Additions and overpricing
Increasing the actual cost of work performed and services provided is probably the most common type of fraud. Inflating prices is difficult to prove fraud, since the inflated cost can be justifiably explained, for example, by higher overhead costs.
Distribution of funds that were allocated for major repairs is profitable for unscrupulous management companies. In practice, the materials used are inexpensive and often of poor quality, the work is performed by illegal migrants, and some of the estimated volumes may not be completed at all. But everything will be documented very expensively, since the management company will enter into an agreement with the contractor, inflated amounts will be included in the agreement, and then they will sign fictitious certificates of completed work.
Documents and statement of claim, sample
Any complaint sent to one or another authority must be accompanied by documents proving the consumer’s case. Checking tariffs and meters is carried out precisely according to these documents of the applicant.
If it is possible to find out that payments for housing and communal services are calculated correctly, then the citizen’s complaint is rejected.
The fundamental document preceding the trial is the statement of claim. It should include the following elements:
- Name of the document and address of the court.
- Indication of the full name or official name of the parties.
- Description of the essence of the disputed legal relationship.
- An indication of the evidence base.
- Date of preparation of the document and signatures of the parties.
Sample claim to court for incorrect calculation of rent. ⇐
Housing and communal services participates in the trial through its official representative. The court has the authority to cancel accrued penalties, award compensation for illegal charges, cancel delays, etc.
The act issued by the court regarding the consideration of the case is called a decision. It is mandatory for execution by both the consumer and the resource organization.
Complaint to the housing inspectorate about incorrect charges, sample
The prosecutor's office is not the only way to influence unscrupulous management companies. A citizen has the right to contact other government agencies, for example, the Housing Inspectorate.
According to the law, you can complain and contact this body either by filing a complaint in person or by using Internet resources. The complaint must indicate the bills and tariff amounts that exist today. All this will serve as evidence of illegal accrual and incorrect calculations.
The complaint in this body is considered in accordance with the federal law on the procedure for considering appeals from citizens in the Russian Federation.
A sample document is available. ⇐
Failure to perform work
This affects the current maintenance of housing, that is, actions aimed at maintaining the working condition of equipment, communications, building structures, as well as snow removal, garbage removal, etc. Payment for this service is determined by the annual work plan, which is distributed by month and amounts to, depending on the region, from 1000 rubles. per month and above.
Saving even 100 rubles. from one apartment will allow you to get a good income even from one house, and when the management company has dozens of serviced houses, then the income from just one service can exceed 100,000 or more rubles monthly.
It is quite difficult to prove the above scheme, since all work will be supported by certificates of completion, that is, legality will be observed in documents.
An organization that monitors the accuracy of utility bills.
The main organization that controls the full range of all housing legal relations is the housing inspection.
She has the right:
- Check that utility bills are calculated correctly.
- Punish those responsible for incorrect calculations.
- Submit a petition to the court to liquidate the management organization, etc.
Of course, the management company itself (hereinafter we can call it for short “MC”) must clearly and correctly carry out its activities in calculating payments for residents of an apartment building. In case of unreasonably inflated tariffs, the management company may be subject to penalties.
Another control body can be recognized as FAS - the Federal Antimonopoly Service. It regulates the market for goods and services and prevents the establishment of any criminal code on the market.
Difference between meter and standard
A popular type of deception is overestimation of heat costs. Many apartment buildings have already installed building-wide heat meters, but not all residents may be aware of this. In such cases, the management company can charge the owners for heat according to the standard per square meter of housing. The same can be done for cold and hot water or natural gas. The management companies themselves pay their suppliers according to the meter readings, which will be lower.
Rates
https://depr-4-trp.mos.ru/
Utility payments calculator - calculating rent - checking the accuracy of bills and utility tariffs for any locality in Russia The utility payments calculator allows you to calculate the cost of your utility bills taking into account your living conditions, suppliers providing utility services, established tariffs and consumption standards.
To begin, the user of the utility payment calculator needs to indicate their place of residence: they must select a subject, municipal district, municipality. Next, you should also indicate the living conditions, which mean the area of the apartment and the number of residents registered in it (excluding subsidies and benefits). The calculator allows you to calculate the following utilities: water supply (cold and hot water), wastewater disposal (sewage), electricity, gas, heating.
Next, the user of the utility calculator needs to select these services: cold and hot water supply, sewerage, heating, electricity supply, gas supply. Then, after simply selecting a calculation option (standard or meter) and specifying other necessary options, the utility calculator (housing and communal services), and essentially rent, will calculate for you how much you have to pay for the services provided. The information obtained from the utility calculator can be saved and printed immediately.
All you have to do is compare the figures received with those entered in the fat invoices, according to the established tariffs. In case of discrepancies in the accounts of sales companies and the readings of the utility calculator, you can safely complain to the relevant authorities and regulatory authorities. For example, in the Federal Tariff Service of Russia, by asking a question in the Internet reception on the department’s website. All appeals from citizens are considered in the prescribed manner, and you will definitely receive an answer to your question. There are real facts when consumers, after checking their information, were able to catch sales companies making additions or errors.
Some sales companies providing housing and communal services have already been forced to recalculate and have returned the money. For many Russian citizens, the utility calculator has made payments more transparent. The utility payment calculator is provided by the Federal Service of Russia and is currently working in test mode. Utility tariffs are set by the Regional Energy Commission (REC). Transparency of tariffs is ensured by Resolution No. 1140. REC will set not only the tariff, but also the standard if there is no meter for the corresponding type of utility service. And your payment is the tariff multiplied by the standard. If you have a meter, then the utility service is calculated based on its readings entered into the calculator.
A utility payment calculator is needed to understand exactly what you are paying for! Please note that the utility payment calculator operates in test mode and is not intended for approximate calculation of citizens' fees for utility services! The information that ensures the operation of the utility services calculator is provided and updated by the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation in the field of state regulation of tariffs! The calculation results of the utility payment calculator are purely informational in nature and cannot be used as a payment document! The functions of this utility payment calculator do not include a mechanism for calculating payments for residential premises (maintenance and repair of property).
Price (tariff) calculator of electrical energy and power for legal entities
Electric energy and power price calculator for legal entities is a software module that provides the ability to independently calculate the price (tariff) for purchased electrical energy (power) for end consumers under energy supply (purchase and sale) contracts. The electricity and power price calculator for legal entities is an extremely simple and easy-to-use tool - no special instructions are required.
The electricity and power price calculator for legal entities allows you to control the formation of prices - tariffs by energy sales companies. For electricity consumers (legal entities), the transparency of tariffs and the openness of electricity pricing on the part of guaranteeing suppliers and network companies are significantly increasing. Along with determining the price of supply of electrical energy (power), the price calculator provides the ability to calculate the final amount of payment for consumed electrical energy (power).
The price (tariff) for electrical energy (power) in the price calculator is calculated based on the following information: weighted average free (unregulated) prices - from the website of ATS OJSC; the amount of payment for and JSC "System Operator of the Unified Energy System" according to the orders of the Federal Tariff Service of Russia; tariff for transmission services, sales markup of the guaranteeing supplier according to orders of state regulatory authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. For each price parameter, details of the corresponding solutions are indicated.
Based on the results of the calculations carried out on the electricity and power price calculator for legal entities, it is possible to print and save the received data. It is planned to finalize the electricity price calculator to calculate forecast prices for a month (year) in advance, posted on the website of ATS OJSC, which will allow consumers to more accurately plan their expenses for the purchase of electrical energy (power).
How to check accrued amounts and where to complain
You can check the numbers in your payment slip on the website fas.gov.ru, which was opened by the Federal Tariff Service of the Russian Federation. You can type in any search engine: FAS Russia Housing and Communal Services Calculator
- and a link to it will immediately appear. On the site you can find out the cost of standards and tariffs for utility services for all Russian regions and calculate the amounts that you must pay monthly for water, electricity, gas and heat. If the data that the Housing and Utilities Calculator gives you differs significantly from what is indicated on the payment slip, then this is a reason to start understanding the situation and take action.
If you find additional payment items and inflated tariffs in your payment invoice, start by writing to the management company with a request to justify such expenses. It will be better if several owners apply collectively. Depending on the answer, it will be possible to determine the further course of action. In situations where duplicate services appear on the receipt, you have the right to demand a recalculation. In case of violations, it will be useful to file complaints with the housing inspectorate and the prosecutor's office.
What data is subject to verification?
You can check the correspondence of the data in the receipt and the real information yourself. You can do this as follows:
- the total area of the apartment, on the basis of which the charge for heating (in the absence of a heat meter) and maintenance services for the residential building is made, is specified in the title documents or the rental agreement. The data must correspond to each other to the nearest hundredth of a square meter;
- the number of registered residents affects the calculation of payments for utilities in the absence of meters on the water and gas supply system, and the calculation of the cost of solid waste removal. If the data on the number of registered persons in the apartment does not correspond to reality, you must contact the Criminal Code to clarify the issue of registration in the apartment. The owner of the property or the main tenant can verify the registered persons;
- meter readings that are transmitted to utility services on a monthly basis must be duplicated. Then check the figures recorded in your sources with the recorded data in payment receipts;
- the tariff for any utility service is public information and is widely available. You can find out about existing tariffs from the official websites of utility companies. By contacting the management company to provide the existing tariff. To be completely sure of the correct calculation of payments for utility services, it is better to request a written response from the Criminal Code about the tariff with a breakdown of the structure and all the articles of its component. In this way, it is possible to identify services that are included in the payment, but are not performed. Services not performed are subject to recalculation by utilities;
- if a residential building has HOA status, then it is necessary to pay attention to the procedure for contributions to the reserve fund, according to the schedule established at the general meeting. A copy of the minutes of the meeting at which decisions on payments were made can be requested from the chairman of the HOA;
- the amounts of accruals on ODN are verified only by requesting a breakdown of expenses from the management company. According to Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354[2], the provider of utility services is obliged to provide the consumer with all information about charges and their structures.
To reduce the time it takes to check the validity of charges to companies providing services, it is better to submit a written request. In this case, the application must be written in two copies. On the consumer's copy, the company's responsible person puts a receipt stamp indicating the current date and the incoming registration number.
The response period is usually 30 days. But, if you indicate in the application that the provision of information on accruals is not data requiring additional study, then perhaps the management company will provide a response within 10 days.
Conclusion
Utility tariffs are constantly increasing, and fraud by management companies is increasingly developing. There are a lot of fraudulent schemes, so it’s almost impossible to list them all.
If your management company does not act in the interests of homeowners, then this is a reason to think about changing it. But before you choose a new company to service your home, be sure to study reviews of its work so that you don’t choose an unscrupulous management company again.
Why do you need a housing and communal services payment calculator?
For approximate calculations of the amounts of payments for utility bills, you can use our “Utility Payments Calculator”. The service takes into account utility tariffs of the Moscow region in 2021, as well as the volume of service consumption. These volumes are determined by the relevant standards for the consumption of utility services, which are used to calculate payment amounts for services or individual meter readings.
You can calculate the volumes and cost of payment for utility services using an online calculator. These calculations can apply to any premises, namely: a household, a room in a communal apartment, a separate apartment, or a non-residential premises.
Our service allows you to calculate the following types of utility payments:
- for electricity;
- for water supply (hot and cold water);
- for heating;
- for gas supply.
How to correctly calculate penalties for late payment of rent
Penalties, in essence, are penalties for unscrupulous citizens who do not want to fulfill their obligations to pay for utilities.
Before accruing penalties, it is necessary to notify the citizen about this. This occurs by sending a written act in the form of a registered letter. Only after written notification can penalties be assessed. The rules for calculating penalties are regulated not only by internal local acts of management organizations, but also by civil law.
