Utilities tariffs are a favorite topic of complaints. Indeed, housing is pretty expensive today. Nevertheless, it is possible to keep the amounts on the receipt within reasonable limits, if you carefully monitor the correctness of charges and check what work is actually being done. Today we will discuss in detail what is included in the column "Repair and maintenance of housing." This will help you find out what responsibilities are in the utilities and learn how to protect your rights if necessary.
List of Services
Most utility bills contain the column “Housing Repair and Maintenance”. What is included in this item? Of course, it is incredibly important to know exactly what you are paying for. As a rule, any communal service should disclose to its customers (residents of the houses it serves) what types of work it performs. This list usually includes the following items:
- constant monitoring of safety, regular inspection of the premises (direct responsibility of rescuers, lifters, fire brigades);
- cleaning the premises and the adjoining territory (in the first case, the services of a janitor are used, and in the second - cleaners)
- sufficient and constant lighting of the premises (yes, the management company should take care of this, and not the tenants themselves; however, for the most part this rule is not respected);
- utilization of food and other wastes (employees of the management company should be engaged in cleaning, and often garbage collection);
- repair of premises and exterior works (both cosmetic maintenance and overhaul);
- ensuring constant (corresponding to the necessary standards) temperature and humidity in the premises;
- land works (gardening and maintenance of the local area).
This list is standard. As a rule, it is he who is meant, indicating in the receipt “Repair and maintenance of housing”. What is included in this concept, in addition to the indicated points, is usually determined directly by the management company. However, unfortunately, far from all of the above is regularly carried out by the company employees, not all services are provided to residents. If their quality does not suit you, you always have the opportunity to make a complaint in which you talk about the presence of discrepancies noted. In this case, the public service will be required to regularly report on what kind of work it performs.
Additionally
Often, in addition to the main points, some additional items are included in the receipt. As a rule, the tenants themselves decide which services they need and which are not necessary at all. Such a discussion is usually held in a specially organized meeting. There, tenants will be able to determine what additional services are needed, and what current services it would be appropriate to refuse. For example, some decide that cleaning the entrances can be done on their own, and there is no need to pay a management company for this. Others decide that a third-party company will better take out the garbage. Therefore, they prefer to give a small amount on a monthly basis for the fact that the selected company will timely remove and dispose of all garbage.
How are tariffs formed?
To a greater extent, it is national legislation that determines what tariffs for housing maintenance to set. However, it must be noted that residents of those apartments that are state or municipal property are required to pay another additional fee, namely: a fee for renting certain housing. However, such people do not need to pay any money for the current repair of the apartment building in which the apartment is located, for example, for roof repairs.
So, what do you pay for when you contribute to utilities?
- Hiring (refers to those tenants whose apartments have not been privatized).
- Current repair of the entrance of the house, as well as other common areas.
- Cleanliness (regular and timely cleaning of common areas in an apartment building).
- Overhaul (maintenance of an apartment building, carrying out thorough work).
All of the above should be contained in one column. If the items are individually listed, this will be a direct violation of the law, which should be declared. In the presence of these or any other deviations from the norm, tenants of the house can make their complaints to the tax service, saying that the public service does not adhere to established standards. If you don’t react to your complaint, feel free to file a lawsuit in court. This can be done both individually and collectively. However, of course, it will take a lot of time to accomplish this. Therefore, most residents prefer to put up with the situation and pay for poorly provided services.
Where does the money paid for the repair and maintenance of housing come from? What is included in this concept, we have already figured out. Now the time has come to take a closer look at certain types of services provided.
Intercom
Residents of the vast majority of apartment buildings prefer to install convenient devices - intercoms. Of course, these units require constant maintenance and periodic repair. Costs of this type are fully covered by tenants. Government institutions occasionally use intercoms, although this is a much less common practice. The decision to install the intercom residents can take collectively at a general meeting. If, after solving this issue, they turn to the representative of the management company, then the device maintenance fee will be included in the “Repair and maintenance of housing” column. What else is included in this paragraph depends on what services the residents of the house chose for themselves.
As a rule, people living in the same staircase install the intercom on their own. To accomplish this, you only need to appoint a responsible person who will take on the collection of funds from the neighbors, agree directly with the contracting company and monitor the installation process as a whole. After the device is installed, residents will have to regularly pay for its maintenance. In this case, a receipt will be provided separately.
