The Ministry of Construction is ready to forgive debts for housing and communal services: not for everyone, but only for the elite

Borrowing money and then not giving it back is the crystal dream of many Russians. Especially if you get into debt to the state – it will not get poorer if it loses several thousand rubles. However, across the country, thousands turn into millions, millions into billions… Nevertheless, from time to time, for various reasons, the authorities themselves forgive heavy debts to their subjects. So the Ministry of Construction of Russia has prepared a bill on paying off the debts of Russians for housing and communal services.

Not everyone can get on the list of those rehabilitated to housing and communal services, but only those who owe a communal apartment for good reasons. These same reasons the authors of the bill prescribe in detail. A good reason for interrupting payments will be the loss of a relative, the treatment of the debtor in a hospital, the deprivation of his source of income, confirmed by documents – for example, non-payment of wages …

It is from them that the debt can be written off, although it is not yet clear how this will technically be done and in what time frame. As the authors of the bill vaguely report, the document will go to the government “after completion of all necessary procedures.”

Now debtors, even if there are good reasons, are subject to penalties – among them are a penny on the body of the debt (0.03% monthly), deprivation of the opportunity to receive subsidies. Agree, such a punishment does not always look fair in the context of destabilizing the economy and rising cost of living.

According to Rosstat, the debts of Russians for a communal apartment have grown by a record 7.6% since the beginning of the year compared to August 2021. And the total amount of such debts is 806 billion in the first quarter.

An expert in the field of housing and communal services, director of the People’s Control Organization Natalya Chernysheva considers the initiative of the construction department to be timely and correct.

“However, debts must be written off not with a chok, all together, but only for those who really have good reasons,” she says. – . Very many of our fellow citizens have objectively fallen under the decline in income and they need to be supported, provided with subsidies that are frozen due to utility debts. After all, these are the most socially vulnerable people.

As for the timing of the implementation of such a legislative initiative, then, in her opinion, everything can be “turned around” quite quickly. “We need to move from the declarative procedure for granting subsidies or repaying debts to a revealing one … Tax authorities are perfectly able to track all the income and expenses of people. We need political will not to delay this process.”

In management companies that have to “disentangle” the debts of homeowners, on the contrary, they do not expect anything good from the initiative of the Ministry of Construction.

“It will turn out like during the coronavirus pandemic,” the head of one of the management companies in Ryazan told us. – When a moratorium was temporarily introduced on the payment of overhaul. And many have decided that it is permanent and you can not pay for anything. And they still don’t pay anything. That might be the case this time as well. People understand laws the way they want to understand them. Write off “zhkhashnye” debts? So they write off everyone …

The interlocutor adds that the main category of defaulters are pensioners, in fact, the most disciplined people in our society. They refer to the fact that their pension is small, it is added little by little, but they have nothing to live on. In the outback, they look at food inflation not according to Rosstat reports, but evaluate it according to their wallet. It is believed that it is not the 15% per year that we are told about, but 100 percent or even more. If we take the average Russian pension of 18.5 thousand rubles, then after paying for housing and communal services (5-6 thousand rubles on average), 12 thousand remain on hand, which is less than the minimum wage. And the minimum wage this year is 13,890 rubles. The amount, which by law is inviolable, it is forbidden to collect any debts from it.

I ask: how can you knock out debts from a defaulter? Not from the one who really got into a difficult life bind, but from the other – quite a “self-sustaining” one? After all, there are many who simply do not want to pay. Let’s say, as a warning, they can turn off the light or gas, deprive them of the benefits of civilization?

The law provides for such measures. But only by court order. What happens in rare cases. In addition, in order to disconnect the resource from the supply, the relevant services need to go into the apartment, and who will open the door for them ?!

– Many openly admit that they have money and they will pay off their debts for a communal apartment, – our interlocutor continues. – But only after such a verdict is passed by the court. We’re suing. We file about 200 claims per month. No other way is given. If the debtor is not sued, the statute of limitations will expire and then nothing can be recovered from such a tenant.

In general, public utilities in their fight against debtors can be understood. The idea is created in society that they do nothing, they get money for nothing. But if this were the case, then there would be neither hot nor cold water in the apartments, the roofs would leak, there would be no light, and the adjoining territories would not be cleaned. But if we have all this and we go up to the 10th floor not on foot, but in an elevator, then why don’t the communal workers do anything? But the work of their employees is becoming increasingly difficult for them to pay. In general, it turns out a vicious circle: public utilities do their job and want to get a fair pay for it. People’s incomes are falling and they are not ready to pay more and more for housing and communal services.

Meanwhile, as we have already said, the country’s debts are approaching a trillion rubles.