Payment of utilities in shared ownership, determination of the procedure for payment of utility bills in shared ownership

• Without exaggeration, I will say that this is the only article on the Internet that most fully covers the problems of the issue.
• Very often in practice there are situations when, for example, an apartment is in shared ownership, and one of the owners, for one reason or another, does not pay for utilities and does not pay rent.
• After reading all sorts of forums and other “seemingly information” posted on the Internet, many citizens come to the idea of ​​​​the need to divide the personal account for the apartment, so that everyone pays for housing and utilities in proportion to their share.
• Is this currently possible?

First, let's briefly go over the table of contents of the article, because the article is far from small in volume, although...those who are familiar with my style of writing articles have no right to count on anything else.

If I write an article, I do it with my soul and with the desire to benefit those who need high-quality, relevant and reliable information on the topic of the article.

So, that's what I have in store for you in today's article.

What is a financial personal account?

So, a personal account (it would be more correct to call it a “financial personal account”) is a document that reflects all issues related to payments that must be made by the owner (tenant) of a residential premises for the use of this premises, as well as for utilities.

The financial personal account contains information about the type and nature of the residential premises (is it a separate apartment or communal apartment, the area of ​​the residential premises and the number of rooms, the number of storeys of the residential building, the floor on which the apartment is located, the degree of wear and tear of the building, etc.), as well as information about the improvement of the apartment and the provided utilities (presence of central heating, water supply, sewerage, electricity, gas stove, gas water heater, bathtub, elevator, garbage chute, etc.).

1. In addition, the financial personal account reflects information about all persons residing (living) in this residential premises, taken into account when calculating fees for the use of this residential premises and for the provided utilities.
2. To obtain an extract from your financial personal account, you should contact the organization that manages your apartment building.
3. At the same time, please note that currently at the federal level the procedure for issuing financial personal account statements to citizens is not defined.

Therefore, each region has its own procedure. For example, in Moscow, instead of an extract from a personal account for an apartment, citizens are issued a so-called “single housing document”, which replaces several documents at once when conducting real estate transactions in Moscow.

• A financial personal account is opened at cash settlement centers for the entire apartment, regardless of the form of ownership.
• That is, the apartment can be either privately or municipally owned.
• Now that you understand what kind of document this is - a personal account for an apartment - let's figure out where the errors begin in resolving the issue of dividing a personal account.

Next, I will consider in detail two situations: the division of a personal account between apartment owners and the division of a personal account in a municipal apartment. So, let's go.

Division of personal account between apartment owners

The other ½ ownership interest belongs to someone else. Conventionally, let's call this man Pavlik.

1. It so happened that the personal account for the apartment was issued in your name.
2. All monthly payments for utilities and housing maintenance come to your name.
3. Pavlik gives you money to pay for utilities and other payments for his share of the property.

Simply put, a payment arrives in your name. You look - yeah, you have to pay 4,000 rubles for a month. You show Pavlik the payment slip, Pavlik hands you 2,000 rubles from his master’s shoulder, you add your 2,000 rubles and... pay the rent for the month.

So it is possible? Well, of course!

Current legislation does not prohibit payment for utilities and for residential premises owned by several persons by several owners on the basis of one payment document.

This conclusion follows from Art. 247 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, according to which

possession and use of property in shared ownership is carried out by agreement of all its participants, and if agreement is not reached, in the manner established by the court.

Advice to Pavlik: If you give money to another owner as payment for rent on a single personal account, do not be lazy to put it in writing, so that later there will be no problems with proving the fact of the transfer of money.

You can, for example, in exchange for transferring money, ask for a receipt from the second owner for receipt of funds.

Payment of utilities in common shared ownership

Question from a reader: “My husband and I have been divorced for a year now. He and I are the owners of a 2-room apartment. After the divorce, I don’t live in the apartment, I have another family, a child. My ex-husband has not paid rent for 1.5 years.

I only pay half for heating, removal and maintenance of housing, and repair services. I don’t pay for gas, water, electricity (I don’t live or use it), I pay at the place of actual residence with my new husband and child.

