Nobody likes to save debts, especially when it comes to paying utility bills. Such a debt can bring a lot of trouble to a person. First of all, any, even the best credit history will be spoiled, and problems will arise when communicating with banking institutions. But the most unpleasant thing is that too much “communal” debt can completely deprive you of housing.
Everyone knows that debt collection Housing and communal services is an unpleasant procedure, but the situation may develop in such a way that the state has to “borrow”. The reasons for this may be different: they delayed their salaries, lost a receipt, forgot to pay on time or had to leave on a long business trip, but you never know ... But debt is slowly growing.
As you already understood, payment of housing and communal services debt is a mandatory procedure. You can find out the amount of debt, and often make payments in various ways. Let's see which ones.
We go to the housing office
Appeals to the Housing Office or the management company is the most obvious, but least popular step. The fact is that, deciding to use this method, you should stock up on a lot of free time. First you need to get to the housing office. Well, if it is in close proximity to the house, and if not? In addition, you will have to stand a long queue, which mainly consists of citizens who are not aware of other ways to find out their debts, or simply bored pensioners who use every opportunity to talk and scandal.
The prospect described above didn’t scare you? Then go ahead! To begin with, it is worth taking an interest in the ZhEK work schedule. You can do this by calling the phone number indicated on the receipt, or by using the information desk. Do not forget to bring your passport and the latest receipt of payment - you may need to verify some data.
When choosing this option, remember: in order to receive receipts not only for rent, but also for electricity, water, gas and telephone, you will have to contact each of these organizations separately.
By phone
You can try to use another way to find out your debts on housing and communal services - just call. As you already understood, you need to call in the DEZ, ZhEK or the Unified Settlement Center - all phones are indicated in the text of the receipts for payment. You can also try calling the unified hotline of the IS IP; you can find the phone number in the information center.
Information, in theory, you must provide, however, to get through all these numbers can be very problematic, and sometimes even impossible. In addition, there is a possibility of "running into" some unfriendly employee who simply does not want to communicate with you and bother looking for the information you need.
By the address
Are you not ready to spend so much time and effort? Not a problem, there are tons of other, faster ways.
If you live in Moscow and know how to use the Internet, then try to find out the housing and communal services debt at the address of residence. To do this, visit the site gu-is.ru, which belongs to the coordination center of the IS IP. On this portal you can find out debts to all Moscow addresses and even use a special calculator.
It's simple: open the calculator and enter the necessary parameters there:
- exact address, floor;
- calculation period;
- living area;
- the number of persons registered at this address;
- type of rental housing;
- type of improvement;
- ownership of the dwelling.
For the convenience of users and the maximum accuracy of the calculation, you must also indicate which services you pay on the basis of meter readings, and which - at the rate of the number of residents. Based on the entered data, you will be issued a receipt for payment.
If only the account number is known
You can find out debt on housing and communal services in another way, for this you need to know only the personal account number. Today, many banking institutions provide utility payment services. The queue in the bank is much smaller than in the housing office, and there are much more branches. In order to find out the amount payable, simply submit your old receipt to the window. The on-site operator will check the amount of debt and offer to pay off the required amount.
Internet will help here
Another great way to find out and pay your debts for housing services is the peney.net service. In order to use this option, you need to register on the site and enter the “My Account”. Now you need to go to the section "Debt of housing and communal services" and enter in the appropriate window the number of EIRTs (EPD). After a while, you will see full information on your personal account.
Another website, gosuslugi.ru, also works in the same way. After going through a simple registration process, here you can get a single payment document indicating the amount of all debt.
There are so many similar services. By the way, each more or less large bank has its own Internet banking system, which allows you to make a variety of payments and receive information about the status of all your accounts, without even leaving home. In addition, many financial institutions offer the “Payment Calendar” service, which means that you can instruct the bank to withdraw a certain amount from your account a certain day each month and pay a “communal” instead of you. Having given the bank a similar task, you can be sure that you have not forgotten to pay for the apartment.
Need an ATM
If you know how to use all the functions of an ATM, it’s even easier to find out the amount of debt, and you don’t have to queue at all. Insert the card into the slot of the ATM, go to the appropriate section "Payment of Housing and Utilities Services" and enter the number of the personal account. Now in the list of services that opens, go to the desired section: "Water Supply", "Gas", "Electricity" and so on. The ATM itself will check the amount of debt and provide the necessary information. You can immediately pay debts for housing and communal services using a bank card.
As you can see, this method has a lot of advantages, but there is one drawback - such services do not provide information about the foam accrued on the amount of debt, and this point can be very important.
We confirm the absence of debts
Sometimes it happens that a person needs confirmation that he has no debts for housing and communal services. In this case, you still have to visit the management company or the housing office. You will need:
- passport;
- receipts confirming payment of the "communal";
- documents for housing;
- inspection reports of metering devices (meters).
Of course, most often it happens that if there are no debts, then a certificate will be issued to you only on the basis of the passport and personal account number.
What threatens debtors
Untimely payment of utilities, especially on a large scale, can lead to rather unpleasant consequences:
- Accrual of interest. In connection with the refinancing of the interest rate in 2016, the procedure for charging interest for late “communal” payments has changed significantly. Now, for every full thousand debts, 28 kopecks is “dripping” daily. The amount, at first glance, is small, but if you do not pay the debt for housing and communal services for a long time, the court is guaranteed to you.
- Shutdown. If you have not paid utility bills for more than 3 months, you may be turned off by electricity, gas or water. Moreover, your consent is not required for this - the provision of the service is suspended unilaterally. You will simply receive a written warning in the mail.
- Inventory of property. If the debt is not repaid within six months, the municipal service has the right to apply to the court with a claim for the recovery of arrears. In 99% of cases, the claim will be satisfied, and if there is no money to pay the debt, the executive service has the right to describe all your valuable property: a TV, computer, car and even an apartment.
- Eviction. As you already understood, an apartment for housing and communal services debts is not a myth, but a very real prospect. True, you can be deprived of the right of ownership of housing only by a court decision and only if the debt exceeds 80% of the appraised value of the apartment.
What to do
From all that has been said, it is clear that housing and communal services debts can turn into a lot of trouble for the homeowner. And the longer the debtor delays the settlement moment, the more problems awaits him. Debt will grow steadily, and repaying it will be increasingly difficult.
But the situations are different, perhaps the debt was formed not due to forgetfulness, but due to serious reasons: a long illness, a forced business trip, and dismissal from work. What can a person do if there is no opportunity to pay off the debt right away? First of all, you should not hide and “give a damn” to the problem. 
To get started, you can visit a utility and write a statement on debt restructuring. So you can stop the accrual of interest, demonstrate your trustworthiness and desire to pay off the debt.
