Rules of conduct in case of apartment flooding. Dangerous situations in the home and rules of action How to prevent a flood in the apartment

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Flooding of an apartment by upstairs neighbors seems to be an ordinary case: we talked, agreed, and parted ways. However, practice shows that the matter does not always end successfully for both parties. In what case can you count on compensation if your neighbors flooded your apartment? We’ll look at what to do to get funds to restore repairs in the article.

When are neighbors to blame for apartment flooding?

Attention
There may be two persons responsible for the flood in the apartment below - these are the immediate neighbors and the management organization.

It is possible to place responsibility for unlawful acts or inaction on the neighbors above if damage to the water supply system occurred on communications due to the “fault” of the tap, which limits the supply of water to the home. Neighbors also bear responsibility if the causative factor for flooding the apartment lies in the fact that they left the bathtub overflowing and left, or caused a breakdown of household appliances (washing machine), etc.

Attention! If you have any questions, you can chat for free with a lawyer at the bottom of the screen or call Moscow; Saint Petersburg; Free call for all of Russia.

What to do during a flood in your apartment

The situation when flooding starts from living rooms occurs less frequently. Most often, an accident occurs in the bathroom or toilet. In these rooms, the floors are usually covered with tiles and, according to the rules of floor construction, a waterproofing layer must be laid. This prevents water from quickly passing through the ceiling. If you have a leak, turn off the water supply valve and try to locate the leak. When a burst occurs in the area before the valve for shutting off the water supply to the apartment, you need to urgently call the operating organization or company for eliminating utility emergencies.

If you have the opportunity and the appropriate skills, you can shut off the water supply riser yourself. In any case, you need to localize the spread of water by any means. If possible, redirect the water flow using a hose to the drain. If there is a problem with the drain barrel valve, lock the button in the release position. Be sure to turn off power to electrical equipment and appliances that are located in the flood zone and may cause a short circuit.

If the accident occurred due to deterioration of communications, to eliminate the accident, be sure to request written confirmation from the organization serving your home that the emergency situation was not your fault.

If your neighbors are flooding you, try to localize the flooding area using a rag. Turn off the electricity in the room where flooding occurs (if the walls are wet, where electrical wiring may be installed, do not turn on the power supply until the walls are completely dry). Contact your neighbors and report what is happening. Call specialists from the operating organization or emergency service. What safety measures can you take to avoid flooding your neighbors yourself?

Normative base

The main documents regulating the relationship between neighbors in the case of apartment flooding are the civil and housing codes of the Russian Federation. Here are their articles to rely on in the event of such circumstances.

In Art. 210 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that the burden of maintaining the property that he owns lies with the owner, unless otherwise provided by the norms of the current legislation or other agreements.
In Art. 30 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Parts 3, 4) contains provisions that the owner undertakes to maintain the residential premises in optimal condition and to prevent technical malfunctions of all kinds of systems. He is also obliged to respect the rights and interests of other persons living in the apartment building.
In Art. 1064 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that damage caused to a citizen’s property is subject to compensation from the person found guilty. It is fully refundable.

Certain regional rules and laws are usually taken into account during the proceedings.

How to prevent a flood in an apartment

The very first thing is to use high-quality plumbing fixtures, faucets, taps, valves, fittings. Don't trust cheap equipment; it often turns out to be of poor quality. Do not trust the installation of the system to people who do not have knowledge, experience and skills. If possible, replace metal pipes that are susceptible to corrosion with plastic pipes.

Today, alarm systems have been developed to detect system leakage and failure. Such systems can be installed independently or as part of a set of smart home systems. The system's sensors react to the appearance of moisture on the floor and send a signal about this to an electric valve, which, when activated, shuts off the water supply. There are also systems that transmit sound signals or SMS messages to a mobile phone.

The most common accident that can occur in an apartment building is flooding. According to official statistics, 15% of cases occur due to roof leaks, the remaining 85% are due to untimely repair of communications and negligence of neighbors. To minimize losses or even protect yourself from such a situation, you should prepare in advance for a possible flood.

The main causes of home flooding are not so extensive. The most common of them is the forgetfulness of neighbors. The apartment below, a person living nearby, may flood due to the fact that the tap is open or the sink is clogged. The neighbor will also be to blame if the toilet breaks down, the washing machine or dishwasher leaks, the sewer pipe bursts, the battery is faulty or the sealing of the joints is broken, as a result of which your ceiling, walls, and furniture get wet.

