Water meters in a communal apartment. Water meter in a communal apartment and how to put it in an apartment
How are payments for water distributed in a communal apartment equipped with water meters?
Question: How to distribute the readings of a common apartment meter for water between residents in a communal apartment? For example, one person lives in a room, and three people live in the next one. Some have a washing machine, some don't. Should everyone pay the same? And what if some refuse to pay?
Answer: By law, if there is a technical possibility, communal apartments must also be equipped with individual water and electricity meters. Regardless of the number of rooms. Both owners and tenants are required to install meters. The difference is that the owners do it at their own expense, and the tenants must contact the management company or the Housing Agency (RZhA). The tenant can install a meter at his own expense, and then receive compensation through the Criminal Code.
The indicators of the meters are distributed in proportion to the number of personal accounts in a communal apartment and the number of registered citizens. However, if one person is registered in the personal account, and more live, this problem can be solved. The accountant of the managing organization has the right to enter into the card of each personal account in a communal apartment exactly the number of people who actually live there. And then everyone who uses it in this room will pay for the water. This can be done on the basis of the application of the residents of the communal apartment.
Such subtleties as washing machines or dishwashers are not spelled out in the law. They cannot write down the debts of neighbors on you, because in a communal apartment each owner or tenant has his own personal account. The division of a personal account into several sub-accounts is relevant in a separate apartment and solely for the convenience of payment, for example, when family members run separate households and want to pay for housing and communal services separately. This is not practiced in communal apartments.
The general installation of water meters in residential premises has led over time to some ambiguities regarding the operation of devices in communal apartments. That is, in those houses where there is an autocratic owner of the premises, who consumes water and understands where it goes, bills are paid in full and without a hitch. But the residents of communal apartments in this case have a hard time. Often negligent roommates either simply refuse to pay, or populate their premises with unregistered tenants who consume water, but do not pay to pay. How to be in this case, we understand below.
Important: in order to avoid possible red tape when dividing bills for paying for water, it is better to refuse to install a meter altogether and continue to pay according to the standards. If all the neighbors are adequate and agree to control the flow of hot and cold water in a municipal apartment, then it is necessary and possible to install a water meter only with the written consent of all those registered and living in it.
Several rules and extracts from the law
According to the law of the Russian Federation, the installation of a water meter can not be carried out in those premises that are recognized as emergency and not suitable for any type of installation or construction work. Since any intervention can damage the integrity of the structure. The unsuitability and accident rate of the building is confirmed by special commissions in a written act. In this case, the calculation for the consumed water for all residents is carried out in the usual manner according to the standards.
In addition, it is worth knowing that you can not put a water meter only because of your disagreement. In this case, the calculation for the consumed resource will be carried out according to the increasing tariff scale. According to the law, no fines and administrative penalties are provided for those who do not install a water meter.
Persons entitled to install a water meter
If all the neighbors in the communal apartment came to a unanimous decision to install a meter, then any person who has an idea about the water supply system can carry out installation work. At the same time, the law clearly states that the installation of water meters is carried out at the expense of the water user and his forces. That is, you can put the device in any convenient way:
- Invite a master from the Housing Office by writing a statement;
- Conclude an agreement with the contractor and wait for the installer (by the way, in this case, specialists often have permission to seal the water meter);
- Use the services of a private specialist;
- Or install a water meter with your own hands.
In any of the cases, the last stage of putting the device into operation should be the appearance of a seal on it.
If the meter is installed
It is profitable to pay bills if there is a water meter in a communal apartment. But such a calculation is convenient only if all neighbors recognize the adequacy of the redistribution of payments. At the same time, the amounts of bills received for water can be divided by agreement of all neighbors. The method of payment is chosen either by the number of people registered in the room, or by the number of all actually living.
Let's give an example of calculation
We have a communal apartment of three rooms. Two people are registered in one of them, but in fact they do not live at all, which means that they do not consume water or any other resources. In the second room, one is registered, but in fact three live. That network water consumption is already going up. Three people are registered and live in the third room. In this case, it will be more profitable for the third and first premises to pay for water according to the number of actual residents, while it is more convenient for residents from the second room to pay according to the number of registered ones.
As a rule, adequate tenants agree to the calculation scheme according to the criterion “actually living”. Then the payment scheme in our example will look like this:
- Registered tenants from the first room pay nothing;
- Residents of the second - pay an amount equal to 3/6. That is, the entire cost of water is divided by the number of all living in the room. In our case, this is 6 people.
- Residents of the third room in the communal apartment will also pay 3/6 of the amount.
