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- Secrets on materials: authorities will oblige the Criminal Code to report to residents according to a single standard
Secrets on materials: authorities will oblige the Criminal Code to report to residents according to a single standard
Management companies and HOAs will be forced to explain to residents what makes up the prices of their utilities. The Ministry of Construction has developed a detailed report form for the Management Company. This became possible after the amendments to the Housing Code were adopted in June, but the procedure did not work without an appropriate order. Starting in 2026, the Criminal Code will have to disclose income from the use of common property, payment of lawsuits, etc. The department believes that this will make the work of the Criminal Code and HOA more transparent and eliminate abuse. Experts note that residents will have more tools to contact the supervisory authorities or to initiate a change of the Criminal Code. What are the main financial abuses of the management — in the material of "Izvestia".
How will the Management company report to the tenants
Management companies will be required to disclose to residents how the funds collected from them are spent, including what amounts come from renting communal property, what purposes this money is used for and whether it affects the amount of housing and communal services fees. These requirements are planned to be consolidated in a new reporting form prepared by the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation.
The draft order stipulates that the annual report of the Management Committee should include detailed information on the work carried out to repair the common property of an apartment building, the structure of income and expenses, the cost of materials used, the remaining funds for future work, as well as measures to improve the energy efficiency of buildings.
But most importantly, the order of the Ministry of Construction requires the Criminal Code to indicate at what price they purchase communal resources for apartment buildings and at what cost they are then provided to tenants. Reports must be published during the first quarter of each year. The agency believes that such transparency will allow owners to more effectively monitor possible abuses by the Criminal Code and make their activities more open. Similar reporting requirements apply to homeowners' associations (HOAs).
The Ministry of Construction told Izvestia that the requirement for the Management Company, HOA and housing cooperatives to report for the work done was fixed in the Housing Code in June 2025. But there was still no established list of information and no form of reports. The agency has now developed and is approving this procedure.
The obligation of the Management Company to submit reports to owners and post them in the state GIS housing and communal services information system is attributed to licensing requirements. Its introduction is aimed at increasing the transparency of MCD management, the ministry's press service said.
— The legislation requires the Criminal Code to report on its activities, but there was no exact form for the report, — Svetlana Razvorotneva, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, told Izvestia. — The lack of detail allows the Criminal Code to manipulate figures, which creates distrust.
Tenants pay on receipts, but it's difficult to find out what kind of work has been done and where the money really went. HOAs and housing cooperatives (HBC) did not report to the owners at all, but only to the boards, the deputy noted.
— The opacity of the work of the Criminal Code concerns everyone, as it generates abuses that affect the amounts in receipts, — Pavel Sklyanchuk, an expert of the Popular Front in the housing and communal services sector, told Izvestia. — Housing and communal services organizations supply resources (gas, water, heat, electricity, sanitation, etc.) according to the standard for residential buildings, and the Management Company is responsible for providing them to apartments. They take money from the tenants. It happens that more funds are collected than the house actually consumes.
In addition, there is an unaccounted-for expense that is charged to the tenants. For example, a store, car wash, or other consumer may appear in the basement. If you reveal how much money goes for the com resource and the amount of tenants' fees, then a lot becomes clear in the work of the Criminal Code, the expert notes.
According to him, the main abuse of the Criminal Code is the discrepancy between the funds raised and spent. Many criminal management companies work in earnest and keep closed accounting records, which they consider a trade secret and are in no hurry to show to citizens, the expert believes.
For example, management companies independently determine how much money collected from residents should be spent on elevator repairs and maintenance, Yulia Bessmertnaya, General director of the Elevator Summit expert platform for the development of the elevator industry, told Izvestia. Unfortunately, the current legislative situation also contributes to this. There are no clear rules on the number of staff and their qualifications for these purposes. As a result, management companies save money and conclude contracts with legal entities and sole proprietors at a minimum cost, which leads to a lack of proper maintenance of elevators, the expert notes.
Experts and deputies interviewed by Izvestia are confident that the new procedure and disclosure of details in the work of the Criminal Code will help improve the situation with the appropriate activity of homeowners.
"If discrepancies are found in the reports, residents can initiate an inspection through the state housing supervision," Sergei Pakhomov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, told Izvestia. — In addition, based on the information received, the owners always have the right to initiate a change of management company.
Is it possible to make the work of the Management Company transparent
According to Sergey Pakhomov, the current situation, in which the approved report form did not exist, plays into the hands of unscrupulous companies.
— The establishment of a mandatory list of information, including the cost of work, cost overruns, rental income and debts, will make financial flows and the work of the Criminal Code open and accessible to each owner, — the deputy believes. — This will allow residents to objectively assess the activities of the Criminal Code and identify violations in a timely manner.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Code will also be preparing for changes in legislation. According to Kirill Chirkin, the manager of HBC Glavmosstroyevets, unscrupulous management companies will learn how to make confusing reports, so it will be difficult for untrained people to figure them out. For example, the chief engineer and the planning and economic department can draw up documents in such a way that it will be extremely difficult to detect discrepancies, a market participant believes. Doubts about the integrity of the Criminal Code will have to be proved, otherwise the owners risk looking like plain complainers in the eyes of neighbors and the housing inspectorate.
According to Pavel Sklyanchuk, housing inspections do not actively involve the Criminal Code for minor miscalculations and react mainly to gross violations, for example, not preparing the house for winter or falsifying minutes of general meetings.
— With a large number of inconsistencies identified, residents should think about creating a HOA and introducing self—government in their home, - Kirill Chirkin believes.
— The success of control over the management company depends on related factors, for example, on uniform standards for determining the quality of work of management companies, which colleagues from the government are also working on, — said Sergey Pakhomov. — Also, as part of the development of control and supervisory activities, it is planned to return real powers to housing inspection inspectors, freeing them from unnecessary paperwork, which should increase the effectiveness of inspections.
The scheme of detailed and detailed reports will make the Management Company more responsible for its work, Svetlana Razvorotneva believes. But this will require increased ownership responsibility. They will have to learn how to estimate the amount of expenses and, based on them, possibly make unpopular decisions about increasing the tariff, about work to improve the energy efficiency of the house, etc.
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