Garbage removal
Another service, which is sometimes indicated separately on the receipt, is garbage collection. Of course, its cost is entirely small, but it should still be part of the content section. If this is not so, this state of affairs is considered a violation. However, if you plan to decide not to provide the service in question, then you and your neighbors must have good reason.
What grounds are we talking about? For example, a certain house is located on the very outskirts of the city. Garbage collectors are not able to daily maintain such courtyards of apartment buildings and timely remove their waste. Of course, the consequences of this are extremely unpleasant. What to do in this case? Residents can collect a sufficient number of signatures and refuse to receive the service in question. After that, you will need to conclude a contract with a third-party company and pay her for the service. Now this service will be indicated on the receipt in a separate column.
Housing and communal services
It is important to understand well what payment for housing is. Housing and communal services, in essence, is engaged in the maintenance of an apartment building. However, as practice shows, the state institution in question very often violates the rights of consumers and regularly exceeds its powers. In order to restore justice in cases of such violations, residents have the right to formalize official appeals to any higher authorities.
As a rule, you also have to pay for a large number of seasonal work, the cost of which is also included in the receipt column under consideration. These services usually include:
- roof repair;
- restoration of drains and ventilation;
- restoration of the functioning of garbage chutes;
- equipping stairs with handrails, repair of steps;
- gardening and cleaning of the local area;
- restoration of windows and doors;
- tree care;
- care for playgrounds;
- regular updating of fences and gates;
- emergency communications service.
The entire list of services provided must be contained in the contract, which is concluded between the representatives of the housing and communal services and the association of tenants. This list is not standardized. Some services can be crossed out, and the necessary additional ones, on the contrary, can be added. Residents can personally control the execution of all work, as this right is granted to them by law.
Check
As a rule, homeowners see the problem not so much in the cost of a service, but in how regularly and efficiently they are provided. This is due to the fact that, unfortunately, the majority of public utilities ignore their direct responsibilities and do not fulfill the entire declared list of works. Sometimes this happens due to lack of funds or lack of the required number of skilled workers. The frequency and specific timing of the provision of a service should be specified in the contract. If the agreement does not contain a section containing such information, it is important to familiarize yourself with those work schedules that are adopted directly in this organization.
Types of work performed at different times
How is home maintenance classified? They are divided into planned, seasonal and necessary. Seasonal work, as a rule, is carried out in a certain period annually. For example, this refers to the preparation of the building for the heating period. Scheduled repairs are carried out at a predetermined time during the year. Dates of work must be agreed with the residents of the house. Also, only with their consent can any changes be made to this schedule. Necessary repairs are not planned. It is performed when it becomes necessary to eliminate an accident that has arisen. For example, such repairs are necessary when there are breakdowns in communications for the supply of gas, water or electricity.
Carefully examining the content column and noting in what condition your house is in, you can assume how faithfully the management company is fulfilling its obligations to the residents of the house it serves. It is important to be able to protect our own rights ourselves.
Unreasonable price increase
Legislation gives citizens the right to file complaints with higher authorities to restore justice. If you are sure that the maintenance and repair fees were unreasonably high, you need to team up with your neighbors and make a collective complaint. If the fact of abuse of authority is revealed, the management company will be forced to pay a large fine to those tenants whom it deceived.
Why is it better to make a collective complaint? They are usually treated much faster. Such an appeal must state the reasons justifying the need for recalculation, as well as the groundlessness of the accrued amounts.
Changes in legislation
Since 2016, all payment documents have a new line - MSW (municipal solid waste). Since then, they have been charged separately in the amount of payment for garbage disposal per person. The section of general household needs is abolished as a separate column and is now included in the repair and maintenance.
If the work is performed poorly, and its implementation has not been monitored, the superintendent will be forced to pay a fine. The same mechanism applies if the amounts in the receipt do not correspond to the actual.
As practice shows, not everyone clearly understands what they are paying for. Not every tenant of the house wants to deal with the contents of utility bills. But no one, except yourself, will be able to verify the correctness of charges. It is important that each tenant carefully examines the contract with the public service. You must also remember to constantly get acquainted with the information contained in the receipts. It is important to report violations immediately. A substantial part of the information is provided at regular meetings of residents. You cannot be deceived if you are personally interested in your own well-being.
So, we found out that the column "Repair and maintenance of housing" includes many items, including cleaning the entrances, and landscaping, and major repairs. You can control what services you need and for which work you are willing to pay. You can adjust the repair tariff, as well as check how well these works are performed.
Let this information help you achieve the fair functioning of your management company. Feel free to defend your rights!