The principle of one tenant – Newspaper Kommersant No. 228 (7429) of 08.12.2022

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) approved the United Russia bill on free access for providers to apartment buildings if there is an agreement with any tenant. The initiative of the deputies from A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP), which involves the participation of management companies in the process, did not meet with support. However, both options remain on the agenda.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the conclusions of the commission of the RSPP on communications and IT on two bills regarding the access of telecom operators to multi-apartment residential buildings. The commission supported the draft of senators and deputies from United Russia (ER), which provides access to providers in the presence of a contract for communication services without holding a meeting of owners (see Kommersant of November 17). The commission criticized the second initiative, introduced by SRZP deputies Sergei Mironov and Galina Khovanskaya (according to which, the meeting of residents appoints a representative for communications issues), considering that it “does not allow solving existing problems.”

The profile committee of the RSPP refers to the fact that in September President Vladimir Putin instructed to provide for the gratuitous placement of equipment for operators when discussing amendments to the Housing Code. The initiative of senators and deputies from United Russia provides free access of telecom operators to houses in the presence of a contract for services, even with one tenant. At the same time, providers must pay for the electricity they spend.

Under the amendments from the SRHR, if homeowners decide to waive the provider from the fee, the maintenance costs associated with the operation of operator equipment are passed on to them. This proposal “has no legal justification and is anti-social in nature,” the RSPP considered. Letters with reviews (Kommersant has them) were sent by RSPP President Alexander Shokhin on December 7 to State Duma Speaker Vladimir Volodin, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and Head of the Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev. The addressees did not answer “Kommersant”.

The issue of access of providers to apartment buildings has been discussed in the State Duma since 2018. Corresponding amendments were introduced by a group of senators; one of them, Andrei Klishas, ​​later withdrew his co-authorship and signed under the new EP initiative. Galina Khovanskaya, who at that time was the chairman of the State Duma committee on housing policy and housing and communal services, did not support the senators’ document (see Kommersant dated December 2, 2019). But even that bill, according to Ms. Khovanskaya, is better than the draft of the deputies from United Russia: “According to it, residents cannot protest the arrival of the operator.” If the project is accepted, the rights of the owners will be unprotected, Sergey Mironov agrees.

Experts note the continuing relevance of regulating the issues of access of providers to homes. The situation has already improved somewhat, “but it would be premature to say that management companies have abandoned the idea of ​​a monopoly,” said Alexei Boyko, an analyst at MForum. Karen Kazaryan, Analyst Director of ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika, linked the improvement in the situation with “the activist activity of residents, as well as the development of the electronic voting service for owners.”

Interviewed by Kommersant, large telecom operators, as well as the RSPP committee, supported the bill of senators and deputies from the United Russia, and not from the SRZP. Rostelecom explained that the first initiative “offers the best option in the interests of users.” MTS added that the adoption of the second bill would create “an unreasonable expansion of the powers of management companies.”

At the same time, Nikita Damaskin, head of the Eneva provider, emphasizes that facilitating access to homes in itself will not lead to an increase in the quality of services: “Not all market players will retain subscribers by expanding or improving services: someone will simply follow the path dumping, and this will negatively affect the general state of the industry. However, the expert admits, the emergence of new norms “will help establish more transparent rules of the game.”

Yuri Litvinenko