The most unpleasant cases are when the problem is related to the water supply or heating pipe. In this case, it is possible to repair the pipe yourself only if there is a minor breakdown. In addition, there is not always access to the pipe. It happens that it bursts at the very moment when no one is at home. In this case, all that remains is to shut off the water supply riser.

It is important to know that the condition of the communications that are in your home is the responsibility of the management company or other organization that has undertaken the responsibility for maintaining the home.

However, practice proves that residents have to take on all the maintenance and repair concerns. As a result, due to the fault of neighbors, emergency situations may arise when a pipe bursts and the apartment is flooded from below.

How to prove the guilt of neighbors in flooding an apartment?

The first thing that needs to be done to prove that the neighbors are guilty of flooding the apartment, and not the management company, is to establish the cause. If it indicates a clear mistake by those who live on the floor above, the truth, one might say, is in your hands. The main point that should be taken care of is collecting evidence of the harm caused. To do this, you must provide photographs and videos that show the moment the apartment was flooded by neighbors, the condition of the home after measures were taken to eliminate moisture and dry the room.

For your information

In addition, you will have to arm yourself with additional evidence: ask other neighbors to take part in the proceedings, who can confirm your innocence and the guilt of your neighbors in court. Draw up an act that will detail and clearly reflect the current state of affairs. In a number of situations, conduct an independent examination in order to analyze and assess the damage caused after the apartment is flooded.

Drawing up a flood report

To prove that you are right and record the fact that your apartment was flooded by your neighbors, it is mandatory to draw up a document called an act. The creation of the paper is carried out in simple written form in the presence of witnesses in the person of other neighbors, as well as directly to the parties to the issue - the victim and the perpetrator. The act must reflect several fundamental circumstances:

what exactly happened;
where it happened (i.e. the exact address of the party who is the victim);
when (date, time) this event occurred;
what results and consequences did all this lead to;
what damage was caused to the victim (injured party);
what damage assessment method should be used in the future.

IMPORTANT
If the culprit refused to take part in drawing up the act of flooding the apartment, this also requires reflection in the document and confirmation by the signatures of the witnesses present. The act is attached to the statement of claim, which is submitted to the courts. The time frame within which an act on the flooding of an apartment by neighbors must be drawn up is currently regulated only by a single area of legislation - government decree No. 354 of 05/06/2011. Paragraph 152 states that the document must be drawn up within 12 hours from the moment of the incident .

Flood form can be found here.

How to draw up an act of filling an apartment

The rules for drawing up the document are specified in Government Decree No. 354, which came into force on May 6, 2011.
According to the normative act, the document should be drawn up no later than 12 hours after the injured tenant notified the emergency service about the flooding.

If, after filing an application, the company does not invite the victim to draw up reporting documentation, then the citizen must contact the prosecutor’s office for help. There you should leave a complaint about the HOA’s refusal to assist in assessing the extent of damage as a result of flooding.

Important! The second copy of the document must be sent to the HOA with a mandatory acceptance mark.

When filling out the housing flooding act, you should indicate the following information:

address, date of inspection and personal data of persons carrying out the procedure;
name of the document (act on the consequences of flooding of a residential apartment);
in the body describe the essence of what happened, indicating the culprits and the cause of the accident;
clarify the condition of the premises, listing all damage and defects that have arisen not only to the floor, ceiling and walls, but also to surrounding objects;
form of ownership of real estate;
signature of those present;
If the cause of the accident has not been established, then a note is made in the document about the need to assemble an expert commission.

The act must be drawn up in 3 copies: one for the victim, another for the victim, and the third for an employee of the management company or HOA.

The assessment of the damage caused is carried out in front of the commission members, from whom written consent should be obtained in advance.

Flooding Act

Methods of influencing neighbors

So, you were flooded, and you decided to meet halfway and resolve the issue as peacefully as possible. However, in practice, not all neighbors, even if they are clearly guilty, turn out to be accommodating and make contact. It follows that there are two options for influencing neighbors - peaceful and judicial.

Peaceful method. In this case, a voluntary agreement is drawn up, which sets out all the details of the flooding of the apartment by neighbors. All property that was damaged is listed, and the amount that must be paid for the damage caused is indicated. Notarization is not required, but if desired, the parties can contact a specialist and have the document certified. An important role is played by the display in the document of the deadlines within which compensation must be paid.
Going to court. If neighbors are in no hurry to compensate for the damage, the only option left is to act through the fiscal authorities. The court may offer this way to solve the problem: settle it amicably, when the plaintiff reduces the amount of claims and the defendant pays it voluntarily. The injured party can either accept it or refuse it. In the second situation, the final decision about who is right and who is wrong will be made by the judge, who will also determine the amount due for payment.