Is it correct? Do they have the right, when filing a lawsuit in court, to withhold half for light, etc.?”

Payment of utilities for shared ownership

According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 210), the owner bears the burden of maintaining the property he owns, unless otherwise provided by law or contract. According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Article 249), each participant in shared ownership is obliged, in proportion to his share, to participate in the payment of taxes, fees and other payments on common property, as well as in the costs of its maintenance and preservation.

The owner is required to pay for some utilities from the moment he acquires the right to the property (unless, of course, other conditions are established in the contract). The law includes the maintenance and repair of housing (including payment for the elevator), as well as heating without providing recalculation in the temporary absence of owners (clause 54 of the Rules for the provision of utility services).

In accordance with clause 3 of Article 158 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, when the ownership of premises in an apartment building is transferred to the new owner, the obligation of the previous owner to pay the costs of major repairs of the apartment building, including the obligation not fulfilled by the previous owner to pay contributions for major repairs, is transferred to the new owner. .

These utilities include: cold and hot water supply (per person), electricity and gas supply (per person).

The cost of the listed services is subject to recalculation in the temporary absence of the owner in the apartment (clause 54 of the Rules for the provision of utility services).

The temporary absence (non-residence) of each owner in the apartment does not relieve them of the obligation to pay utility bills. According to Article 155 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, non-use of the premises by the owners is not grounds for non-payment of fees for services.

Recalculation in case of non-residence in the apartment

The grounds for the emergence of the right to recalculation for housing and communal services are provided for by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of May 6, 2011 N 354 “On the provision of utility services to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings.”

Recalculation due to the consumer's temporary absence from the place of residence is provided only for those services for which a meter is not installed. An absence of more than 5 full calendar days in a row is temporary, and in this period the day of departure and arrival at the residential premises is not taken into account (clause 90).

Recalculation is not made in relation to heating and gas supply services, as well as services for general house needs (clauses 86, 88). The service provider must submit the result of the recalculation within 5 working days after receiving the corresponding written application.

The application is submitted before the start of the period of temporary absence or no later than 30 days after its end (clause 91). If the consumer plans to be absent for more than 6 months, after this period he must submit a new application for recalculation for subsequent billing periods in connection with the extension of the period of temporary absence.

The application is accompanied by documents confirming the temporary absence and its period (see clause 94).

Controversial situations

Let's return to the situation outlined in the reader's letter. Payment of utility bills for some services (major repairs, maintenance and repair of housing, heating) must be considered mandatory based on the laws listed above. But payment for services, the cost of which is calculated depending on the volume of consumption, depends on the case.

Thus, the owner of 1/2 share of an apartment is not at all obliged to pay for some utilities (water supply, gas, electricity) if she does not live in this apartment and pays for utilities on time at the place of actual residence.

However, a controversial situation arises in which the second owner of a share of the apartment (ex-husband) is involved.

According to the law (Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 210), for an apartment that is in shared ownership of spouses (including former spouses), all persons in whose share the apartment is located are required to bear financial responsibility.

If the second owner does not pay the rent for the apartment (in our case, this is the ex-husband), then the remaining owners of the apartment have the right to force the defaulter through the court to pay off the utility debt and pay the bills.

However, it may happen that the management company itself will try to collect all existing debts on the apartment in court. This time, material claims will apply to all apartment owners under a single agreement on payment of utility bills.

In this case, only the amount for the last three years before the limitation period expires can be recovered.

What are “separate utility bills”?

So, the optimal solution in our situation may be separate utility bills. Property is in shared ownership when it belongs to several persons and their shares in ownership are established by agreement or court decision (Article 244 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Participants in shared ownership pay in proportion to their shares for the maintenance of common property and make other payments (taxes, etc.) (Article 249 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). In case of improper fulfillment of the obligation to make payments for residential premises located in shared ownership, as well as utilities (Art.