If non-resident tenants move in and live, then the calculation of water bills will look like this:
- First room - 2/8;
- Second room - 3/8;
- The third room is 3/8.
If a situation arises when the installation of the meter took place with the consent of all those registered, and subsequently the tenants who refuse to pay changed in the room, then the dispute can be resolved either through a conversation with the owner, who must pay for his tenants, or through the management company.
To do this, you need to contact the accounting department. management company with a written statement and an act signed by the neighbors, stating that the communal apartment actually lives more people. In this case, the accounting department is obliged to redistribute the accounts and put the debtors in their place.
Important: act of actual residence. Unregistered neighbors are made up by the house manager.
There are also radical measures to resolve issues in such a situation. You can contact the migration service or the police with a request to check the registration of living neighbors. Most likely, illegal immigrants will be evicted, and a careless neighbor-landlord will be punished with a fine. But it is better not to bring the matter to such an incandescence and solve everything amicably.
Installation of water meters in each room of a communal apartment
Often, residents of a communal apartment have the question “Is it possible to install water meters in each room?”. Here, lawyers have an unequivocal answer - no. According to the norms of SNiP, it is forbidden to arrange so-called "wet" premises above dry ones. That is, it is forbidden to supply water pipes to sleeping and living quarters. So the installation of a water meter in a communal apartment is carried out only in the bathroom and at the rate of one for hot water pipes (hot water supply) and cold water pipes (cold water supply).
Penalties in case of non-payment for water
If it happens that negligent neighbors in a communal apartment refuse to pay for water, then in this case you should not be afraid of disconnecting from communication. Since the water utility does not have the right to turn off the water supply to all residents of a communal apartment because of one debtor.
Disconnection from the resource can be done only if the debtor has its own communication branch. For example, electricity meters are installed in every room of a municipal apartment. In this case, it is possible to cut off only the debtor's room from the light.
At the same time, the issue can be resolved by simply not providing meter readings to the accounting department of the DEZ. In this case, the calculation for the consumed water will be carried out according to the standards.
Important: when distributing the amount of payment for the consumed water, according to the law, the number of people living in the apartment can still be challenged. And now the quantity household appliances working with the use of water, and the frequency of its use cannot be proven.
Poor water quality
It happens that when calculating for the consumed life-giving moisture, friction also arises on the basis of poor water quality. For example, water in DHW pipes does not exceed 40 degrees. And in order to somehow swim and take a bath, you have to drain the incoming water for 20-30 minutes. At the same time, the counter continues to wind, increasing the amount to be calculated for the consumed resource. In this case, you can contact the representatives of the housing department with a request for a recalculation.
It is important to be prepared for red tape and a long waste of time. Since the responsibility for low temperature hot water supply is provided by both the water utility and the boiler house serving the area of the communal apartment.
To prove that hot water in pipes of inadequate quality, you will need to work hard. But in this case, payment and settlement for water can be made upon the fact of the services provided.
PHOTO by Ruslan SHAMUKOV/TASS">
Each tenant has a separate tap! .. And a separate meter?
PHOTO Ruslan SHAMUKOV/TASS
As soon as the struggle for comprehensive control and accounting of consumed resources began in the country, the torment of the inhabitants of communal apartments began. No, in fact, the torment began earlier. In fact, they have always been. However state rate The widespread installation of water metering units exacerbated the problems of communal apartments. Legislation is the same for all of us. It does not take into account the specifics of communal apartments, as if they do not exist, as if this phenomenon remained in the bygone XX century.
In communal apartments, as well as in individual apartments, water meters must be installed. You haven’t established it, therefore, you will pay according to the standard with a coefficient: until recently - more by 10 percent, now - by 20, then - by 30, 40, and so on - up to 60. You can save yourself from an unpleasant coefficient only by obtaining a certificate of the fact that the apartment does not have the technical ability to install a meter. But the criteria of technical feasibility-impossibility are so vague that, in fact, the decision is left to the conscience of management companies. And they don't have much conscience.
So, residents of one huge communal apartment in the Admiralteysky district asked their house manager to help them with documents on technical impossibility. And they received an act in which - in black and white - it was said that the apartment still has the opportunity to provide legal accounting, but for this it is necessary to install ... 12 cold water meters: according to the number of pipes entering the apartment.
Six families - 17 people - live in the apartment. How do they pay for water according to the meter(s)? Specialists of management companies answer this question, who is in what much. Here are the two most common answers.
The first. Take readings from 12 metering stations at once, calculate the total expense for all nodes, then divide by the number of residents, then multiply by the number of family members, enter the resulting expense on the receipt.