What kind of compensation can you get?

After identifying the culprit of the accident, it is possible to determine the amount of damage and choose an option for compensation.

Best ways:

drawing up an agreement that specifies the amount of damage caused, taking into account market prices and the calculation procedure;
drawing up a work plan taking into account construction materials and costs for the activities of repair teams (the culprit either independently restores the premises or attracts specialists for this);
engaging an appraiser (an employee will conduct an examination and assess the condition of the housing and determine the amount of compensation).

According to Article 151 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the victim has the right to count on moral compensation. Its volume is established strictly in court. Most often, the amount does not exceed 20 to 30 thousand rubles.

Step-by-step instructions for actions in case of flooding of an apartment due to the fault of neighbors

To reduce the amount of damage caused to your property and receive compensation from your neighbors as quickly as possible, you need to follow a certain algorithm of actions.

Stopping a flood in an apartment. Ask your neighbors to turn off the water. Turn off the electricity in the house. If the residents on the floor above are not at home at this moment, call the emergency service or specialists from the management company to the house. They will turn off the water and draw up the necessary documents, having previously determined the cause of the flood and who is responsible for its occurrence.
Estimation of the amount of damage. Visually assessing the losses incurred is very problematic. And even if there is no admission of guilt on the part of neighbors, additional difficulties may arise. And sometimes (if the cause of the flood is a broken pipe, valve, or parts of the water supply network), the fault lies not with the neighbors, but with the management company.
Address to neighbors. The first persons who should be notified of the situation are the neighbors themselves. They need to be invited into the apartment immediately after flooding is discovered. Next, you should demonstrate the problem - wet wallpaper, ceilings, walls. Ask your neighbor how he plans to compensate for the damage.
Attracting witnesses and recording losses. Specialists from the management company and other neighbors who can examine what happened should be called to the apartment where the flooding occurred. At the same time, you can take a photo or video of the damaged property in front of their eyes.
Drawing up an act. Within 12 hours from the moment of flooding, this document is drawn up indicating all the details of the incident and its consequences. If the neighbor is willing to cooperate and peacefully give money for the damage, at this stage the proceedings are completed. If not, then filing a claim in court is required.
Professional assessment. In practice, situations often arise when the neighbor above shrugs off responsibility and deliberately underestimates the cost of the damage caused. At the same time, the injured party wants the culprit to bear full responsibility for what he did. If you plan to go to court, one report on the flooding of the apartment by neighbors will not be enough - a professional examination will be required.
Appeal to the authorities. Most often, at this stage, a claim is filed in court. The victim collects the necessary set of documents and files a claim. It is within the framework of the trial that the further outcome of the flooding of the apartment by the neighbors above is decided.

Attention
In practice, situations are often observed when careless neighbors from above flood not just once, but on an ongoing basis. At the same time, measures to influence them do not bring the desired effect. In this case, the victim should contact the local administration by filing a complaint. Municipal structures have the authority to file a claim in court to have irresponsible neighbors evicted if they live in a municipal apartment. Eviction from privatized housing also follows if the owner owns several apartments.

Pre-trial resolution of a flooding dispute

If both parties agree to a peaceful settlement, the amount of compensation is determined during negotiations. It is important to provide evidence of flooding so that the culprit agrees to compensation for damage. It is mandatory to draw up a report on the work done and receive a receipt confirming the absence of mutual claims.

Important! If a tenant refuses to compensate for damage without going to court, he should be reminded that in addition to monetary compensation, he will be required to pay legal costs.

Going to court

Filing a claim is traditionally carried out on the basis of the rules of departmental and territorial jurisdiction. The document must provide the most complete and detailed information about the parties to the issue, submit a motion to call witnesses, and attach a set of other documents. The time frame within which the case is considered by the fiscal authorities is several months. At this time, the parties are given the right to conclude a settlement agreement and peacefully resolve the dispute.

Required documents

It is necessary to conduct an independent examination, draw up a report, prepare all expense receipts, as well as:

lawsuit;
confirmation of ownership of housing;
Act;
a document drawn up by an independent expert (according to the form established in Federal Law No. 135 of July 29, 1998);
a receipt confirming the fact of payment of the state duty;
photo and video recording of the flood;
an estimate of measures to eliminate the damage caused.

In order for the claim to be accepted for consideration, it is necessary to collect a full range of documents, and they must contain the necessary list of data.