153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation) and the formation of debt through the fault of one of the owners, others have the right to demand from him the conclusion of an agreement on the procedure for paying for utilities in proportion to the share of each.

If an agreement is reached, it is necessary to send to the service provider (management organization) with whom the contract is concluded a joint statement containing a request to make charges in accordance with the terms of the agreement reached and to issue separate payment documents. After this, each of the participants has the right to pay rent on the basis of a separate invoice (separate receipt) within one personal account.

In other words, the invoice receipt can consist of two invoices for each owner, according to the shares of each. To separate utility bills, you should contact the management organization or HOA with a written application from each owner with attached documents for the apartment.

If a response to a proposal to conclude an agreement is not received or a refusal is given, this means that the parties have not reached an agreement. The owner’s right to incur expenses commensurate with his share for paying for utilities and living quarters and, accordingly, to receive a separate payment document is based on Art. 209, 249, 309, 310, 434 Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Art. Art.

30, 39, 153, 158 of the RF LC, and is also confirmed by judicial practice (see question 27 of the Review of Legislation and Judicial Practice of the RF Armed Forces for the fourth quarter of 2006, approved by the Resolution of the Presidium of the RF Armed Forces dated 03/07/2007). The claim is filed in accordance with the requirements of Art. 131–132 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. It is submitted to the district court according to the general rules of jurisdiction (Article 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation). State

The claim to the court must contain the following requirements:
establish a procedure for payment by the owners for residential premises and utilities, according to which payment for the maintenance and repair of the common property of the house, as well as for utilities, is paid by the plaintiff and defendants (other owners) in proportion to their shares ;

impose on the management organization of an apartment building the obligation to conclude a separate agreement with them defining the procedure and amount of payment and issue separate payment documents in relation to the owners.

Determination of shares in payment for utilities. Collection of debts from defaulters for housing and communal services. Prices in Moscow

• Often you have to deal with situations where many residents are registered in an apartment/house/room, but only one or two people actually live, and accordingly only they pay for utilities using the receipts they send.
• The rest of the registered persons (and sometimes owners of shares in the apartment), under various pretexts, either do not help pay the rent at all, or do it after another scandal, and even then, not in full...
• And the rent is constantly growing, so are your costs of paying it, and you no longer want to bear this burden alone.

How to get out of this situation?

The first and most drastic way is to raise the question of deregistration from the apartment or, as it is correct to say now, “about deregistration” of negligent tenants, and if we are talking about property, then try to forcibly buy out the share from another owner and become the sole owner of the apartment, but this is not always possible and here you find yourself at a dead end...

What to do?

The current legislation no longer provides the opportunity to separate financial and personal accounts, but this does not mean that you cannot allocate your share in paying for utility services - de facto, you CAN divide and determine your burden of maintaining real estate, just as you can recover part of what you previously paid for the last 3 years money for housing and communal services for the apartment, by going to court against those who had not previously paid a penny for the apartment for many years. 

How it's done?

First, you need to collect all the receipts confirming that it was you who bore the burden of paying utility bills, and it doesn’t matter that another person appears on the receipts (not you), the main thing is that you have the original receipts and have your signature on them.

If you paid through a bank, you will need to provide account statements; if you paid through terminals, you will need to provide original receipts from the terminals.

Then you need to somehow contact other registered residents (and/or owners) with a request to determine the procedure for paying utility bills

This can be done by sending letters, telegrams, in general, in such a way that in court you can say that you tried to resolve the situation peacefully, but your opponents did not negotiate - and that’s why you are in court.

The next step is to contact the State Property Inspectorate (if we are talking about municipal housing) or the management company (MFC, DEZ, Housing Office, EIRTs - if we are talking about property) with a request to issue you a separate receipt according to your share in the occupied space , the result of consideration of this appeal will be A 100% refusal to separate the financial and personal account and to issue you a separate receipt for payment of housing and communal services; moreover, this refusal will indicate that you have the right to go to court to force the establishment of shares in payment of housing and communal services for the apartment - this is exactly what you need necessary for further recourse to court.

