Kirill Reznik, lawyer of the legal service “Unified Defense Center (edin.center), answers:
The new owner of the apartment is not obliged to pay the debts of the previous owners, since the debt for housing and communal services is registered with the person, and not with the apartment.
To solve this problem, first try to negotiate with the previous owner of the apartment. Perhaps he will meet you halfway and pay off the debt himself. If this option does not work, then you need to take an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, which will indicate the date of transfer of ownership to your grandson, and then write an application addressed to the head of the management company servicing the house. In the application, you need to explain the situation and demand that the necessary changes be made to the personal account so that the debt no longer belongs to your grandson. Also be sure to make a reference to Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation. This application must be sent by registered mail with notification so that all “traces” of its sending remain. If there is no response from the Criminal Code, we contact Rospotrebnadzor, the State Housing Inspectorate or the prosecutor's office.
Should I pay the receipts for the previous owner of the apartment?
Should I pay off debts for major repairs from previous owners of the apartment?
What does the law say about buying an apartment with utility debts?
Buying an apartment with debts on utility bills is unpleasant, but not as scary as it might seem at first glance. The main thing is that the law in this case is on the side of the new owner.
To verify this, just look at Article No. 153 of the RF Housing Code. It clearly states that a person becomes obligated to pay for anything only from the moment he acquires ownership of the residential premises.
To understand exactly when this property right arises, you need to look at Article No. 8 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. From the information in it it becomes clear: it appears only after registration in the Unified State Register.
However, there is still one point in the legislation in which the interests of the new owner are not protected in any way. It concerns bills for major repairs, which must be paid monthly.
Debts for this service, unfortunately, are transferred to the new owner, so the new tenant will still have to pay the debt for major repairs, unless, of course, the previous owner refuses to do this.
From the video you will find out whether utility bills are transferred to the new owner:
Important! An exception in this case is the purchase of an apartment that was previously owned by the state, constituent entities of the Russian Federation or municipal institutions. If there is a debt for major repairs, in this case it must be repaid by the previous owner.
Legal General Director Alexandra Brodelshchikova answers:
In your situation, apparently, the debt was calculated based on the obligations of the previous owner.
You need to write a written claim to the management company, which must consistently state the change of owner of the apartment and the absence of any debt from the current owner. Be sure to attach documents to the claim: a housing purchase and sale agreement, an acceptance certificate, documents confirming payment, an extract from Rosreestr and others.
If the management company continues to send receipts with the debt of the previous owner, then you can complain to the state housing supervision authorities.
The need to change your personal account
It should be noted that there are no articles in the legislation of the Russian Federation that would force a change of personal account. Therefore, leaving it unchanged will not be considered a violation .
In addition, this combination of numbers belongs to the apartment that became the property of the new owner. The legal address and characteristics remain the same, which means that nothing needs to be changed. But in some cases, claims arise from the management company, and payment of utilities when the owner changes still forces the account to be reissued .
Thus, it is better to carry out this procedure so that payment for real estate is made in accordance with all the rules and regulations of the company.
The sequence of re-registration of a utility personal account after purchasing a home
When purchasing real estate, it is very important to make sure that there is no debt for utilities. An extract by financial number will help with this. It shows what payments were made, when and for what amount.
Immediately after purchasing a home, the new owner needs to re-register the personal account of the property.
If real estate is purchased as shared ownership, then each owner must submit an application separately.
The personal account itself is a repository of information about the home, owners, payment history for housing and communal services and standards for the use of electricity, water, gas, etc. This accounting is carried out by the management company. She also re-registers it in the event of a change of owner of the property.
Algorithm of actions
According to Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the new owner of the home has the opportunity to rewrite the personal account immediately after registration of documents on ownership. To do this, you should obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate.
Immediately after completing the documents, you must contact the ERCC. This organization requires a report on the debt to the old owner.
After receiving all the necessary documents, the re-registration of the personal account begins. The algorithm for this action consists of the following stages:
- Submitting an application to the ERCC to transfer the account to a new owner.
- Visit to the management company to renegotiate the agreement for the supply of services.
- Re-registration of documents.
- Solving problems with installation/repair/refurbishment of meters. If the 3-year warranty period for measuring instruments has expired, service provider companies must provide specialists to test the operation of the equipment.
- The HOA and the management company review the submitted documents. If the papers are in order, then the personal account is re-registered.
The entire process of considering an application to the HOA and management company takes from 3 to 5 days.
Required documents
Along with the application on behalf of the new owner, a package of documents must also be submitted to re-register a personal account.
These papers should contain information:
- About the total area of the apartment, number of rooms, floor.
- About the house itself.
- About comfort: the presence of centralized heating, hot and cold water supply, garbage chute, elevator, etc.
- About the number of people living. Only registered persons are counted.
- About available subsidies and benefits for paying for housing and communal services.
- About the availability of gas, electricity, water meters.
The documents must also indicate the exact address of the home.
All necessary data can be obtained from the technical passport of the apartment.
In addition to the technical passport of the apartment, the following documents will be needed to re-register utility expenses for the new owner:
- Application to the HOA or management company.
- Passport and its copy.
- Permissions from owners in case of purchasing real estate in shared ownership.
- Documents for the owner's rights.
- Donation agreement.
- Contract of sale.