Application for neighbors

When an apartment is flooded by neighbors, the application form is submitted to the housing department. The template is always identical, but management company employees do not always provide it. To make things easier for yourself, you can view a sample here. The property flood form is written exclusively by its owner or persons registered in the apartment. A statement in case of flooding of an apartment by neighbors acts as a primary measure that should be taken while “the stains have not yet dried,” otherwise it may be too late, and you will have to carry out repair work at your own expense.

A sample application for neighbors in case of flooding of the apartment can be found here.

Procedure and timing for eliminating consequences

Disputes regarding compensation for damage that arose during the flooding of the apartment by neighbors are resolved, as already noted, either peacefully, based on mutual consent of the parties, or through the court. If, nevertheless, no settlement agreement has been reached, it is possible to contact the housing and communal services department to draw up an estimate for repair and construction activities.

For your information

If you want to do everything much faster, instead of housing and communal services, you can contact any private organization that has various licenses and permits to carry out such measures. But keep in mind that services cost a lot of money. Over the course of three days, the estimate drawn up is agreed upon with the balance holder of the apartment. You have another chance to try your luck in reaching a peaceful agreement with your neighbors and present them with the estimates you received. If nothing works out, go to court.

How to compensate for damage from the flood?

There are two options.

By agreement, out of court. The parties agree on the amount of compensation independently, no dispute arises. This usually happens if the apartment is flooded by neighbors from above.

By the tribunal's decision. It is necessary to file a civil claim if the culprit does not agree to compensate for losses, tries to underestimate their volume, or does not admit responsibility for the incident.

The procedure is almost the same.

When the spill is eliminated, a representative of the service organization or management company draws up an incident report. The reasons for the leak or flooding may not be indicated.

An independent examination is carried out to identify the culprit. reasons for apartment flooding. She determines what caused the flood. Such an investigation is usually necessary for defects in building structures (roofs, walls, floors that leak in the rain), for breaks or leaks of pipes, fittings of water supply, sewer or heating systems, etc.

To determine the amount of compensation, an independent assessment of the damage is performed. During it, the exact amount needed to repair or replace water-damaged building structures, decoration, household appliances, furniture, etc. is calculated.

If the culprit is a legal entity, a claim is drawn up against it before going to court. Copies of expert reports are attached to it. The document substantiates the demand for compensation for damage and indicates how and to what extent it should be carried out. recommends filing a claim in two copies. One is given to the culprit, the other remains with the victim. The date of receipt of the document with the signature of the responsible employee and the seal of the organization is indicated on it.

If neighbors are at fault in the bay, they try to negotiate compensation with them before going to court. If this fails, a claim is filed against them. Copies of expert reports are attached to the statement of claim. The amount of compensation includes the costs of conducting an independent assessment and examination.

What kind of compensation can you expect?

The amount of compensation for flooding of an apartment by neighbors depends on the solution to this problem. Let's look at the cases that most often arise in practice.

If neighbors manage to reach an agreement peacefully, compensation most often includes only the cost of repair work.
If the victim had to contact the housing office or another organization to draw up an estimate, you can demand from the culprit not only the amount of repair costs, but also compensation for the costs of carrying out these activities.
When resolving the issue through the fiscal authorities, the latter may oblige the guilty party to pay the amount of repair costs, the victim’s expenses for all legal burdens and moral damages.

How are the culprit determined and the damage assessed?

Determining the cause of the flood. An expert examines rooms and premises damaged during the flood. If several apartments are damaged, it is advisable to provide access to each of them - this will help to find the location of the leak. During an independent assessment, a list of damaged property is compiled during the inspection. It is supplemented with photographs, which are later included in the photo table.

When examining the causes of the flood, the conclusion describes the condition of the apartment, the paths of water distribution, identified defects in building structures or engineering systems, and draws conclusions about what exactly caused the flooding.

When assessing damage, the costs of repair and restoration work are calculated. If they cannot be fulfilled, the market value of the damaged property is clarified. The price is determined separately for each item, after which the total amount of losses is displayed.

If the neighbors do not admit their guilt

Before filing a claim, you should write a claim to your neighbors. It is also required to fill out an application to the management organization with a detailed description of the essence of the problem and the fact that the neighbors have refused to pay for flooding the apartment. From the side of a representative of the housing and communal services structure or another organization, several points will be recorded:

the fact of the presence of a flood;
the fault of the upstairs neighbors.

This will be proven by drawing up an act with which you can go to court, attaching it to other papers.