With the onset of October and the beginning heating season Homeowners in apartment buildings often face a rather serious situation - it becomes very cold in the apartments. Heating problems in high-rise buildings are far from uncommon, and this is true both for secondary housing built 30-40 years ago, and for new buildings. How to solve this problem and where to turn - in the new material "Poligraph.Media".
Why are the batteries cold?
Before you panic and rush to write complaints to all authorities, find out the specific the reason for the lack of heating. They can be different: from the re-equipment of the in-house system to an accident on the highway.
Problem in the in-house system:
- neighbors spend renovation work heating systems, for example, install additional sections to the battery. To carry out such work, the heating must be turned off. Therefore, neighboring apartments may also be temporarily left without it;
- the apartment residents independently replaced the old one heating system on a new one and mistakes were made during installation.
In order to find out whether this is a problem in one apartment or the entire entrance, you should find out how the neighbors are doing with their heating. It is also advisable to call a specialist - a plumber, who will troubleshoot and fix it.
External problem:
- an accident on the central heating line, as a result of which entire houses or even areas may be left without heat;
- delay of the heating season by the utility service, supply of heat energy of inadequate quality or with interruptions exceeding the legally established permissible duration.
It is important to remember that the lack of heat in premises is not always the fault of the organizations providing it to consumers. Therefore, before writing a complaint about poor heating in the apartment, it is necessary to identify the cause of the cold.
Grounds for filing a complaint
The question “where to complain?” – important, but not paramount. It is necessary, first of all, to establish precisely whether there are grounds for the complaint. To do this, you need to collect and document facts confirming that temperature regime the apartment is below standard.
The time when utility companies are required to start the heating season is established by the Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings, which are approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2011 N 354 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules). In Russia there is no exact date when heating should be turned on in each individual region. The date varies depending on the weather. If the temperature outside is below 8 degrees for five days, heat must be supplied to the house.
The same rules establish requirements for the quality of public services, in particular:
1) Provide uninterrupted round-the-clock heating during the heating period.
Wherein for each hour of exceeding the permissible break duration heating, calculated in total for the billing period in which the specified excess occurred,
2) Establish regulatory requirements for air temperature:
For every hour of temperature deviation air in the residential premises in total during the billing period in which the specified deviation occurred, the amount of payment for utility services for such a billing period is reduced by 0.15 percent the amount of the fee determined in accordance with the Rules.
If the temperature in the apartment is below normal, but problems in the heating network are not confirmed, you need to contact management company. A specialist from the management company should record deviations from the standard and draw up a report. If it’s cold at home and the management company employee refuses to do this, the act can be drawn up by the owner of the apartment in any form in the presence of two witnesses.
How to measure air temperature correctly?
Methods for monitoring air temperature are established by GOST 30494-2011 “ Interstate standard. Residential and public buildings. Indoor microclimate parameters."
It is allowed to take measurements in the cold season when the outside air temperature is no higher than minus 5˚C. It is impossible to measure during daylight hours with a cloudless sky. This is due to the fact that those entering the rooms sunlight heats the room, so measurements will be inaccurate.
Measure the room temperature at a distance of 10 cm, 1 m 10 cm and 1 m 70 cm from the floor. Measurements at these heights are taken in the center of the room and at a distance of 50 cm from the outer walls. The temperature of walls and floors is measured at the center of the surface.
Where can I complain about poor heating in my apartment?
Knowing this, you can quickly solve the problem. First of all, you can contact the following authorities:
- to the management company servicing the house;
- to the city housing inspectorate.
Please note that with In 2018, amendments were made to the Housing Code of the Russian Federation (Federal Law No. 59-FZ dated 04/03/2018). Now the residents apartment building can enter into direct contracts with resource suppliers and, accordingly, transfer payments for light, water, heating and gas directly to the organization that supplies these resources, and not to the account of the management company.
