What to do if there is low pressure or no water in the apartment: where to call and complain

Where to contact?

To find out why it was turned off, you should contact the emergency dispatch service or call the city water utility hotline.

Moreover, it is better to call the emergency service first, since 90% of unplanned outages are caused by an accident that occurred in the water supply networks.

But there are other reasons:

Disconnection for debts.
There is a fire or natural disaster nearby.
Poor water quality.
Exceeding the permissible level of consumption by any of the residents.

Important! It often happens that employees of the organization supplying water simply made a mistake and disconnected the wrong apartment.

Legitimate reasons for turning off water in an apartment

Possibly for several reasons:

If an emergency or natural disaster occurs. These are the main reasons for shutdowns without warning.
The need for scheduled repairs. Cold and hot water should not be turned off at the same time. If we are talking about a break of several hours, then they must warn about this 24 hours in advance.
If the consumer commits a crime and connects to the water supply without permission. The procedure requires an order from an authority.
If it is revealed that the residents of the apartment are using devices whose power exceeds the permissible limits. The border can be found out from the technical passport of the residential building.
If the commission has established that the pipes in the residential premises are in poor condition. The law establishes the responsibility of owners for repairs and maintenance of communications in the apartment. If the poor condition of the pipes threatens the supply of resources to the entire house, utilities disconnect irresponsible owners.
Unpaid utility bills. It is important to know that the debt period is at least 3 months. Having a repayment schedule that is regularly observed by residents will not allow the water to be turned off. In addition, only hot water supply is subject to possible termination.

How to state the problem?

When talking with the dispatcher, it is necessary to provide all the information as clearly as possible:

give the address
tell when lack of water is detected.
Next, you should find out about the reasons for the shutdown and ask when the cold water supply will resume.

In case of serious emergencies, utility services try not to turn off the water for a period exceeding 4 hours.

Therefore, it is worth asking whether a temporary resumption of water supply is planned in order to have time to stock up on drinking water.

Reference! Anyone has the right to find out about the location of the accident.

Legislation

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation regulates relations in the field of rights and contractual obligations. Article 1064 establishes the obligation to compensate for damage caused. A link to it may be needed if, due to the fault of utility services, a pipe breaks and property is damaged.
The Housing Code of the Russian Federation defines the quality criteria for the provision of housing and communal services.
Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 6, 2011 No. 354 “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of residential premises in apartment buildings” names the criteria for the quality of water supply, the payment procedure, and the recalculation mechanism. Contains permissible periods of interruptions in the supply of hot and cold water, as well as sanctions for exceeding them.
Decree of the State Construction Committee of the Russian Federation dated September 27, 2003 No. 170 “On approval of rules and standards for the technical operation of housing stock” lists the requirements for the maintenance of the common property of apartment buildings, which includes communications.
SanPiN 2.1.4.2496-09 “Hygienic requirements for ensuring the safety of hot water supply systems” establishes a maximum interruption of hot water supply for preventive purposes at 14 days.
SNiP 2.04.02-84 “Water supply. External networks and structures” provides a definition of the standard pressure for water supply.

Alternative solutions

Cold water is not allowed to be turned off for more than 4 hours; only in case of serious accidents on central highways, a shutdown for a day is allowed.

But public utilities do not always work according to regulations. There are situations when they are in no hurry to restore water supply, and people are forced to remain without water for a long period of time.

If calls to emergency services are unsuccessful, then you can move on to more decisive actions in the fight for your rights and comfort - filing a complaint.

Here is the list of competent authorities:

Rospotrebnadzor.
Court.
Prosecutor's office.
City Administration.

The Gosuslugi resource allows you to file a complaint without leaving your home using the Internet. The complaint can be from one person or collective.

Attention! Complaints to Rospotrebnadzor and the prosecutor's office are considered the most effective, and with the help of the court, you can achieve a recalculation of the water tariff if there has been no water supply for a long time.

How to submit

There are several ways to file a complaint. Either one has the same effect:

Delivery to the management company personally by one of the residents. In this case, you need to have 2 copies of the complaint, register the appeal at the reception, and keep one for yourself.
Send by registered mail with notification by mail.
If it comes to a complaint to government authorities, you can use the Internet portals of the State Services or RosZhKKH.

The complaint is accompanied by certificates of ownership of the apartments, paid receipts for water, and an agreement for the provision of services.

How to protect yourself from problems with hot water

If you do not want to endure the inconvenience of turning off the water in the summer, you can try to plan a vacation for these days (in addition to announcements at the entrances, information about the date of the upcoming maintenance at your address can be found on the Internet) and go on vacation to the south. However, it is not always possible to take a vacation exactly for the period when we want it.

