Debt for housing and communal services

2024: Criminal Code and HOA banned the sale of debts of defaulters for housing and communal services to collectors

Such a ban formally existed since 2019, but many companies bypassed it by issuing a power of attorney to collect debts in favor of third parties, including collection agencies.

But now, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin of April 2024, a complete ban on the list of third parties of any debts for a communal apartment has been introduced.

Of course, there remains the option of filing a lawsuit, and in this case, bailiffs will already deal with non-payers. But the court's decision still needs to wait and this may take years. And collectors, of course, solved this issue faster, albeit in a less pleasant way for citizens.

2023

Debts of Russians for water and sewerage increased by 11 billion rubles to 90 billion rubles

The debts of Russians for water supply and sanitation at the end of 2023 reached 90 billion rubles, an increase of about 11 billion rubles compared to a year ago. Such data at the end of January 2024 were disclosed in the Russian Association for Water Supply and Sanitation (RAVV; its members are the main enterprises of these industries).

Debt in absolute numbers is really growing, but if we take into account inflation, an increase in housing and communal services tariffs, the ratio of interest on bills and unpaid bills, then the increase is not so significant, "a representative of RAVV told Vedomosti.

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According to him, the debts of the population for these utilities remain at the level of 35-45% of the total debt in the field of water supply and sanitation. The RAVV also reported that the volume of debt of industrial enterprises and the population for consumed fuel and energy resources (electricity, water supply, heating) in the country as a whole by the end of 2023 approached 1.4 trillion rubles.

According to the expert "Popular Front. Analysts "Pavel Sklyanchuk, the problem of debts in housing and communal services is not solved primarily because industry regulators have not agreed on debt restructuring measures. Because of this, the total amount does not decrease from year to year. Deputy Alexander Yakubovsky, in a conversation with the publication, noted that utility debts are growing evenly. This suggests that defaulters remain the same. At the same time, electricity arrears are growing the slowest - debtors are simply turned off, he added.

Among the reasons for the increase in debt, experts called the decline in citizens' incomes, the lack of leverage of management companies on defaulters, as well as the dishonesty of both tenants and the Criminal Code themselves.^[1]

Debts of Russians for housing and communal services reached a record 876.4 billion rubles

The debts of Russians for housing and communal services (housing and communal services) by rubles the end of March 2023 reached a record 876.4 billion, which is 72 billion rubles more than a year earlier. This is evidenced by the data that became Rosstat known at the end of July 2023.

According to Izvestia, to resource-supplying organizations (RSOs) that supply water, heat and electricity to their homes, debts over the past year have increased by 15.8%, and to management companies (MCs) - by 1.2%. According to experts interviewed by the publication, the reason for the increase in debts on housing and communal services could be a decrease in household incomes against the background of an increase in payments. In particular, Tatyana Vepretskaya, director of the National Housing Congress NP, believes that the volume of payments for housing and communal services is gradually increasing and as a result the family cannot repay them.

Debts of Russians for housing and communal services (housing and communal services) reached almost 900 billion rubles

Among the defaulters there are those who simply do not want to pay for housing and communal services, said Andrei Shirokov, chairman of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry on entrepreneurship in the housing and communal services sector. At the same time, RSOs cannot influence debtors "to the fullest extent" of the law, as a result, the volume of non-payment continues to increase, said Sergei Kolunov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services.

Alexander Yakubovsky, a member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Public Utilities, said that management companies that do not transfer money collected from citizens make a great contribution to the growth of debt to resource-supplying organizations. According to Yakubovsky, to solve the problem, it is worth simplifying the issuance of subsidies for housing and communal services, which debtors cannot receive.

At the same time, there are debts for housing and communal services that can and should be worked with, but there are those that can no longer be returned, says Susana Kirakosyan, chairman of the CCI subcommittee on business development in the field of residential real estate management. Citizens are increasingly using personal bankruptcy to write off all debt on loans and housing and communal services, she said.^[2]

2021: Debts for the consumption of fuel and energy resources in Russia reached 1.4 trillion rubles

According to the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Public Utilities, in the second half of 2021, debts for the consumption of fuel and energy resources in Russia amounted to 1.4 trillion rubles. Of these, 901 billion belong directly to users of housing and communal services - the population.