But, even if there is a direct agreement with resource suppliers, you can still complain to the management company. By law, she is required to keep all systems in the house in order, even if the residents do not pay her for utilities.
Therefore, if you have problems with heating, you can contact the management company. The management company is obliged to accept the appeal and respond. But the supplier, not the management company, will be responsible for the quality of services under a direct contract.
If complaints to the management company and the housing inspection do not bring any results, you can subsequently contact:
But a complaint about the lack of heating should be sent to these authorities if the utility service specialists ignore the complaint of the residents of the house and have not taken any measures.
How to file a complaint?
Regardless of which structure the claim will be sent to, it is important to draw it up correctly and competently.
You can be guided by the following general rules design:
- In the upper right corner you must indicate the name of the structure to which the document is being submitted. Below is the tenant's full name and residential address. In order for the organization to contact the owner of the apartment, you should write contact information (telephone, email);
- The following describes the problem in detail. It should be indicated from what date there has been no heating, what measures were taken, which authorities were contacted and to whom exactly they were contacted. If there are acts, responses from any authorities or other important documents, copies of them must be attached to the complaint;
- in conclusion, it is necessary to state the requirement that the selected structure take measures to solve the existing problem. You can also add that if the heating issue is not resolved, then the complaint will be sent to court;
- at the very end there is the date of drawing up the document and the signature of the person who made the complaint.
Regardless of where the complaint is filed, it is desirable that it be a collective one from several residents of the house. Since public appeals are usually considered first. Appeals are considered within 30 days after receipt of the document. The complaint must be submitted in several copies. Residents of the house must have a second version of the document in their hands. In addition, you can contact a lawyer for help in filing a complaint.
To leave comments
Heating bills are getting higher and higher: heat tariffs are rising, but the quality of heating does not always keep up with the price. Probably, many people would like their apartment to be warm and cozy, and the price for this would be small.
But what to do when the apartment is NOT warm (and maybe even cold), but large heating bills continue to arrive regularly. Agree, this is an offensive situation when you are actually required to pay for services that were provided improperly.
In any area of civil legal relations, issues of interaction between buyer and seller when delivering low-quality goods are determined by the civil code and the law on the protection of consumer rights. Necessary actions buyers when buying a bad product are well known. For example, if you purchase a faulty TV in an electronics store, then returning the faulty product and getting your money back for it is not particularly difficult.
In the housing and communal services sector, consumer rights are also protected. But the interaction between the consumer and the supplier or provider of public services when delivering low-quality services will differ from the usual interaction between the buyer and the seller. This is due to the fact that if the management company provides poor-quality heat supply services (for example, the apartment has cold radiators or the air temperature is too low), then the consumer does not have the physical ability to accurately supply the heat consumed.
But in this case, he has the right to pay less for the consumed heat. Or maybe you won’t pay for heat at all this month.
Unfortunately, few people know how to act in a situation where there are cold radiators in the apartment: where to complain and go to change the situation. Let's look at how the legislation stipulates the actions of the consumer when such a situation arises.
Standard values of air temperature in residential premises are defined in clause 15 of Appendix 1 to the “Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings”, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated May 6, 2011 No. 354. It is indicated that: there must be “security standard temperature air in residential premises - not lower than +18 °C (in corner rooms- +20 °C), in areas with the coldest five-day temperature -31 °C and below - in residential premises - not lower than +20 °C (in corner rooms - +22 °C)."
In other words, minimum temperature in the rooms of the apartment there should be at least 18 degrees for non-corner rooms and at least 20 degrees for corner rooms. In the areas harsh winter and cold weather - even higher by 2 degrees, respectively. That is, the temperature of the coolant in the radiators is not legally regulated: the apartment may have cold radiators and heating risers, but the temperature must be within the approved norm.