Therefore, in order to be able to use hot water at any time - in July, November, night and day, you can use the alternative:

install a gas boiler;
install a heating tank.

In this case, you will not need to adjust your rhythm of life to the work of utility workers. Thus, you will maintain comfort in your home and not waste your nerves.

How to file a complaint if utility companies provide poor-quality services

If within three days the water supply has not been restored to you or you have not been given a legally justified answer as to why there is no water, you can safely write a complaint or go to court. You can demand:

recalculate for the period of non-receipt of services;
imposing fines on the guilty organization;
compensation for losses you incurred due to the fault of the service provider.

Either the management company servicing your home, or directly the organization that is supposed to provide the service (in our case, the water utility), should take responsibility if a contract is concluded directly between it and the owner.

If the problem of lack of hot water has affected not only your home, but also affected the interests of the owners of neighboring apartments, then it would be best to draw up a collective complaint, which should be signed by other affected residents besides you.

The text of the complaint must include the following information:

Full names and addresses of all applicants and their signatures.
Address of the house where water is not supplied.
Shutdown date and period of no hot water.
Link to the rules of law governing this issue.
A detailed list of losses and inconveniences incurred due to the lack of water supply.
Demand to restore water supply and punish those responsible.

If, even though there is no water, you are still charged for it, you must request a recalculation. But if you have metering devices installed, they won’t count you extra, so there’s no need for recalculation.

All claims that you make in writing must be in two copies, one of which you must keep for yourself. First, the employee who will accept the document must mark the acceptance (date of reception, full name and position of the employee, registration number). Or you can send a complaint by letter with notification.

You can also do without unnecessary legwork and use the online service, leave a review on the government services website, or send a complaint electronically by filling out a form on the website of the desired organization.

If you still decide to send the claim by letter or submit it in person, then it is better to submit it in printed form. You can find a sample on the same sites or even a blank sheet that you fill out yourself.

You cannot leave a complaint anonymously; they simply will not accept it from you. Therefore, the applicant must provide his data. Subsequently, the citizen will receive a response to the address left upon consideration of the claim on which a decision has been made.

Procedure for appeals when water supply is turned off in the city of Moscow

Below are the contact numbers of authorities that can help citizens in the event of a cold or hot water outage. In addition, residents of houses can receive information about planned outages and their duration.

Dispatch service of the city of Moscow

According to experts, as a first step, you can contact the Unified Dispatch Center (UDC) in Moscow by phone number: +7. When applying, a citizen must provide personal information and residential address, as well as the essence of the appeal or complaint.
After this, the citizen will be connected to the Call Center specialist responsible for this area. To obtain information more quickly, residents of the building can access the Moscow House portal service on the Internet and, by indicating their address, receive information about the telephone number of the dispatch service of the Management Company responsible for the service. The sequence of working with this portal is as follows:

go to the website of the Houses of Moscow portal;
indicate the address of the house in the search bar and start searching;
in the information about the house that appears, select the field about the management company;
The uploaded information will indicate the contact number of the dispatch service of the service organization and reception hours.

Dispatch service of the city of Moscow for housing and communal services

Using the contact number, you can contact directly the Dispatch Service of the city of Moscow for housing and communal services issues. In addition, the website of the city administration Mos.ru (address: https://www.mos.ru/) contains contact information for public utilities, including Mosgaz, Mosvodokanal and others.

Filing a complaint

If there are reasonable claims from residents regarding compliance with cold or hot water supply standards, a complaint should be filed against the actions of utility services and their responsible persons. First of all, you should complain to the management organization servicing the house. You can then file a complaint with the local administration. If you have Internet access, you can submit a complaint electronically through the State Services portal. In addition, it is possible to contact Rospotrebnadzor, which is responsible for the quality of services provided to citizens.

In the event of a gross or systematic violation of the quality and timing of the supply of cold and hot water, citizens can bring the prosecutor's office to this issue. Particular weight will be given to the submitted application by the presence of a collective complaint, to which previously sent appeals can be attached.

Inaction on the part of the Management Company regarding the issue of illegal water shut-off may serve as grounds for residents to appeal to the courts, including for the recovery of moral damages or harm to health.

This is important to know: Nuances of the noise law in the private sector

Separately, it is worth noting that each owner, making payments for the use of hot water, has the right to receive hot water, and not slightly warm water, and also one that meets strict hygienic standards for cleaning and composition.

Watch a video about turning off water: