If the management company does not send invoices on time, does it pay penalties?

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What is included in payment for housing and communal services

When living in an apartment building, residents are required to pay for utilities provided by the relevant companies.

Attention! These services include the following:

electricity, the consumption of which is determined either by average indicators or by meter;
electricity used in common areas and paid equally by residents;
water supply, which includes hot (not lower than +40 degrees) and cold water, as well as preliminary purification of water resources entering the apartment (it is also permissible to install meters or use average indicators);
heating, the indicator of which should not be lower than eighteen degrees above zero, and payment is made taking into account the size of the area of the heated room in the amount of up to 43 rubles per 1 sq.m. (the total cost will include payment for heating both the apartment and common areas);
garbage removal, which is carried out not only during construction and repair work, but also in the process of maintaining a person, while the cost of such a service can reach up to six thousand rubles, since it is determined taking into account the area of housing and the mass of garbage being removed;
sewerage, the cost of such a service is determined by the type of sewer system and the level of pollution associated with water drainage provided in an apartment building.

Also in the receipt for utilities you can see such items as major repairs, maintenance of the elevator and intercom, which also involves monthly cash contributions from residents.

Attention! Our qualified lawyers will assist you free of charge and around the clock on any issues. Find out more here.

How to pay taxes on renting an apartment

However, this is in the past, the press service of the Federal Tax Service of Russia said. Tax laws have changed, and these changes came into force at the beginning of 2013. Now the subjects of the Federation have the right to calculate the potential income of an individual entrepreneur from the number of rental properties or their area. That is, if previously an entrepreneur acquired a patent, it did not matter whether he rented out one or several apartments, he paid the same amount. Now, with the new amendments, some justice will be restored, especially in relation to those rentiers who have only one apartment at their disposal.

It doesn't take much to become an individual entrepreneur. The application form P21001 is certified by a notary, a TIN certificate, a passport and a receipt for payment of the state fee in the amount of 800 rubles. All this must be taken to the tax office in whose territory you intend to carry out business activities. The tax authorities allow 5 days for registration, after which you will receive a certificate of tax registration as an individual entrepreneur. You can open a bank account and notify the tax office about it within 10 days. Compared to individuals who need to visit an inspection once a year, this no longer seems like the best option. However, that's not all.

01 Aug 2020 stopurist 381

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What housing and communal services can you avoid paying for if you don’t live in an apartment?

If utilities are paid based on meters, that is, according to the volume of resources actually used, then if there are no residents in the apartment, a number of services will not be paid for, for example, electricity, gas, water, and in some cases even heating.

At the same time, receipts for payment for housing and communal services include such items as maintenance of premises, maintenance of common property, and so on. Payment for such services must be made even when no one lives in the apartment.

Attention! Calculator for calculating penalties for paying for utilities (Part 14, Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

If there are no meters, then receipts will come with an average indicator, which will require an additional contact with the management company. However, no recalculation will be made.

Grounds for the management company to sue the property owner

In order to psychologically influence the debtor, employees of the management company post information about the debt on a notice board in a publicly accessible place. As a rule, such a measure has a significant impact on emotionally sensitive people. Also, information about unscrupulous payers is published in local media (although moral damages can be recovered from the management company for false information);
accrual of penalties - a penalty is accrued in the established amount and amounts to one three-hundredth of the refinancing rate (Central Bank of the Russian Federation). The amount may seem small, but paying the fine for a long period of time will significantly hit your wallet;
restriction of access (or deprivation of the opportunity to use) certain utilities (gas, hot water, electricity, etc.);
turning to collectors is a fairly rare occurrence for collecting rent arrears. However, similar cases have already occurred in judicial practice. Moreover, the court makes ambiguous decisions, both in favor of the plaintiff and in favor of the defendant;
deprivation of the opportunity to use living space for its intended purpose - in other words, eviction. Currently, people can be evicted only by court decision and only from a municipal apartment.

We recommend reading: Disputes Arising Between Legal Entities And Also Individual Entrepreneurs Participants In Economic Life Are Called

If the owner of the apartment has temporary financial difficulties or a difficult family situation (for example, one of his loved ones is seriously ill), the management company can accommodate him halfway. Restructuring will make it possible to pay off debts to housing and communal services in installments, with a certain installment plan (the amount and timing must be negotiated with utility companies). The subsidy is a monthly financial assistance from the state to low-income citizens for six months. To receive such assistance, you should contact the social protection authorities rather than public utilities. Collect the necessary documents, register as low-income people. In addition to low-income citizens, the following can count on government assistance:

What does the Housing Code enshrine?

Issues of paying for utility services, determining the cost and procedure for fulfilling the obligation are regulated by the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Section 7).

Utility payments are indicated in the following articles:

Art. 154 of the RF Housing Code provides for the structure of the procedure for paying for utility services;
Art. 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation establishes precise rules for paying utility bills, determines the timing of such actions and places for filing;
Art. 157 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation establishes the amount of utility services according to meters, as well as the standards required when paying for housing and communal services in the absence of meters in the apartment.

Other provisions of both this code and other federal laws also apply.

What happens if you don’t pay the rent on time – Portal about housing and communal services

Limitation period, according to Art. 199 of the Civil Code of Russia is three years. The same period applies when the debt is collected from people who inherited a real estate property. Rent arrears that are more than three years old must only be paid for the last three years. According to the law, citizens may not return money for past years.

If utility bills are not paid for more than 2 months. What happens if you don't pay utility bills?

Until 2020, the amount of the penalty was the same, regardless of the period of debt, and it was 1/300 of the refinancing rate of the Central Bank of Russia. Today, for the first 3 months the penalty will be calculated in the same amount, but when the delay is over 90 days, you will have to pay more, the amount will be 1/170 of the rate.

Depending on the region and the policy of the management organization itself, rent arrears for one to two months usually do not give rise to any serious measures. However, the larger the debt, the more severe the measures may be.

How to reduce rent and heating bills

Despite the fact that it is impossible to completely abolish the obligation to pay utility bills, the legislator allows you to submit an application to the management company.

It is necessary to indicate that no one lives in the apartment, so that you can receive bills less than those provided for if people live in the house.

Please note! Heating, house maintenance, use of common areas in the house - all this will inevitably have to be paid for, since it is impossible to turn off the heating for one resident so that he can avoid expenses, since this will affect the interests of other residents in the apartment building.

The management company does not recalculate utility bills.

How to find out and pay off your debt for an apartment, read here.

Is it possible not to pay rent if there is no agreement with the management company, read the link:

A service such as gas, for example, allows gas service employees to install a plug so that the flow of gas does not continue, since no one lives in the apartment.

This will reduce some of the costs. However, this option is possible only if the tenant of the apartment has no debts for gas supply. You will have to pay for such a service. However, if necessary, such a plug can be removed.

However, not every service can help you save money. For example, garbage removal does not imply a reduction in costs, since the issuance of an invoice does not depend on the fact that a person lives in an apartment, but on the presence of registration. To avoid paying for disposal, you will have to lose your registration.

How to reduce utility bills if a person is registered but does not live

To save on utility bills, you must confirm your absence from your place of registration. It must be remembered that the period of absence should not be less than five days. To justify such absence, it is necessary to present documents so that the payment amount will eventually be recalculated.

Presentation of documents, sending an application and other actions allow you to reduce costs and recalculate the amount to pay for utilities. This happens five days after the application. However, the easiest way is to have counters that will record how many resources were actually spent by the resident.

Watch the video. If I don’t live, I won’t pay:

How to recalculate utility bills

Why do you need to recalculate utility bills? First of all, such a tool is used when the management company providing services makes errors in accruals.

Recalculation serves as a way to resolve the problem, including if such errors were made due to the person’s absence from the place of residence for a long period.

Also, the need for recalculation arises when a person informs in advance that he will be absent, but there are no meters installed in the apartment.

Since averages are used to determine the specific cost of a service, it is only necessary to count the number of days that a person actually used the resources. This should be done in each direction: for the supply of gas, water, light, and so on.

Attention! Recalculation of the amount is allowed not only before receiving a warning about absence, that is, even before such a need arises, but also after the person receives a receipt for payment or independently submits an application for the implementation of the procedure. The main condition for this is that the absence must last more than five days.

It should also be taken into account that in addition to the minimum period of absence, a maximum limit is also determined. Recalculation is carried out only for the next six months.

Next, you will need to write an application again so that the indicators and standards can be re-evaluated. This is primarily due to the fact that legislation may be updated, which could affect the final payment amount.

Attention! Calculator for calculating penalties for paying for utilities (Part 14, Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

To confirm your absence from the place of registration and not overpay the amount for utilities, you should submit the relevant documents, which may include the following:

employee ID sent on a business trip, travel cards, tickets and other similar papers;
medical documents confirming the fact of undergoing long-term treatment;
a certificate establishing that the apartment was sealed or was under guard, which prevented anyone from entering and living there;
document confirming temporary registration;
hotel invoices establishing the fact of a person’s temporary residence at another address;
a certificate from the institution where the child was located for a specifically established time required for recalculation;
a document from the chairman of a cooperative or a summer residence association stating that a person lives at a summer house or other facility for a specifically established period of time.

ATTENTION! Look at the completed sample application for recalculation of all utility payments:

How to deposit money

Every apartment owner should know how to pay utilities for their home. For non-payment or late payments, penalties are imposed on the owner of the premises. Only timely payment of funds for services supplied by utility companies can guarantee the uninterrupted supply of these services to a person.

ATTENTION! Late or incorrect payment for housing and communal services may lead to their suspension for the consumer.

The owner of the apartment pays for the utilities himself, even if the premises are rented out. All details must be specified in the lease agreement.

The deadline for making payments under the Housing Code must be made by the 10th day of each month. Representatives of management companies are required to provide the apartment owner with the appropriate receipts to repay the amount for the use of housing and communal services.

