heated room provokes the proliferation of pathogenic environments, including mold. Fungus in an apartment has a negative effect on a person - depression, fatigue, imbalance of water and electrolyte balance - grounds for a complaint to the Criminal Code.
High pressure in the system - radiators and pipes break through
In accordance with SNiP 41-01-2003 (latest edition 2020), the pressure and temperature in the hot water mains in a closed system must be at a level so that the air in the room warms up to ~22°C. Relative humidity – 35-40%. The higher the apartment building, the greater the static pressure.
To ensure uniform rise of water in the pipeline, powerful pumping equipment is used. If the indicator increases excessively, there is a risk of a breakthrough on the internal highway. Therefore, if you suspect high pressure in the heating system, you should immediately file a complaint with the management company. The organization must stabilize the supply of the resource within 2 hours.
If the emergency situation is ignored, the service company will be responsible for poor-quality services that result in damage to the apartment or apartment building.
Inflated tariffs for heat supply
Indoor temperature in the warm and cold periods of the year.
Heating bills, as well as for other consumed resources, are compiled in a special database. The calculation is based on monthly figures. Receipts are generated automatically. Therefore, the possibility of error due to the human factor is almost eliminated.
Inaccuracies arise due to a failure in the system or a deliberate increase in the heat tariff. The owner of an apartment building can file an application with Roskomnadzor regarding a violation, as well as initiate a prosecutorial investigation if fraud is suspected.
Complaint about unwillingness to recalculate
Such a ground for complaint arises if the following factors occur:
- provision of poor quality service;
- overcharging;
- the contractor has disabled the supply of the resource.
An additional reason for filing an application for recalculation is a prolonged absence of heating in the residential premises.
Before contacting the management organization, you must prepare the following documents:
- heating payment receipts for a certain period;
- ask the management company for the apartment’s heat metering card;
- data on the square footage of the object, including residential and non-residential rooms of the apartment building.
To record the provision of inadequate quality of services, management companies or homeowners associations are required to conduct an inspection of the property.
Why do heating interruptions occur?
The reasons for malfunctions in the heating system are varied. So, problems can arise due to:
- poor quality work of the service provider;
- heat loss during transportation;
- errors in the operation of the heating system in a house or apartment;
- city accidents.
Cold pipes during the heating season are a reason to check the equipment or look for another problem that is interfering with heating the home. You can take some actions yourself, but it is better to contact a service organization. Specialists on its staff will take the necessary measurements and eliminate breakdowns.
The reasons why the heating radiator in the apartment does not heat may be due to the presence of air pockets that impede the free movement of the coolant through the elements of the system. This problem typically occurs when:
- when draining and filling the system with water, air bubbles penetrate;
- the tightness of the system is broken;
- air is formed by the release of oxygen when water is heated, and so on.
Often the problem can be detected by hearing the characteristic gurgling of the coolant.
A more objective test: touch the radiators in all rooms of the home and compare the temperature of the lower and upper parts of the radiator. If the heating radiators in the apartment are half cold, you should first bleed the air in the system. This can be done using air vents located in rooms on the upper floors of the house.
The quality of shut-off valves is important for the normal functioning of heating devices. However, in practice you can often encounter its malfunctions. If, for example, when the riser is hot, a cold bottom of the radiator is detected, the first step is to check the position of the valves. They must be open at the radiator inlet.
This difficulty can be overcome. In this case, an inspection of the tap with cleaning or complete replacement of the shut-off valves will help.
So, if the bottom of the heating radiator in the apartment does not heat, you will have to check all the devices and mechanisms.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the Certificate of Right to Inheritance
System clogged
The heating pipe system, including the radiator itself, can become clogged with various deposits over time, partially or completely blocking the flow of coolant. This usually leads to the cessation of heating or deterioration of the heat transfer of the battery.
It is quite simple to establish that the cause of the cold in the apartment is the blockage: you just need to open the Mayevsky tap and drain a little water into the prepared container. Dirty fluid indicates that the system is clogged. And, most likely, this is why the bimetallic heating radiator in the apartment does not heat well.
Pipes are cleaned only using special equipment. And cleaning the battery is as follows:
- The radiator is dismantled.
- Sections are separated from each other.
- The elements are washed with a stream of water under pressure, for example in a bathroom.
- A solution of soda ash or vinegar is poured into them.
- The sections are washed again.
- The process ends with assembly and installation.
A blockage can sometimes also explain why there is a cold return in an apartment building and the same temperature regime is not provided in all apartments.
The reason for weak heating of the room should also be sought in insufficiently heated coolant or low pressure when it is supplied.
