A frequent cause of civil strife among residents of an apartment building is the flooding of a neighboring building. This does not always happen due to the negligence or intentional actions of neighbors - often the reason lies in the malfunction of the water supply or drain system. However, this does not guarantee that damage to housing will be compensated. In order to be able to recover damages in the future, it will be necessary to draw up an act on the flooding of the apartment. Such an action will help insure against possible compensation for losses incurred by the owner of the dwelling.
What to do if the neighbors flooded
Before you start filling out the act of flooding the apartment, you need to perform a number of simple steps that will help prevent even more damage to the living space:
- grabbing buckets and rags immediately is not worth it - first you need to turn off the wiring to avoid a short circuit;
- find out the cause of flooding;
- then, having learned about the cause of the flood, it will need to be eliminated, if the roof has leaked - contact the local housing office, if the neighboring crane - close it immediately, contacting the one who lives above. This will help eliminate leaks and preserve property that is still intact.
Art. 1064 of the Civil Code (Civil Code) of the Russian Federation guarantees that compensation for damage resulting from a flood or flooding rests with those whose fault this harm has fully occurred. However, often the outcome of a case depends on the actions of the victim after the moment the problem was discovered.
Even if the guilty party agrees to voluntarily indemnify, it is worthwhile to play it safe and collect material evidence for transfer to court. After all, a neighbor may change his mind or disagree with the amount of compensation paid.
The following step-by-step instructions will help protect your rights and interests if it comes to a trial.
Do not change the situation in the apartment
In the first three days after flooding, you should not carry out repairs or rearrangements. This is necessary to record material evidence of damage to the room. Therefore, before drawing up an act on the flooding of an apartment by neighbors and a photo or video recording, it is extremely undesirable to change the situation in the room.
Make a photo and / or video recording
According to Article 55 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, photography or video recording are direct evidence in legal proceedings. They will help to fix the consequences of the bay. It is recommended to start photo / video shooting outside the building, starting from the entrance where the apartment is located. It is worth capturing all detected damage and the source of the leak.
In addition, you can draw up documentary evidence of the photo / video shooting, assuring him with the signatures of two witnesses who will be able to confirm the time and place of fixation, as well as testify in court that this apartment was damaged as a result of flooding.
Draw up an act
Even if the owner of the flooded apartment is not going to apply to the court for damages, it will still be necessary to draw up a sample inspection certificate for the apartment after flooding. This is necessary to recover losses resulting from the gulf. With the help of the correct act on the flooding of the apartment, you can insure against non-fulfillment of damages caused by the flood culprit and receive monetary compensation from the insurance company (if there is insurance and payments were made on time).
Members
A sample act on the flooding of an apartment by neighbors is drawn up on a commission basis. To fix the results of the bay, you will need:
- the representative of the operating company (housing office, housing cooperative, management organization), which he himself must draw up a document;
- two witnesses certifying the act of flooding the apartment with their signatures; they can also participate in the hearing, testifying about what happened;
- the culprit of the flooding;
- injured party.
The culprit of the bay may be present when filling out the act (although not required) to fix all the damage on its part. Often, the responsible party does not want to sign the completed document. In this case, it is enough to simply indicate this in the model act on the flooding of the apartment and assure him with the signatures of two invited witnesses.
It may take several days from the moment of the gulf to the drawing up of the act, so you need to look for witnesses who saw the immediate moment of flooding from the very beginning.
As witnesses, it is better to invite neighbors who are sane, with whom the owner of the flooded apartment has a good relationship. If it comes to trial, not every invited party will be willing to spend their time and come to the meeting. Not to mention the elderly, who have problems with memory and health. It’s definitely not worth appointing such witnesses. The presence of witnesses in the process of drawing up the act and the subsequent trial is not necessary at all, but this will significantly increase the chances of winning the case and compensation for material damage.
Statement
As mentioned earlier, the representative of the operating company should organize the process of inspecting the living space. Because he knows better how to draw up an act on flooding an apartment. Therefore, in order to attract a specialist, it is necessary to draw up an application to the Housing Office, Homeowners Association or the management company. Below is a sample flooding statement.
The application is compiled in free form, but it must necessarily contain the name of the authority where it is submitted, the address of the apartment where the gulf occurred, and the data of the injured party.
Deadline
However, it happens that the representatives of the management company are in no hurry to go. It is worth noting that, according to the "Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in multi-apartment and residential buildings", complaints and applications are checked within a few days from the day the message is received. Although it also happens that the owners of a dwelling have to wait for the act of flooding the apartment by neighbors for more than six months. This is wrong, because the executive company has responsibilities that it must fulfill.
