Flooding of the apartment is an unpleasant event for each owner of the premises. The culprit is most often the tenants of the apartment, located on the floor above. Also, the cause of flooding is often an accident or poor-quality condition of utilities. Therefore, funds are collected from the Criminal Code, with which the contract is drawn up by the tenants.
In order to receive reimbursement, without fail, immediately after revealing the flooding, an act of inspection of the apartment is made. This document is formed with the participation of a special commission. It brings basic information about the incident.
How to fix the fact of flooding the apartment?
Each owner of the apartment experiences stress during the destruction of decoration and furniture, therefore, he often begins to deal with the residents of another apartment using aggressive methods. To really get a refund in a legitimate way, you need to control yourself. Therefore, immediately after the identification of flooding, the following actions are performed:
- determine where water enters the living quarters;
- call the emergency service;
- make a call to the Criminal Code, and when communicating with company representatives, one must demand that the apartment be visited by an organization employee to draw up an apartment inspection certificate.
Often, neighbors agree to voluntarily compensate for damage if they themselves are responsible for flooding. In this case, the calculation of compensation is based on the information available in the inspection certificate of the apartment.
Flooding usually leads to the destruction of finishing materials, and often interior items, so with the help of such an act you can fix all the damage.
The purpose of the document
The act of inspection of an apartment after flooding of housing is compulsory. With its help, several tasks are solved at once:
- record the direct fact of water entering the living quarters from neighbors or from the water supply system;
- identify the culprit of the incident;
- assess the damage caused, which must be compensated by the culprit.
This document is the main evidence when applying to the court if the neighbors or the Criminal Code refuse to voluntarily compensate for the damage. Using the information contained in the document, the judge will be able to determine how objective the claims are.
When is the act drawn up
The fact of the gulf of a dwelling must be confirmed as quickly as possible in the relevant authorities. Therefore, immediately after making a call to the emergency service, you must contact the management organization responsible for the house.
After detection of flooding should not pass more than 12 hours. But often flooding occurs at a time when there are no people in the apartment. In this case, you must contact the Criminal Code immediately after the flood is detected.
Who should participate?
The act of inspection of the apartment after the bay should be drawn up by a direct employee of the Criminal Code. During this process, the following persons must be present in the living room:
- representative of the management company;
- the direct owner of the dwelling, who applied to the Criminal Code for drawing up the act;
- tenants of the apartment located on top, as they must make sure that no fault is passed on to them if the flooding is associated with an accident or poor condition of engineering systems;
- a plumber who can assess why a leak has formed;
- master of the repair department of the Criminal Code.
All persons present during the preparation of the act are signed in this document. If there is no signature of at least one of them, then this is the basis for invalidating the act.
The owner of the dwelling acts only as an observer, therefore, he does not have the right to enter any information into the document. This is due to bias on his part.
What actions are carried out by members of the commission
In order to draw up a truly up-to-date document, it is recommended that members of the commission use a special model for the inspection of the apartment's bay. Citizens at the same time perform the following actions:
- describe all the damage that has occurred in the living room due to contact with water;
- prescribe the cause of flooding;
- all entered information is confirmed by the signatures of the commission members.
If the culprit is the owner of the apartment, located a floor above, then he is invited to draw up an act. He can verify the correctness of entering information into the document.
Invitation neighbors
In addition, it is recommended to invite other neighbors so that they can confirm this or that information if you have to go to court for damages.
If neighbors are present in the process of drawing up the inspection certificate for the apartment, then their passport data and registration addresses are entered in the document.
Often the culprit is not a private individual, but a direct management company. In this case, you need to invite as many witnesses as possible, which will increase the likelihood of a win in the trial.
What information is entered?
When drawing up an act of inspection of an apartment, the following data must be entered:
- date of preparation of the document;
- address of the room in which flooding occurred;
- information on all members of the commission provided by the name, position and data from the passports;
- a listing of all damages identified in the apartment that relate to finishing materials, household appliances or interior items;
- the owner of the room can help with the description, since he knows exactly what objects were damaged as a result of interaction with water;
- it is indicated who is the culprit of the incident, and he can be not only a neighbor living on a floor above, but also a management company;
- a footnote is left related to possible hidden damage, since in the process of drawing up an act there is a possibility that various breakdowns and problems are not identified, for example, mold or swelling of the laminate may form in the future;
- signatures of the parties are put at the end.
The owner of the apartment must make sure that truly reliable and relevant data is entered, which will allow recovering the necessary amount of funds from the culprit.
If there are errors, then in court such a document is easily recognized as invalid. Therefore, the owner of the property will have to restore the appearance of the living space at his own expense. In addition to the correctly drawn up act, different photographs or even a video are attached.
A sample act of inspection of an apartment during flooding can be studied below.
What to do when errors are detected
Often various errors are identified in the act of inspection of the apartment. The bay can bring really significant damage to the living quarters, but various errors can become the basis for the refusal of the culprit to pay compensation.
Sometimes the employees of the Criminal Code who are present during the preparation of this document intentionally make mistakes so as not to pay compensation to the owner of the apartment.
If errors are found, a complaint is drawn up in the Criminal Code with the requirement to eliminate the violations. If the requirement is not satisfied, then a complaint is formed to the prosecutor's office, Rospotrebnadzor or the housing inspectorate.
When to contact an independent appraiser
Initially, the owner of the apartment should try to resolve the conflict in a peaceful way.To do this, he prepares a pre-trial claim, sent to the place of residence of the neighbor or to the Criminal Code, if the cause of flooding is an accident in the communication networks.
If the culprit refuses to voluntarily cover the damage, you will have to apply for compulsory collection in court. For this, the homeowner receives a special opinion in advance drawn up by an independent appraiser. The procedure should be performed within one month after flooding.
The received report lists all identified violations and damage. Additionally, an assessment of this damage is given, which allows to determine how much money is required for repairs.
Litigation procedure
In order to forcibly recover funds from the culprit of the flooding, you will have to go to court if compensation is not paid in a peaceful manner. For this, the following documentation is transferred to the court at the location of the property:
- sample inspection certificate of the apartment after the bay;
- statement of claim;
- report drawn up by an independent expert;
- title documents for real estate;
- written testimonies of witnesses;
- photographs of residential premises after exposure to housing of large quantities of water;
- videos made immediately after flooding.
Particular attention should be paid to the preparation of the statement of claim.
How to make a lawsuit?
The following data shall be entered in the statement of claim:
- name of court;
- flooding date of the apartment;
- information about the owner of the premises;
- information about the culprit identified immediately upon drawing up the act;
- a list of all damage that occurred after flooding;
- information that the landlord tried to resolve the issue in a peaceful way, for which he sent the perpetrator a pretrial claim;
- list of all documents attached to the claim;
- indicate claims submitted by the need to collect compensation from the perpetrator for repair.
Based on the documentation received, the date of the hearing is set. It examines all documents and evidence, and also listens to the opinion of each participant in the process. After that, the judge makes a decision, and if there is a correctly drawn up act, then the claims are almost always satisfied.
Conclusion
Flooding of an apartment is considered an unpleasant event in the life of each property owner, since the impact of water leads to a significant deterioration in the appearance of residential premises. Therefore, immediately after such an event, an act of flooding is drawn up, which serves as evidence of damage caused by housing.
The act is used to recover funds from the culprit voluntarily or forcibly. It is the main evidence in court, so it is important to responsibly approach its drafting.