The most obvious explanation is the disadvantages in the operation of the boiler room. Most likely, the coolant initially does not warm up to the required level. On the way to the house, the water cools even more, so when it enters the apartment’s radiator, its temperature drops to levels insufficient to heat the room.
If one battery in the apartment is cold, the source of the problem is probably inside the house or room.
First of all, it is worth opening all the valves - many residents forget that they closed them at the end of the heating season. You can easily resolve this issue in your own premises. If the reason lies in the equipment of the neighboring apartment, it is better to enlist the support of a service organization.
If the radiators in all rooms heat up to different temperatures, there is a high probability of incorrect settings of the heating system. When adjusted correctly, it should ensure uniform heat distribution.
This problem results in more hot water flowing into one appliance and less into the other. This can be solved by partially closing the valve on a hot battery and fully opening it on a cold one.
If these actions do not lead to the desired changes, you need to check if there is a blockage in the faulty radiator. Perhaps this is the reason why the heating radiator in the apartment cools down.
Sometimes the reason is more global, for example, when a heating main breaks. In these situations, not just one house, but an entire block is left without heat. Such incidents are accidents on public life support systems. They are eliminated by the emergency housing and communal services service - a structure that regularly monitors the condition of the utility system and ensures its uninterrupted functioning.
Heating problems in an apartment building must be corrected immediately. And if residents discover the accident on their own, they should report what they saw to the emergency dispatch service of the housing maintenance office.
Where to write complaints if there is no heating?
There is no need to wait for the three-day period to expire. The heating issue must be resolved by all available means. One of them is to file administrative complaints with regulatory authorities, including by telephone. The first step is to prepare the text of the complaint. They can be sent by mail or online.
Here is a list of organizations to call about heating:
- Territorial department of housing inspection.
- Rospotrebnadzor.
If you file a complaint by mail, you must attach to the application copies of documents that confirm the illegality of the actions of the management company or service provider. It is necessary to attach a copy of the report on the lack of heating and an appeal to the organization, which remained unanswered.
Option No. 1 - contacting the housing inspectorate
Utility workers are afraid of citizens turning to the housing inspectorate, so before submitting a request for an inspection, call the head of the management company. Offer to reconsider your claim, having first mentioned the registration number; perhaps the problem will be resolved at this stage.
If there is no reaction, then you need to write an application to the housing inspectorate using this sample. It needs to be supplemented with personal data, the address of residence, as well as the location of the management company. The complaint must be sent by registered mail with notification
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If you send a complaint via the Internet, then first you need to go to the website of the housing inspectorate, to which the location of the management company is located.
Next, the process will be described using the example of the State Housing Property Department of Moscow.
On the website you need to find a section where citizens’ requests are accepted. It is located on the main page. Next, you need to click on the “Appeals from Citizens” section and select “Electronic Reception” from the list that opens.
On the page that opens, you need to pause and study the rules for submitting an electronic appeal. After reading the submission rules, you must click on the link below the rules.
After this, a form will open that needs to be filled out.
At the bottom of the form you need to attach scanned documents, as well as write the text of the appeal. The text cannot exceed 4,000 characters. The size of the attached file cannot exceed 50 MB. It is acceptable to attach photos
It is imperative to indicate the method for receiving a response from the State Housing Inspectorate. The result of the application will be sent by email if you indicate this in the application. It is possible to receive a response by registered mail, but in this case you will have to wait much longer for the result. On average, it takes from 2 to 5 days to process one complaint.
After processing the application, the State Housing Property Inspectorate will check the activities of the management company. If violations are confirmed, the State Housing Property Committee may revoke the license issued to the management company. Without it, the organization will not be able to continue its activities. .
Option No. 2 – complaint to Rospotrebnadzor
You can write an appeal using the text that was compiled for the complaint to the State Housing Inspectorate. It is necessary to make minor corrections, indicating a violation of consumer rights, since the management company does not fulfill its duties.
The text of the complaint must reflect the request for an inspection. Next, attach copies of documents to the text of the complaint and send them by registered mail.
You can also write to Rospotrebnadzor on its official website or through the government services portal. The complaint process will be shown using the second method. To do this, you need to be registered on the appropriate portal.
You need to log into your personal account and click on the “Service Catalog” tab. From the list that opens, you must select the “Authorities” section. This tab contains the necessary supervisory authority
In the list of services that opens, you must select the fifth item from the top. After this, you will be taken to a tab with information about the service, where at the bottom there will be a link to go to the organization’s website. On the website you need to find an electronic reception, and then select the territorial department of Rospotrebnadzor. The system will take you to the desired site where you need to fill out the form.
Option No. 3 – lawsuit
Another effective way to force the management company to fulfill its obligations is to file an administrative claim in court. To do this, you need to use the services of a lawyer who has experience in courts with management companies. It is very important to find a specialist who understands housing law.