It is worth noting that in accordance with the same paragraph 15 of Appendix 1: “the permissible excess of the standard temperature is no more than 4 °C; the permissible decrease in the standard temperature at night ( from 0.00 to 5.00 hours) - no more than 3 °C ;
decrease in air temperature in a living room during the day (from 5.00 to 0.00 hours) not allowed.
What to do and where to complain if the radiators in the apartment are cold and the above temperature standards are not respected? On the pages of the portal we have already described how to calculate the heating fee in an apartment according to the law.
Here we will tell you how this board works in law can be reduced.
The law defines in sufficient detail the procedure for a consumer to act when he is provided with a utility service of inadequate quality. In the previously mentioned “Rules for the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings”, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2011 No. 354, there is a whole section devoted to this problem. This section is number X and it is called “The procedure for establishing the fact of provision of utility services of inadequate quality and (or) with interruptions exceeding the established duration (clauses 104-113 of the Rules).
If the apartment is cold, then you need to do the following:
1. Call or hotline or to the emergency dispatch service of the utility service provider (management company or HOA). A complaint about cold radiators must be registered by an employee of the hotline or emergency dispatch service and inform you of his name, surname and position and the registered number of your complaint about the low temperature in the apartment. You can apply in any other way, but you need to keep in mind that you may need to prove the fact of notification in the future.
2. If the employee of the emergency dispatch service of the contractor does not know the reasons for the cold in the apartment, he is obliged to agree with the consumer on the date and time of checking the fact of a violation of the quality of the utility service.
The time for the inspection is set no later than 2 hours from the moment of receiving a message from the consumer about a violation of the quality of the utility service, unless a different time is agreed upon with the consumer.
In other words, employees of the utility service provider must arrive at the apartment to draw up an act at a time convenient for the consumer or no later than 2 hours from the moment of application.
3. If for some reason the employees of the utility service provider did not arrive by the scheduled date to draw up an act, the consumer can draw up such an act independently. However, in this case, the act must record the air temperature in the apartment, and the act must be signed by the chairman of the council of the apartment building, as well as 2 neighbors - the owners of the apartments.
4. After drawing up such an act, the contractor is obliged to take measures to provide public heating services of adequate quality. These measures may be: resolving necessary issues with heating networks (boiler room) to increase the temperature of the coolant, repairing heating risers in apartment building, booster pumps and more.
If no action has been taken by the end of the month, and the consumer has not been informed about the start of the supply of heat of adequate quality, then the consumer has the right to apply for a recalculation of the cost of heating for the month.
If the apartment is cold, then the amount of recalculation of the cost of heating is determined as follows: for each hour of deviation in air temperature in the residential premises in total during the billing period in which the specified deviation occurred, the amount of the utility fee for such billing period decreases by 0.15 percent for each degree of deviation.
For clarity, let's give a simple example. The air temperature in the apartment at the time of drawing up the report was 16 degrees. Therefore, the deviation from the norm is 2 degrees. The period during which this temperature was maintained was 10 days or 240 hours.
The size of the reduction in heating costs will be: 2 degrees x 240 hours x 0.15% = 72%. That is, the cost of heating this month should be reduced by 72%. With the usual average monthly payment for heat being about 3,000 rubles, this month the consumer must pay 3,000 rubles - 2,160 rubles = 840 rubles.
To do this, the consumer must write an application to the utility service provider, attach a copy of the drawn up act, indicate the date and registration number his initial appeal regarding the cold in the apartment.
An example of a complaint about poor heating in an apartment.
After receiving the complaint, the contractor is obliged to recalculate the cost of heating.
If for some reason he does not want to do this, then you can contact:
1. To the state housing inspectorate with a complaint about the actions of the contractor.
2. To the authorities of Rospotrebnadzor.
3. Go to court with a claim to reduce the cost of heating and force the utility provider to properly fulfill its obligations to supply utility resources.
At the end of the article, I would like to wish you to live in a warm apartment with hot radiators, and the heating fee will not break your pocket.
Do you want to know the answer to your question?