In some cases, they may additionally require a BTI plan, cadastral documents and a copy of the personal account.
To quickly transfer utility costs to the new owner, it is recommended to check the list of required documents with an authorized organization.
The application itself is written in free form, if there is no established form of the document.
Where to contact
When changing your personal account, you need to determine the structure that manages the house. This is what you turn to when submitting an application. This could be a management company or a homeowners association.
You can find out information about the management structure at the stands, which should be located near each entrance, or from the former owners of the property. By law, this information must be in the public domain, which means it can be easily found.
However, it is worth understanding that there are services that are not paid for through the HOA or management company.
In this case, we are talking about direct contracts between service providers and property owners. Typically these are contracts for the provision of television, Internet, communications or intercom services.
To re-register a personal account in this case, you need to provide a similar package of documents directly to the service provider organization.
Is it possible to re-register a personal account through the MFC?
Each district multifunctional center has its own specific list of services provided. This may include paying utility bills, providing an extract from the house register, and maintaining accounting cards.
However, it is impossible to re-register a personal account using the MFC.
The reason for this is the lack of information about utility bills in the unified state register. All data is stored directly with the companies providing the services. However, according to Law 153 of 2006, this information is classified as personal data and is subject to state protection.
As a result, the MFC can use data from the personal account, but not change it.
Debt when buying a home: are debts on utility bills transferred to the new owner?
According to the requirements of the Housing Legislation, each owner of a residential premises bears the burden of maintaining the property, paying utility bills and contributions for the maintenance of the residential premises. When selling real estate, debts often remain with the previous owner, which become the buyer's burden. In what cases are debts transferred to the new owner, and how to correctly transfer the debt in accordance with the law?
This is important to know: How to evict your ex-wife from an apartment
What to do if the apartment has debts from the previous owner?
- Immediately inform the management company about the change of owner of the apartment.
As soon as possible after registering the transaction with Rosreestr and receiving a certificate of ownership of the apartment, go to an appointment with your management company or the chairman of the HOA. Bring a copy of the certificate of ownership or an extract from the Unified State Register for the apartment, as well as a copy of the apartment acceptance certificate with meter readings and ask to change the information in your personal account. Now all bills for housing and communal services should be issued in your name, and without other people's debts. - Write a complaint to the management company. If the employees of the management company insist that you should cover the debts of the previous owner of the apartment, first politely describe the situation to them and refer to the legislation (Article 153 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation). In many cases, a competent conversation helps to remove all complaints. Couldn't you reach an agreement? Submit a written application addressed to the director of the management company or the chairman of the HOA. In this statement, in any form, again describe the whole situation, quote the law, and attach copies of documents for the apartment. Print the application in 2 copies so that the management company signs for its receipt on your copy.
- File a complaint with the housing inspector. This government body monitors the correctness of payment for utility services. If the management company unreasonably includes other people's debts in the receipt, this is a violation. The Housing Inspectorate can verify the correctness of charges for utility services and issue an order to the Criminal Code to recalculate.
- Write a complaint to a real estate agent. If a realtor handled the purchase and sale of an apartment for you, we recommend filing a claim with him due to poor quality of services. According to Article 29 of the Russian Federation Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights,” you can, for example, ask to return part of the cost for the poor work of a realtor who poorly checked the legal purity of the transaction.
Problem solving options
When buying a new apartment, it is important to remember the primary task - recording meter readings and reflecting them in the acceptance certificate of the residential property. Such recording will allow you to avoid litigation, since you will have all the information on hand confirming the start of service in the management company from a certain moment.
The most common way to obtain information about the status of the rent account is to request it from the seller. However, it’s no secret that these days you can get any certificate illegally, including from the HOA about the absence of debt
. As a result, after the transaction is completed, the new owner receives notifications with huge amounts of debts for housing and communal services.
If this happens, there is also a way out. Firstly, it is possible to apply to the housing department to write off the debt, since it was not created by the new owner
. Secondly, file a lawsuit for falsification of a document - a certificate and receive compensation for moral damage.
You should start by notifying the management company about the change of owner and requesting to open a new personal account for service. Along with the application, it is necessary to attach documents confirming the position of the new owner: a purchase and sale transaction agreement, a transfer deed with meter readings, etc.
If the Criminal Code refuses to formalize the relationship, you should go to court for help. In such a situation, the new owner will be justified
. Despite the fact that you will have to make some efforts, incur time and financial costs, there is no other way out.
Attention! When checking the accounts of the old owner, close attention should be paid to the presence/absence of debts on contributions for major repairs. By law, they become the responsibilities of the new owner of the home.
So, purchasing real estate with rent arrears does not pose any particular danger to the buyer. Difficulties can only arise with the management company if it decides of its own free will to demand payment from the new owner
. But she has no legal grounds for such actions. The only exception is debt on contributions for major repairs.
To avoid problems, before making a transaction, it is important to check the actual status of the rent account and document the meter readings at the time of concluding the contract. If an agreement is reached, the obligation to close the debt can be assigned to either party: both the seller and the buyer.
Purchasing a home requires proper execution of papers confirming the transaction. Remember, the debt for the apartment from the previous owner darkens the life of the new owner - after all, utility services insist on full repayment of this amount.
Let’s find out how legal such “inheritance” becomes and whether the buyer will have to pay off old overdue obligations.