Second. Simultaneously take readings of 12 metering stations, calculate the total consumption, enter all this into a receipt for one owner (at the choice of the communal population). And the rest will already pay him off: either hand over their share to him ahead of time, or after he pays ... At the same time, such subtleties as the presence of washing machines or dishwashers in some residents cannot be accounted for. How to deal with this, the "communal" must come up with themselves.
Frankly, the employees of the Criminal Code, who gave such explanations, could hardly restrain their laughter ... But the citizens are not laughing. The farther, the more the “communals” have specific questions. And the fewer concrete answers the public utilities have. It is not even clear who should pay for the installation of meters, if the communal apartment has both privatized and non-privatized rooms. Theoretically, part of the money should be paid by the budget. And practically?
In practice, the state, it seems, will have to remember that communal apartments in the vastness of Russia are still very much available.
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It’s not easy to figure out how to pay for monthly utility bills and in an ordinary apartment, what can we say about communal apartments, where it’s increasingly “every man for himself”. People still cannot decide whether meters are beneficial for them, or if the standard fee will be cheaper. In the meantime, the government decided from January 1, 2015 to increase utility bills for “deviators” by 30% every quarter.
Installation of counters.
Everything is simple with energy meters: they are installed separately for each owner, and therefore, everyone pays only for those energy resources that they have spent. In this situation, what I spent, I paid for it.
With water meters, things are more complicated. Building codes and regulations (SNiP) prohibit the arrangement of “wet” rooms above “dry ones”, therefore it is impossible to organize water supply for each room, which means that metering devices will only be common.
Installing meters in a communal apartment is easy. To do this, simply write an application to the housing department, after which you will be asked to choose from several installer companies. Specialists come and bring with them everything necessary for installation, including counters. The average cost of one counter ranges from 2000 to 3000 rubles. Their number will depend on how many water risers are in the apartment. All residents of a communal apartment must pay for payment, since this procedure is not a whim of one owner, but a whole state program that cannot be evaded.
It should be remembered that installation should only be carried out by an organization that has a special license. It is highly undesirable to engage in amateur performance in matters of installation. Everything in this business must meet certain regulatory standards.
A meter purchased independently must also have a document of compliance with standards. To do this, it must be taken to a special department where work is being done with water meters (it is located on the territory of the housing department).
Thus, for commissioning, you must have the following documents on hand:
- Contract for the installation of water meters
- Passport for each device (or a certificate of conformity signed by the housing department)
- License
After all completed installation work, 3 acts are drawn up, which are kept by each of the parties, these are: the customer, the installer and the housing department. From now on, you will pay at the existing rates at the end of each month.
Payment by counters
The unwillingness of some Russians to establish counters in a communal apartment understandable. Spending money on some incomprehensible apparatus in which the benefits are not entirely obvious ... After all, not all families manage to save money, for some, after the installation of meters, the payment increases dramatically.
Often this depends on the local housing and communal services system: in one area, overspending and additional payments are distributed between apartments with meters, and in another - between those who pay according to the tariff. As “additional” payments, water spent on “common house” needs (watering flower beds, washing the entrance, and sometimes water loss in case of breakdowns) is calculated. In the process of calculations, there are many regulations and legislative acts approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, which are not easy to understand for a mere mortal.
In communal apartments, it is impossible to install individual devices. Therefore, the tariff is calculated according to the readings of the general apartment meter for water. The owners themselves choose the payment procedure, but sometimes there are controversial points. So, for example, if a communal apartment consists of three rooms. The newlyweds live in one, a family of five lives in the other, and the third room is empty. In fact, seven people live here. One owner, does not live in the apartment, and, accordingly, does not spend intra-apartment resources. Therefore, the total amount should be divided in proportion to the number of people occupying the area. If we imagine that 10 cubic meters of water leaked in the apartment in a month, a family of two people will pay 2/7 of the total: 10 x 2/7 \u003d 2.85 cubic meters, a family in which 5 people will pay 5/7, according to the same calculations 10 x 5/7 = 7.14 cu. The owner returning to his room will affect the total cost. Calculations will already need to be done for 8 people, respectively, there will be three apartments: 2/8, 5/8 and 1/8.
Non-payment of bills.
Unfortunately, sometimes among the inhabitants of communal apartments there is a malicious defaulter, who loves to swim and watch TV, but does not pay for electricity and water. The law in this case provides for the disconnection of the debtor from the benefits of civilization. Devices individual accounting electricity and the presence of separate personal accounts will be very handy. The power outage will follow immediately. But in the case of water, things are more complicated. The crane, after all, is one for everyone. And no one has the right to suspend the water supply because of one negligent neighbor. This will happen if only the entire communal apartment refuses to pay.
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