Here you can ask it free of charge to experts or lawyers of the gkh-konsultant.ru portal.
Outside the window for a long time subzero temperature, are the radiators in your apartment still cold? Yes, the management company knows how to present surprises. Or maybe it’s not a matter of their irresponsibility, but a banal breakdown? Read the article about why batteries may not heat up, and also about where to complain if the heating is simply not turned on for you.
The issue of the beginning of the heating season is regulated by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354 of May 6, 2011 “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings.”
The heating season period is set individually for each region. It depends on the temperature level outside the window. At what temperature do you turn on the heating in apartments? Heat must be supplied to residential buildings if the outside temperature is below 8°C for five days in a row.
Dear readers! We cover standard methods for solving legal problems, but your case may be unique. We will help find a solution to your problem for free- simply call our legal consultant at:
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When the approximate start date of the heating season is behind, and the radiators in the apartment are cold, there may be several reasons for this.
- The heating problem is only in your apartment. Find out from your neighbors whether their heating works. If it is confirmed that the breakdown occurred on you, call a specialist for diagnostics and repairs.
- Something unexpected happened emergency situation, which delayed connecting your home to the heat supply. In this case, the entire house or even the area will not have heating.
- The utility service or management company is delaying the start of the heating season.
The solution to the last problem will be discussed further.
Where can I complain if the heating is not turned on?
According to the Rules for the provision of utility services, interruptions in the heating supply are possible when the season has already begun. The periods for which interruptions are permissible are clearly regulated:
- no more than 24 hours per month;
- if the air temperature in the apartment is above 12°C - maximum 16 hours in a row;
- if the temperature in the apartment is 10-12°C - maximum 8 hours in a row;
- if the temperature in the apartment is 8-10°C - maximum 4 hours in a row.
If the above standards are not met, the amount of payment for heating is reduced for each extra hour by 0.15%.
If there is no heat, first of all, you should find out the reasons. To do this, call the dispatch service and leave a request about the lack of heating with a request to take appropriate measures. Specialists are required to determine the cause and inform you about it within one to two days.
If the problems are related to a technical breakdown, a specialist must come to the site. Your application will be confirmed by a corresponding act drawn up in two copies. One is for you, the second remains with the specialist. In this case, all heating problems are solved in a short time.
You also have the right to contact:
- management company;
- housing inspection;
- your apartment building's association, if you have one.
If, after taking the measures you have taken, the heating is still not turned on, you can complain to higher authorities. Among them:
- Rospotrebnadzor;
- prosecutor's office;
- municipality;
- judicial authorities.
It is not in the interests of public utilities to refer the issue to higher authorities for resolution. Therefore, before you write a complaint, inform them of your intention. It is likely that heating problems will be resolved very quickly.
The heating was not turned on: complaint and subsequent actions
If filing a complaint is unavoidable, it is written as follows:
- At the top right are your personal details and the name of the organization to which the claim is being sent. You should leave your contact phone number so that you can be contacted promptly to resolve the issue.
- The complaint must describe the situation in as much detail as possible. Write down what measures you took before filing a complaint, where you went, and who you contacted. Attach copies of supporting documents, if available.
- Then, state all your demands and ask them to take action in the current situation. You can threaten to go to the courts.
- Please provide a personal signature and the current date.
There is no established complaint template. If you find it difficult to draw up a document, you can contact a housing lawyer.
The complaint may be handed over to an authorized person in person. In this case, you need to obtain from him a document confirming the receipt of the claim. You can also send a complaint by registered mail or electronically on the official website of the organization.
After solving the heating problem, be sure to draw up a statement sent to the management company with a request to recalculate for the time when you actually did not use utilities. Utilities will not recalculate the payment amount on their own initiative; it must come from you.
Now you know how and where to complain if you didn’t turn on the heating when the season has already begun. If difficulties arise, contact a lawyer for advice and help in resolving the issue.