Accordingly, the deadline for compiling an act on flooding an apartment is three working days. If the specialist still does not come, you can contact the Housing Office with a second application and indicate that no actions have been taken by the employees. When the repeated appeal to the Housing Office did not produce results, it is worth writing a complaint to the Rospotrebnadzor, and it will take certain measures. Also, the owner of a flooded apartment can, without waiting for a specialist from the managing organization, draw up an act on flooding of the apartment on their own with the mandatory participation of two witnesses.
Document Content
It is important to know how to draw up a model act of flooding an apartment, since it will be used in the future as material evidence in court when recovering material damage.
The act must be drawn up in two copies - one is transferred to the owner of the flooded housing, and the second remains with the company that provides utilities. When the owner independently draws up an act on the flooding of the apartment, he will be obliged to give the management company a second copy of the document.
The content of the document should include the following required elements:
- The composition of the commission that examines the apartment.
- Date and time of the housing survey and date / time of the bay discovery.
- Address where the flooded apartment is located.
- The fact of the bay and the presence of significant property damage - here you will need to indicate where the leak occurred and what damage it caused. In case of damage to the walls or ceiling, the size of the damage is indicated in square meters (it is worth paying attention that you can’t just write "part of the wallpaper has peeled off", you need to describe the damage site in detail: "in room No. 2 there are multiple detachments of wallpaper from the wall. The damage area is 10 square meters. m "). If damaged by household appliances, make information about the make and model.
- The reason for the water leak - for this you will need to inspect the apartment located above, contacting the culprit.
- The relationship between the detected leak and the resulting damage - the act must indicate that the cause of the damage is the identified cause of the leakage of water.
- The document is certified by the signatures of the commission members. The seal of the management company must be left on the act. If the owner conducted the inspection of the apartment on his own, a seal is not required, but the presence of witnesses' signatures in this case is mandatory.
If one of the members of the commission refuses to sign the document, a corresponding note is made in the act, after which the inspection should be completed, certified by the signatures of the other participants in the process. The model of the act of flooding the apartment should bear the seal of the management company. Its presence is mandatory if the audit is carried out by an organization providing utility services.
Dates of the act of flooding the apartment
There is no specific validity period for a document. However, the total time limit for filing a lawsuit in court is 3 years. This must be remembered so as not to delay the process of recovering damages.
Leak pattern
As a supplement to the act, a drawing can be drawn up showing the place where the leak occurred, the area of flooding and marking damaged property. In judicial practice, this is also used as evidence.
Who's guilty
The responsible party of the apartment bay can be either the owner of the apartment located above or the management company of the apartment building. But before you blame anyone, you need to figure out who is responsible for what.
Based on h. 1 Article. 290 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, part 1 of article 36 LCD RF and the Rules for the maintenance of property of an apartment building, we can say that the organization providing utility services is responsible for the following elements of water supply:
- The risers of the hot and cold water supply to the first disconnecting element or shut-off and control valve (for everything else that is located in the apartment after these elements, the homeowner is responsible).
- The heating system, including risers, heating means (radiators), regulating and locking equipment, as well as other equipment located on these control networks. An exception is if the owner replaced the riser, radiator or heated towel rail when he made repairs. In this case, he will be responsible for the malfunction.
The trial
When found guilty, the situation can develop in the following two ways:
- The responsible party acknowledges its guilt and undertakes to compensate for the damage caused. Then the victim and the culprit agree on the amount of material compensation, the procedure and terms for its compensation. To fix the agreements, an agreement should be concluded where all the terms of the transaction will be spelled out.
- Of course, the other party may deny guilt or disagree with the amount of compensated damage. This means that it is necessary to invite an appraisal company and prepare all the material evidence and documents for filing a statement of claim to the court.
Without qualified assistance, not only the guilty party, but also the victim, it will be difficult to prove their case in court, therefore it is strongly recommended that you contact a specialist for legal assistance.
Preparation of materials
To achieve recovery of material compensation from the guilty party in court, a complete set of documents and material evidence will be required:
- statement of claim;
- an act of flooding an apartment with an attached leakage scheme;
- apartment damage assessment report prepared by the appraisal company;
- photos and videos from the scene showing local damage;
- testimony of witnesses (if possible).
Thus, the act on the gulf of the apartment is not the last in the list of documentary evidence of guilt of the responsible party. In many cases, he is the main evidence of the flooding of the apartment. Its compilation must be treated responsibly, based on all the rules described above. Full compliance with the instructions presented will help to achieve justice in court and to recover material damage.