For refusal, administrative liability will be provided
In Russia, they want to oblige residents to let representatives of management companies (MC) and resource supply organizations (RSO) into apartments to work with «smart» metering devices. Failure to do so may result in administrative liability. The Ministry of Construction has already applied to the government with the corresponding initiative. Experts believe that if the proposal receives a positive response, a surge in fraud is inevitable in the country. But this is not the only unfortunate consequence. Having let public utilities into your home, there is a risk of getting not only a new meter, but “at the same time” acts of illegal redevelopment or a fine for littering the balcony.
According to the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Utilities, citizens may be required to let in public utilities to install new heat and water meters. In the event of a repeated refusal to let a housing and communal services employee home to install a “smart” metering device, the tenant will be subject to administrative liability — fines, the amount of which has not yet been specified.
Note that the owner is now obliged to provide access to his home, but not at the first whim of public utilities. So, for example, every year, in preparation for the season of house operation, every citizen must let a representative of the managing organization into the apartment. If gas stoves are used in the house, the consumer must also open the door to a representative of the gas service to check the in-house metering devices and gas stoves, says Konstantin Krokhin, chairman of the Housing Union, member of the housing and communal services committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, before conducting an inspection, the services are obliged to warn the citizen in advance of their visit by sending a mail notification or a message from the dispatch service, by telephone message.
Meanwhile, consumers themselves sometimes abuse their right of ownership and do not provide access to housing. True, the tenants have good reasons for this. Under the pretext of installing or checking a «smart» meter, deceivers can enter apartments, bill the owners for several thousand rubles and disappear. Or even worse — criminals who can rob or cause harm to health. Let us recall, for example, one of the first Soviet serial killers. Mosgaz became his popular nickname among the people, since the man entered apartments, introducing himself as an employee of this particular service.
There is another reason why consumers are reluctant to let housing and communal services workers into their homes. Employees of management companies very often use tricks, for example, they say that you are drowning your neighbors, and as soon as the door opens, they hand a notice into the hands of a gullible tenant, such as “pay a fine for illegal redevelopment.”
And, indeed, under the guise of a plumber who needs to carry out maintenance work, anyone can enter the apartment for anything. If you oblige the population to open their doors to everyone and everyone, will arbitrariness begin?
The main problem of non-admission, firstly, is related to the fact that the apartment may have illegal redevelopment, which residents do not want to know housing, says an expert of the Popular Front, a member of the Public Council of the federal project «School of a Literate Consumer» Pavel Sklyanchuk.
In his opinion, first of all, it is necessary to provide for the specialist to enter the apartment only to check and replace the meters, and not to draw up “at the same time” acts of redevelopment.
“Secondly, there is a small percentage of owners who offended by the housing and communal services system and boycott it. Thirdly, often people are really afraid of scammers or they do not have time to deal with domestic issues. Fourthly, there are many empty apartments in which no one lives. Today, admission is provided in court, in the presence of bailiffs, or rescue services, if a fire or flood has started, the source of MK continues. — To combat marginalized groups, fines will definitely not help, but will only aggravate the situation with debts for housing and communal services. In addition, today building managers and public utilities do not always communicate politely with consumers, and even more so fines will untie their hands.”
Sklyanchuk emphasized that replacing a meter is a service, so the installation of intelligent systems, including by transferring appliances to the property of public utilities, should increase comfort for residents, and not limit their constitutional right to the inviolability of their homes.