Our utility costs are growing much faster than the quality of work of management companies.
More often than not, residents, upon learning about the increased price tag, will make a little noise, and pay the bills. Only a few of them know about their rights and go to court. And they are doing the right thing!
In this almost detective story, courts of various instances were involved, up to the Supreme Court. A resident of an apartment building in the city of Asbestos in the Sverdlovsk region did not agree with the increase in tariffs, which were unilaterally set by the management company, and sued her.
The management agreement between the owners of the house in which the plaintiff lives and the management company states that the tenants set the fee for the repair and maintenance of the common property of the house. And if they could not agree, then the rate determined by the city administration is applied. The residents unanimously determined that they would pay the management company 13.44 rubles per square meter. At that time, the municipality’s rate was 20.87 rubles per “square”. There is something to strive for. And the Criminal Code told the owners that the fee agreed upon by them was too low, this money would not be enough to maintain the house, and therefore it would collect 20.87 rubles per square meter from residents at the rate of the municipality. That’s when one of the tenants went to court, considering the desire of the management company to improve its affairs at the expense of the owners illegal.
In this story, the cynical arrogance of public utilities, confident that they can get away with anything, is surprising. They are doing everything possible to put the tenants in the position of voiceless slaves with their illegal decisions. Meanwhile, the main ones here are the apartment owners. The management company, in fact, serves them, it is a hired force that can always be replaced. How did it happen that those who serve you became not partners, but your masters?..
The case has gone through several rounds. At first, two instances satisfied the claim: the management contract states that it is possible to apply the city administration rate only if the owners of apartments in a high-rise building have not agreed on the amount of the fee. But they were able to come to a common decision, which the Criminal Code was aware of.
The utilities, having thrown gray squares, appealed against the decisions of the courts. You bet! The Seventh (!) Court of Cassation of general jurisdiction sent the case for a new hearing. But now the courts have supported the position of the Criminal Code, recognizing the decision of the apartment owners as null and void. The utilities managed, apparently, to convince the judges that they care only about the residents. The courts noted: the rate approved by the general meeting is 35% lower than the city rate, for this amount it is impossible to carry out high-quality repairs and maintain the property of the house.
However, the uncooperative plaintiff considered such a decision illegal and filed a complaint with the Supreme Court. In this instance, they expressed confusion about the fact that the economic validity of tariffs, it turns out, should be justified by apartment owners. The judges of the Supreme Court also noted that the management company did not appeal the decision of the tenants to establish a fee for the maintenance of the property, although it could have done so. Instead, the Criminal Code, without thinking twice, declared the insignificance of the decision.
That is, the Supreme Court established that the management company under no circumstances has the right to change tariffs for the repair and maintenance of the common property of an apartment building unilaterally and is obliged to coordinate its decisions with the residents, that is, to justify their increase. And if the management company does not agree with the amount of the fee set by the owners of the property, then it needs to challenge this decision, and not recognize it as null and void, that is, in fact, having no legal meaning.
So, the Supreme Court overturned all the decisions taken in the dispute and sent the case to the regional court. At the new consideration of the dispute, the utilities themselves will prove that they cannot maintain the house with the money offered by the apartment owners.
It is difficult to say whether they will succeed or not. But, in any case, the Supreme Court has set a precedent by which all such cases in Russia will be considered. This means that if you consider your utility bills to be overstated, you can go the way of our colleague from the Sverdlovsk region and if you do not even reduce the current tariffs, then you will pretty much ruin the lives of our management companies who are in a lethargic sleep, who will be forced to justify their high tariffs. And so that your actions are not a rebellion of a loner, gather full-fledged meetings, make decisions, draw up documents and make the utilities make sure that they are not the owners of life and our apartments, but only the maintenance staff. Study your rights, carefully draw up contracts with the management company, consult lawyers, and the Internet will help you. The more legally competent residents there are, the more comfortable and really safer our lives will become.
Galina Kaluzhskaya.
Photo: Moscow Agency.
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