The legislation does not exempt the apartment owner from paying utility bills, even if he does not live in the home.
However, not all services will be charged.
The procedure for paying off a utility bill is very simple, but some people still wonder how to do it correctly . Payments are made in cash or by bank transfer.

Before depositing money, you must review the receipt. To avoid fines, payment should be made after receiving a notice with the prescribed amount.

You can pay for utilities at post offices, banks, or directly at the supplying organization. You can deposit funds into the account of supplying companies by bank transfer using ATMs, electronic payment systems, and mobile payments. This method of depositing funds is relevant for young people who understand modern technologies.

You can make a payment in cash using the terminal. The device is similar in appearance to an ATM, and payment is made by depositing funds into a special acceptor for banknotes. This method of paying off utility bills saves people from queuing at the box office.

After completing the procedure, the person will receive a check from the terminal, which should not be thrown away, because it serves as confirmation in case of disputes.

Is the accrual legal?

According to the general rules of housing legislation, the calculation of the amount for payment of utility services in relation to a citizen is possible only if he is registered at a specifically specified address.

If no one lives in the apartment and is not registered, then there is no need to pay bills that for some reason come to such an address. However, not all services will remain unpaid when the person neither resides nor is registered there.

Homeowners, under any circumstances, must pay for heating, general and household needs of the house, because it is impossible to limit the supply of such resources to one person, that is, either the service is provided to all residents at once, or to no one.

Legislative regulation of the issue

The property owner and responsible tenants must pay utility bills for living space; by law, this is their responsibility. If individuals do not pay the required amount within the established time frame, they are held administratively liable.

Deadline for payment and formation of debt

What should the debtor do? There is a statute of limitations for rent arrears; with this, the debt can be reduced a little. The owner or tenant must promptly file a petition requesting that the statute of limitations for the rent debt be taken into account. The statute of limitations for a debt is the time after which the debt is canceled.

Every month we make a lot of payments: utilities, for all kinds of communication services, for kindergartens, clubs, sections, credit, and so on. One day the situation may turn out to be very unfavorable: it turns out that it is simply impossible to make all the necessary payments! And there is nothing to save on

. The question arises: is it possible to postpone some payments until better times? For example, utilities?

Is the area of the loggia included in the total area of the apartment for payment of housing and communal services?

What is included in the total area of the apartment for which utility bills are calculated?

According to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, namely Article 15, the entire area that serves to meet the needs and interests of apartment residents will be recognized as common.

Accordingly, the loggia also acts as part of the apartment, the area of which will be taken into account when calculating utility bills.

All rules for calculating area and utility bills are regulated in detail by special acts. With the question of the square footage of the apartment, which is necessarily taken into account when calculating the rent bill, you can refer to the Instructions for accounting for housing stock.

In addition, it should be understood that any room, even non-residential, which belongs to the apartment, and is also located in the entrance and serves for the general purposes of the residents of the house, will be included in the quadrature when making calculations. However, when taking into account a loggia, a reduction factor should be used, which is equal to 0.5, and if we are talking about taking into account a balcony - 0.3.

Ways to reduce payment

Attention! Speaking about specific ways to reduce the cost of utility services that will be recognized as legal, the following options can be distinguished:

installing meters in the apartment for resources such as water, gas and electricity;
purchase a heating meter, which will not completely eliminate the need to pay for such a resource, but will allow you to regulate the temperature and, accordingly, consumption indicators.

Accordingly, such devices will make it possible, in the event of the absence of residents, to transmit readings to management companies that are equal to zero, which will not imply any payment.

At the same time, you should always remember about documents confirming the fact of absence, otherwise the management company may provide assistance.

ATTENTION! Look at the completed sample application for checking meters:

Debt repayment methods

The debtor can resolve the debt issue before the housing company goes to court or during the process. To do this, you need to contact the housing company and jointly develop a repayment schedule for the resulting debt. This document should suit both sides of the issue.

The debt can be repaid either by paying the entire amount at once or in part. You can get a debt restructuring, that is, a change in payment terms in the interests of the debtor. It is possible to increase the period for payment or reduce the amount of payments.

The amount of payments cannot be more than half of the debtor's income. Points that need to be taken into account when contacting a housing company regarding a debt issue include:

the debtor has no legal grounds for obtaining a deferment; this decision must be made voluntarily by the housing company;
payers have the opportunity to take advantage of benefits and subsidies even after concluding an agreement;
If the agreement concluded regarding debt payment is violated, debt collection measures may be tightened.

If the debtor cannot fulfill all the conditions of the restructuring, then you can contact the housing company with a request to jointly find another solution to the problem. For example, you can sell a residential property and purchase cheaper real estate, and use the remaining funds to pay off debt. You can also take out a consumer loan, in which case you need to take into account that it will be more profitable to pay off the loan or debt to the housing company.

When resolving the issue of utility debt, it is better for the owner to negotiate with the housing company. Avoiding contact and violating the restructuring agreement can worsen the debtor's current situation.