He needs to show all receipts, documents, requests and recordings of conversations. Together with a lawyer, it is necessary to draw up a claim, which will stipulate all claims against the company. In addition, the text of the document must contain demands for reimbursement of costs incurred by the consumer due to the lack of heating.
An example text of the statement of claim is as follows. The claim must be accompanied by a list of documents confirming material expenses. If exacerbations of chronic diseases occurred during the shutdown period, you should attach a certificate from a medical institution
If problems with heat supply arise in an apartment building, then you need to involve your neighbors and write a collective statement. The claims of owners and responsible tenants will most likely be satisfied by the court. The defendant will be required to comply with the court decision.
Option No. 4 – application to the local prosecutor’s office
If the heating situation has not returned to normal, you must contact the prosecutor's office. In addition to the management company, inspections will also be carried out on requests that remained unanswered by the supervisory authorities.
You can only submit an application to the prosecutor's office in person. To do this, you need to find out the address and come with ready-made documents. You need to write an application for an urgent inspection at the management company. Copies of unanswered requests must be attached to the application.
Option No. 5 – contacting the President’s reception
If there is no response from the prosecutor's office, you need to write to the president's reception. This can be done on the website by filling out the electronic form. Once a complaint is received, it will be reviewed and a decision will be made to order inspections, forwarding it to the relevant supervisory authorities.
You can write a collective appeal. To draw up a complaint, you can use an existing sample or write it in any form. You need to attach photographs and copies of supporting documents, this will reduce the time to receive a response.
What to do if it's cold at home
Before deciding what to do if the radiators in the apartment are barely warm, you should first find out whether this problem exists only with one owner of the premises or whether all residents of the house are faced with it. When the situation affects the entire house, it is better to act together.
If you discover unsatisfactory heating quality, you must immediately notify the responsible and controlling organizations by calling them or submitting a written statement. If the heating is bad, the following can help:
- service organization: homeowners' association, management company, housing construction cooperative;
- resource supply company;
- emergency dispatch service of housing office;
- housing inspection.
The easiest way is to notify the responsible organization by telephone. In addition, in this case, there is a possibility that its representative will immediately be able to establish the reason for the lack of heating. Therefore, it is better to keep emergency numbers handy to save time.
From the following list you can find out where to call if there is no heat:
- to the management organization: management company, homeowners' association, housing cooperative. She has information about the situation in the house and data on major accidents in the residential area;
- to the emergency dispatch service if it is obvious that the cause of the heating interruption is caused by an accident;
- to the service provider (resource supply organization), if it has been established that the coolant temperature does not meet the standard;
- municipal and regional authorities. As a rule, at the beginning of the season they open a special hotline.
A call to any of these organizations must be recorded. The dispatcher can make an appropriate entry, for example, in the citizen complaints log.
Such a mark will help confirm that the contractor and the supplier have identified a discrepancy between the services provided and the established quality. Otherwise, the residents' statements will remain unfounded. Therefore, it is important not only to know who to call, but also to make sure that your message does not go unnoticed.
You can also inform the responsible organizations about the lack of heating in writing. But in this case, first it is advisable to submit the document to the institution responsible for providing utilities to the residents of the house, that is, a management company, a homeowners' association or a housing cooperative.
Having determined the place where to complain if the radiators in the apartment are slightly warm, you should begin to draw up a written statement, preferably in duplicate. The complaint should be personally taken to the office of the service company, taking with you a second copy, on which the employee will put a registration stamp, date and signature.
There is no standard application form with which many residents try to eliminate the cold in their apartment. The claim can be presented in any form, but it is worth including the following key information:
- data of the management organization and its representative: name, coordinates and full name;
- details and coordinates of the applicant: full name, address, telephone number;
- Title of the document;
- a statement of circumstances indicating that the heating in the house is poor;
- requirements;
- an appendix, if you can back up your words with evidence: a graph of measurements, photos of pipe break locations, and so on;
- date and signature.
A sample application looks like this.
The application is accepted for consideration after registration.
If the service organization cannot immediately explain or eliminate the reason that led to poor heating, it is obliged to send its employee to the house to conduct an inspection and draw up a report.
The time and date must be agreed upon with the residents, but, according to the regulations, the inspection is carried out no later than two hours from the moment the information is received from the service consumer.
If the latter has ignored the request, the tenant has the right to draw up an inspection report on his own. This document can be submitted, for example, to the state housing inspection. She will conduct a new examination and take action based on its results.
Residents should know in advance where to go if the apartment is very cold and there is no heating. If a malfunction is discovered, you should immediately report it to provoke a response from officials.