2020: Collection of payments for housing and communal services in Russia fell by 30% over the month

In March 2020, the collection of payments for housing and communal services decreased sharply due to the self-isolation regime, the Minister of Construction  and Housing and Communal Services  Yakushev said on April 23 on the  air of the RBC TV channel.

People are in self-isolation and cut off from services with which you can pay for housing and communal services. We observe today that there has been a drop in collection of payments - for the population we fell by about  30%, according to today's statistics. As for enterprises, including budgetary institutions, there is an even greater drop - 45-50%, - said Yakushev.

Russians due to self-isolation began to pay less for housing and communal services

According to him , in order to prevent serious negative consequences, the Ministry of Construction is preparing an anti-crisis plan in the housing and communal services sector. In particular, the costs of disinfection of entrances should be reimbursed from the budget.

Additional security measures that are carried out in apartment buildings are not taken into account in tariffs, so these are in any case shortfalls in income that must be reimbursed from the budget, "Yakushev emphasized.

The minister expressed the hope that the shortcoming that occurred is connected precisely with the self-isolation regime. Although, predicting forward, there will be no such level of collection that was before the self-isolation regime and problems with the coronavirus, it will be slightly less, he said.

According to the Ministry of Construction, the total debt in housing and communal services at the beginning of 2020 amounted to 1.3 trillion rubles.

In early April 2020, operators of private water utilities in a letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin predicted a drop in the collection of utility bills. Operators noted that this could lead to an increase in the number of accidents, since they will not have money to finance investment programs to repair networks. The expected increase in non-payment of water utility operators was associated not so much with the impossibility of paying for the service in cash, but with the cancellation of penalties for non-payment of utilities.^[3]

2019: Debts for housing and communal services exceeded 1 trillion rubles

According to the results of the first quarter of 2019, the debts of Russians for housing and communal services (housing and communal services) amounted to 564.5 billion rubles.

Compared to the same period last year, the debt increased by 28.7 billion rubles.

Separately, the ministry calculated the amount of debt owed to industrial consumers. Their debt for housing and communal services amounted to 530.2 billion rubles. Thus, in total, citizens and industrial consumers owed more than a trillion rubles.

According to the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBCH), the average amount of debt for housing and communal services, which is collected through the court, is 43 thousand rubles.

2017

In 2017, the number of malicious defaulters for utilities, information about which was transferred to the NBCH, increased 2.2 times. The debt of these citizens for housing and communal services as of January 1, 2018 amounted to about 1.3 billion rubles.

As of 01.01.2018, the number of malicious defaulters (who did not pay off the debt for housing and communal services by a court decision), information about which was transferred to the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBCH) by housing and communal services enterprises, reached 24.2 thousand people. Thus, compared to the beginning of 2017, the number of citizens whose information was transferred to the NBCH increased 2.2 times. As of 01.01.2018, the debt of these citizens for housing and communal services amounted to about 1.3 billion rubles, having increased by almost 2.2 times in 2017 (for 01.01.2017 years - about 600 million rubles). At the same time, the average amount of their debt is at the level of about 50 thousand rubles. In turn, the number of sources of information that constantly transmit data on defaulters to the NBCH has increased by 66.7% since the beginning of the year and reached 100 housing and communal services enterprises from 40 regions of the Russian Federation (Table 1).

In accordance with Federal Law No. 218 "On Credit Histories," since 2015, the credit histories of debtors for housing and communal services (housing and communal services) have recorded information about the fact of non-fulfillment of court decisions on the payment of utility bills within a 10-day period. At the same time, the transfer of data to the credit bureau is carried out by the enterprises themselves that provide housing and communal services to the population.

Credit history is, in fact, a document on the state of financial reputation and payment discipline of a citizen. Therefore, making a record of an unfulfilled court decision on payment for housing and communal services means an actual ban on receiving subsequent loans or a significant deterioration in their conditions (rates, terms, amounts, etc.). At the same time, any entries in credit histories are stored for 10 years. Thus, during this period of time, information about the debt of citizens for housing and communal services not repaid by a court decision will be available to all creditors - banks, microfinance organizations, pawnshops.

