Where to go if there is no heating: useful tips for resolving an urgent issue

The beginning of the heating season, many residents of apartment buildings perceive as another round of struggle with public utilities, not ensuring the proper temperature level in their apartments. Fleeing the cold in their homes with the help of electric heaters, people are forced to bear the costs of heating, which is not there, and electricity, the consumption of which increases many times over due to round-the-clock operation of the devices. At the same time, there is no need to talk about comfort, because it is impossible to warm a poorly heated apartment with heaters. Therefore, tenants try to find out the causes of cold in their apartments as quickly as possible, but often do not know where to turn if there is no heating. Recently, local authorities have been paying a lot of attention to providing heat to residential buildings and social facilities. The questions posed are usually resolved in a short time. The main thing is to voice the problem!

Finding out the possible causes of lack of heat

The owner of the apartment, faced with the problem of low temperature in his apartment, needs to talk with the neighbors on the landing and find out how bad they have with heating. If the neighboring apartments are warm, then the problem is narrow in nature and is associated with a malfunction of the elements of the heating system in a particular room. To determine it and then eliminate it, a person needs to contact:

• to the Directorate for the Maintenance of Buildings (DEZ), which services this house;
• in the HOA, if the owner of the apartment is a member of the partnership;
• to a management company that solves all issues of life support of an apartment building.

After receiving the application, the above organizations send a technician to the problem apartment to inspect the communications in order to determine the absence of heat, and also take all possible measures on the spot to eliminate malfunctions in the heating system.

If the apartment is cold, report it to all authorities in every possible way

In accordance with the law, public utilities have a day to carry out simple repairs of the internal heating system. For more complex repairs, utilities are allotted one week, after which heat should still appear in the apartment.

If all residents of the entrance of an apartment building suffer from the cold in their apartments, then the reasons go beyond the heating system of this object. Most likely, the current situation is due to a major accident that occurred on heating mains or at the CHP plant itself. In such cases, public utilities have to turn off the heating during the emergency site, which may be delayed for a variety of reasons. What to do in this situation to residents and where to call - if there is no heating, and also there is no information on the date of its appearance?

A major accident in heating networks can cause a lack of heat in an apartment building

The activity of apartment owners should be adequate to the scale of the problem. Therefore, in such situations, calls to the Management Company are duplicated by appeals to the State Housing Inspectorate, for employees of which, with the onset of winter frosts, a “hot time” begins in the full sense of the word. Calls from disgruntled citizens are received by this organization on the "hot line", working around the clock.

Correct handling of complaints

All complaints and claims for the poorly provided service must be submitted in writing. Therefore, after a phone call, do not be too lazy to write a statement, be sure to duplicate, and take it personally to the Management Company.

Upon admission, the applicant must require the employee of the organization responsible for the proper operation of the house to affix on the second copy of the application the date and incoming number accepted for consideration of the document. The presence of a copy of the application marked with the Criminal Code will help to quickly resolve the issue in higher structures, as well as in the judiciary, if it comes to compensation for material and moral harm.

Important! A statement about the lack of heating can also be sent by mail by letter with a notification of its delivery to the recipient. In this case, the completed notification form with the signature of the person who received the postal item serves as proof of the citizen's appeal to the management company.

If the oral appeal of the tenants can be ignored, then the written complaint will have to be considered within the time allotted by law. Therefore, within a three-day period, a specialist should appear at the address indicated in the application, who must take temperature measurements in each individual room of the apartment. Make sure that the measuring device is at a distance of one and a half meters from the floor and a meter from the outer walls. Based on the results of measurements taken, an act is drawn up in duplicate, in which the results are noted. The owner of the apartment must have a copy of this act. Then this document can become the basis for the recalculation of the amount set by the service organization to the owner of the apartment for heating.

Residents are entitled to recalculate the cost of housing and communal services in the absence of heat in their apartments

Sanitary and epidemiological legislation regulates temperature standards, both optimal and permissible, in the premises of buildings intended for citizens. Any deviation from these temperature standards is an occasion to recalculate the cost of the improperly provided service.

If the representative of the house operating organization did not appear, then it is necessary to draw up an act independently in any form. To do this, you will have to invite witnesses, who are usually residents of neighboring apartments. When filling out the act, be sure to note that the invited employee of the housing organization was not present in the survey of the apartment.

Which government bodies to complain to?

If the struggle for the right to normal living conditions during the heating season is unsuccessful, then it is necessary to involve all state bodies in the competence of which it is resolved. So, where else can I turn about heating?

• Firstly, to local authorities. Moreover, in addition to making a call and making an appointment with the official responsible for the work of the housing and communal services, it became possible to send a complaint by e-mail, the address of which can be found on the official website of the municipality.
• Secondly, to the bodies of Rospotrebnadzor. It is better not to call this structure, but immediately write a complaint in which it is necessary to indicate the name and address of the location of your management company. Throughout the winter period, specialists from this controlling state body deal with heating issues as a matter of priority. A written appeal serves as an occasion for an unscheduled inspection, after which the experts of Rospotrebnadzor send an instruction to the head of the Management Company with the deadlines for eliminating temperature violations in a residential apartment building. Failure to comply with the order is fraught with the application of penalties to the violator.
• Thirdly, to the Prosecutor's Office with a written complaint in which to demand the initiation of an administrative case against the director of the Management Company.

Despite all the efforts made by authorities at all levels to restore order in the housing sector, problems will not be resolved soon. Therefore, citizens need not only to know where to call about heating, but also be able to correctly format their complaints.