The service provider and other companies are obliged to immediately take measures to restore the heating supply as quickly as possible. Thus, according to paragraph 14 of Resolution No. 354, they are obliged to ensure uninterrupted round-the-clock heating of premises during the heating season.
The permissible duration of a break in the provision of services is indicated in the table.
Air temperature in residential premises, °C | Maximum permissible break in heat supply, hours |
01.12.2018 | no more than 16 |
10.12.2018 | no more than 8 |
08.10.2018 | no more than 4 |
Important: a break within 1 month should not exceed 24 hours |
Measures to eliminate problems with heating an apartment or apartment building differ depending on the situation. Among them are:
- testing and restoration of utility networks;
- radiator inspection and repair;
- analysis of highway operation;
- measuring the parameters of the coolant provided to the consumer.
Tags: battery, if, apartment, where, contact, warm
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Sample complaint to the heating management company
In order for a complaint about cold batteries to be accepted for consideration, and the causes of the incident to be eliminated, you must follow the writing rules:
- The complaint must be structured, written in legally competent language, without emotional overtones.
- Only facts that can be supported by evidence should appear.
- If a collective complaint is planned, then it should have as many signatures as possible. To do this, they hold a meeting of those living in the entrance or in the house and jointly discuss the initiative to create a claim.
- For further movement through the authorities, you will need proof of application. Therefore, the complaint must be sent by registered mail with notification by mail or brought to the reception office of the Criminal Code, register two copies and keep one for yourself.
How to make a claim
A claim to the Criminal Code is drawn up similarly to any other government authorities. The document contains:
- The so-called “header”, which lists the manager’s full name, name of the management company, data of the initiators of the complaint: their full name, addresses.
- Below is the name of the document – Complaint or Claim.
- In the main part, you need to set out the circumstances: from what period the problems with heating began, what temperature was recorded in the apartment, the entrance, what actions were taken by the residents to turn it on.
- It is necessary to inform about your intention to apply for protection of rights to government authorities if the issue is not resolved at this level.
- At the end of the claim, the participants are listed and their signatures are placed.
- Attached to the complaint will be documents on ownership of the apartment, acts of temperature measurements, paid receipts for heating, and heat supply contracts.
These rules can be used as a sample or template for writing a complaint against the Criminal Code. The application form can be obtained from the official websites of government agencies.
IMPORTANT! Anonymous complaints will not be considered.
Reason: system clogged
It also happens that the battery stops heating due to a blockage. Over several decades, the internal surfaces of the pipes become covered with rust, which blocks access to the water supply. In this case, experts advise cleaning the radiator or replacing it.
If you are faced with a problem that is expressed in the fact that the battery in the apartment does not heat well, we have discussed what to do and where to go above. However, the whole point may also be a simple gap. And if this is so, then using a bypass you will need to shut off the flow of coolant to the radiator, which will allow you to leave the battery in working condition. If cleaning is carried out, then it is best to use the tips below.
Such work must be carried out under high coolant supply pressure. You should not expect that all the dirt will come out of the radiator if you connect the hose from the water tap. It is recommended to recheck the connections before replacing the battery. If you are trying to decide what to do if the batteries do not heat up, and you find a lot of excess in the radiator, then it is recommended to perform the same cleaning steps for all other batteries in the house.
Where to complain about heating being turned off in winter
This is a serious crime that jeopardizes the performance of the entire heating system of a district or settlement. If it freezes, it will be impossible to restore the heat supply until the end of winter. This is especially true in areas where low temperatures prevail.
Such situations usually cause wide resonance, including in the media. Therefore, residents must publicize such blatant violations.
Where to call
If the heating is turned off, you need to immediately call the management company, the resource supply organization and the local administration. They are no less interested in restoring the heat supply than the residents; their managers will be punished, including removal from office, for such omissions.
Phone numbers can be found on monthly receipts for maintenance and heating payments, and on information boards near the house.
If the problem is serious and cannot be resolved at the local level, it is necessary to involve government authorities.
Rospotrebnadzor has set up a hotline at 8-800-100-0004 . The call is free from anywhere in Russia. Hotlines of other government agencies are distributed by region and can be found on official websites.
IMPORTANT! A response to the complaint will be given within 30 days.
Additional reasons
Cases when the temperature in the apartment is low are not so rare. The coolant may simply not reach the last radiator along the route. This may be relevant when the system is incorrectly designed, or the diameter of the pipes does not correspond to the calculated one. Quite often the ratio of water volume to intensity and circulation is selected incorrectly.
If you still don’t know what to do if the batteries don’t heat well, then it’s also important to pay attention to whether the pump is doing its job.