This refusal (and the original) will have to be submitted to the court, because This appeal first to the DGI or MFC is a MANDATORY pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute; without it (refusal from the MFC or DGI), the court will not accept your claim, but will return the documents!    

1. The last of the preparatory stages is the preparation of a statement of claim to the court.
2. The claim must be motivated, competently drawn up and understandable both from the point of view of what exactly you want from the court, and on the basis of what (what laws and in connection with what) you want the court to take your side and satisfy your claims.
3. If your claims are not formulated in accordance with the current legislation, it is not sufficiently substantiated - it will be difficult, or practically impossible, for you to defend your interests in court, the court does not advise or help you formulate your claims according to the law - the court resolves the dispute based on those of your claims, as you indicated them in the claim (and if you stated your claims incorrectly or not according to the law, wait for a refusal).
4. If you need legal assistance from a lawyer in disputes about determining shares in payment of utility bills, if you want to demand through the court the money you have already paid for the last 3 years from your registered non-paying tenants or owners of shares in the apartment, if you want to pay less in the future and feel protected - contact us.
5. You can make an appointment with a lawyer on the website using the feedback form, or if you want to talk to a lawyer before the appointment and ask questions that interest you,

call: +7(495)772-13-32.

2018-01-24 02:20:00

Back in 1994, in the city of Moscow, a 2-room apartment was privatized into common ownership without determining shares - for the mother and her then minor son. As you know, children grow up, and this “son” has grown up too.

In 2000, the son got married, began to live with his wife in the disputed apartment, and a few years later his first grandson was born. Relationships in the family were normal, everyone lived together.

But since the beginning of 2009, my son began to often travel abroad for work (tourism), spending several days a month at resorts on study tours, where (as often happens) in an atmosphere of relaxation and fun, he met a new “amazing” single friend - abandoned his family, mother, child... Scandals began to constantly occur at home, money flowed from the family to a new life, the son became aggressive and inappropriate in behavior. The result was not long in coming...

More details

2017-07-24 17:35:00

The spouses owned, by right of common joint ownership, a 2-room privatized apartment without determining shares.

After the divorce, the ex-husband filed a lawsuit to recognize most of the apartment as his personal property, motivating his demands by the fact that this apartment was received by the spouses as a result of an exchange for an apartment in a cooperative building that previously belonged to him before marriage (80s) and therefore, if not the entire disputed apartment, then most of it should belong to him...

More details

2017-01-24 17:22:00

In 2010, the client purchased an apartment in a building under construction under a preliminary agreement; at the time of drawing up the preliminary agreement, the seller “slipped” her the “mandatory” documents to sign - the so-called.

“package for purchasing an apartment”, among these documents was the buyer’s obligation from the moment the contract was concluded to bear all expenses for housing and communal services, and to incur other expenses (concierge, security, etc.) for the apartment.

The client signed everything and began to wait for the house to be built and she would receive her apartment... In 2013, the house was put into operation, the apartment was transferred to the client according to the deed at the beginning of 2014, the client came to conclude an agreement with the management company, for which she was billed for the period from 2010 to 2014 in the amount of more than 300,000 thousand rubles, for housing and communal services and other...

More details

Can a share in an apartment be taken away for non-payment of utility bills?

A reader asked a question:

My brother and I inherited an apartment from my mother; now my brother lives in it, he doesn’t want to pay for utilities, he doesn’t work. I don’t know if it makes sense to pay them for me? And is it possible, on the basis that I pay for utilities and he doesn’t, to transfer his share in the apartment to me?

Tatyana Koronova, a methodologist at the Notary Chamber of the Volgograd Region, explains.

According to the civil code, each participant in shared ownership is obliged, in proportion to his share, to participate in the payment of taxes, fees and other payments on common property, as well as in the costs of its maintenance and preservation.

The obligation to pay for the residential premises and utilities of the owner of the residential premises, which appears with the right of ownership of such premises, is established by Art. 153 Housing Code of the Russian Federation.

Owners of residential premises can enter into an agreement on the procedure for paying utility bills, fixing the amount of participation of each of the owners in paying for residential premises and utility bills, while joint and several liability to third parties remains.

If agreement on payment of utility bills could not be reached, then the owner, who pays for utilities in full, has the right of recourse against the remaining debtors in equal shares, minus the share falling on himself (Article 325 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

This means that you can file claims in court to recover from the defaulter the expenses you incurred to pay for housing and utility bills to the extent that such defaulter was obliged to bear them.

In addition, if an agreement is not reached, then you have the right to go to court, which must establish the procedure for paying for residential premises and utilities in proportion to the shares in ownership for each of the owners of the residential premises.

We also remind you that the owner of premises in an apartment building is obliged to bear the costs of maintaining the premises belonging to him, as well as to participate in the costs of maintaining common property in an apartment building in proportion to his share in the right of common ownership of this property by paying a fee for the maintenance and repair of residential premises ( Clause 1 of Article 158 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

It is unlikely that it will be possible to terminate the right to a share in the ownership of apartments and evict them for non-payment of utility bills.

Of course, the owner is liable for debts with all his property. However, Art.

446 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation states: “Foreclosure under executive documents cannot be applied to the following property owned by a citizen-debtor by right of ownership: residential premises (parts thereof), if for the citizen-debtor and members of his family living together in the owned premises, it is the only premises suitable for permanent residence, with the exception of the property specified in this paragraph, if it is the subject of a mortgage and can be foreclosed on in accordance with the legislation on mortgage.”

Housing and utility bills were divided in half, although the shares of the owners are different. Is this fair?

In a three-room apartment, rooms 1 and 2 belong to one owner (about 30 sq. m in total), number 3 (15 sq. m) belongs to another.

The HOA charges payment for common shared ownership equally: one half is paid by the owner of rooms 1 and 2, the other half by the owner of room 3.

In my opinion, the payment for the common shared area should be divided in proportion to the area of ​​the rooms - that is, two-thirds and one-third. But what's the right way?

Best regards, Ekaterina

Sometimes unequal shares that were formed due to repeated transfers of living space by inheritance are recognized by the court as equal for the convenience of calculating utility bills.

But in reality, the owner, who according to the documents owns 2-3 meters more, can get for use a room that is one and a half times larger. Payment for housing and communal services will be the same.

The rules for dividing personal accounts and allocating a share of property in kind differ. Therefore, when rooms and bills are divided at different times, a situation like yours may arise. I'll tell you more.

If the owners have agreed among themselves how to divide the charges for housing and communal services, they can submit the appropriate applications to the organization that deals with the charges and sends receipts: to the management company, homeowners association or municipal cash settlement center.

But utility companies may refuse to separate personal accounts due to lack of technical capabilities. This is especially true for energy resources.

For example, when there is one meter for electricity or gas for several premises and it is impossible to reliably determine the share of use.

Thus, in Nizhny Novgorod, the court supported the utility workers and refused to split gas bills because there was only one meter in the room.

The Kemerovo court did exactly the same thing: when dividing personal accounts, it was based on the size of the shares in the ownership of the apartment, and not on the number of residents. In proportion to the shares, accruals were divided not only for the maintenance of housing, but also for utilities, although the owner of ½ share in the apartment did not live in it at all, and the second owner lived in a shared apartment with two children.

In your case, the shares of the apartment owners according to the documents may be the same - ½ for each. But with the real division of living space, one of the owners received two rooms.

For example, one owner had a family of four, and the second was single. Therefore, the court once determined such a procedure for use that one half of the apartment became 30 meters, and the second - only 15 meters.

But since according to the documents the shares are equal, the payment for housing maintenance is the same.

But the situation will change only if not the area of ​​the occupied rooms, but rather the shares are unequal. The court will side with the owner of a room with an area of ​​15 meters if he actually owns ⅓ of the share of the apartment, and not ½ using one room.

If you have a question about investing, personal finance or family budgeting, please write to us. We will answer the most interesting questions in the magazine.