2016

Since 2016, about 80 housing and communal services enterprises from 35 regions of the Russian Federation have transferred information to the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBCH) about almost 20 thousand citizens who are malicious defaulters (who did not pay off the debt for housing and communal services by court decision) (Table 1). As of June 1, 2017, the debt of these citizens for housing and communal services amounted to about 1 billion rubles, and the average debt was at the level of 50 thousand rubles.

In accordance with Federal Law No. 218 "On Credit Histories," since 2015, the credit histories of debtors for housing and communal services (housing and communal services) have recorded information about the fact of non-fulfillment of court decisions on the payment of utility bills within a 10-day period. At the same time, the transfer of data to the credit bureau is carried out by the enterprises themselves that provide housing and communal services to the population.

Credit history is, in fact, a document on the state of financial reputation and payment discipline of a citizen. Therefore, making a record of an unfulfilled court decision on payment for housing and communal services means an actual ban on receiving subsequent loans or a significant deterioration in their conditions (rates, terms, amounts, etc.). At the same time, any entries in credit histories are stored for 10 years. Thus, during this period of time, information about the debt of citizens for housing and communal services not repaid by a court decision will be available to all creditors - banks, microfinance organizations, pawnshops.

2014

According to the estimates of the National Collection Service, in the third quarter of 2014, the amount of debt for housing and communal services in Russia amounted to 933 billion rubles. Since the beginning of the year, this figure has grown by 14% or 117 billion rubles.

In annual terms - since 01.10.2013 - the growth amounted to 19.7% or 153 billion rubles.

Since June 2014, debt growth has declined. In June - September, volume grew by 0.9% on average per month, which is a positive signal, since in previous months the growth rate never fell below 1.5%. Such a slowdown looks like a surprise, despite the traditional slowdown in debt growth at the end of the heating season. Also, payment discipline usually improves in preparation for the new winter. During this period, housing and communal services operators are quite active in reducing receivables, which makes it possible to collect part of the debts before the onset of cold weather.

Sergey Shpeter, Senior Vice President of the National Collection Service: "Assessing the growth dynamics of utility debt, we predict that by the end of 2014 the total amount of debt for resources and housing and communal services will not exceed 970 billion rubles. The debt of the population will be about 195 billion rubles. "

It must be borne in mind that not all housing and communal services debt is problematic. In the structure of communal debt, the share of debt with a missed payment period (more than 90 days) is about 50% (466.5 billion rubles). This amount includes overdue, claim and moratorium debts.

At the same time, current receivables (up to 90 days) are estimated at 35% (326.5 billion rubles). The remaining share of 15% (140 billion rubles) falls on restructured debt.

Debt of the population.

The total debt of the population amounted to 193 billion rubles. Since the beginning of 2014, this indicator has grown by 13% or 22 billion rubles (from 171 billion rubles as of 01.01.2014).

The indicator of household debt is 3,574 rubles. Since the beginning of 2014, this indicator has increased by 440 rubles (from 3134 rubles as of 01.01.2014). The highest indicators are demonstrated by the regions of the Ural (6383 rubles), North-West (3818 rubles), as well as, traditionally, the North Caucasus Federal District, where the amount of communal debt per household is the highest in the country - 6,800 rubles.

The reasons for leadership in debt indicators of the Urals and the North-West are climatic and migratory in nature. This is due to the presence in the districts of the regions of the Far North with a high duration of the heating season and large utility costs. In addition, a huge amount of overdue debt hangs on virtually "dead" settlements that functioned in the zones of production of useful, minerals but are now empty. As for the North Caucasus Federal District, in this case, the established low level of payment discipline plays a role, as well as the migration factor, when the responsible landlord is absent for a long time due to labor migration, which allows debt to accumulate in significant volumes.

Telecommunications debt

Шаблон:Main 'Telecommunications debt

Recourse and Subregulation Indebtedness in Russia

Шаблон:Main 'Recourse and Subregulation Indebtedness in Russia

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