The roof is moving, there is a queue. What to do?

Author: photo from the Ministry of Emergency Situations Photo taken immediately after the roof collapse

On February 23, the roof collapsed in a house at 101A Sibirskaya Street. The house is 57 years old. According to residents, since its construction the roof has been repaired only once, in 1984. After the old one collapsed. Recently, residents who have been seeking major roof repairs for several years received an answer. Department Housing and communal services and state housing supervision of the Tomsk region notified that “a major repair of the roof of the specified apartment building is planned in the period 2041-2043.”

What else needs to happen to the roof for it to be repaired not 80 years after construction, but earlier? After all, after two collapses, it seems obvious that it would be better not to patch the roof, but to overhaul it.

Why are we collecting money all over the world for major repairs, if we don’t spend it on such emergency and obvious cases?

Let's try to figure it out.

Author: photo of the Ministry of Emergency Situations

February 23, 2017. Early in the morning, a partial roof collapse occurs in the house. According to residents, the old slate could not withstand the weight of the accumulated snow. Due to the collapse, the upper distribution of heating pipes breaks and hot water flows into the apartments. A rescue team arrives at the scene. Employees of the management company are clearing the roof of snow. Turn off the hot water and restore the heating. Residents of the affected apartments are counting the damage.

Author: Yulia Korneva

Today: the central collapsed part of the roof has been replaced with a metal covering. The old slate remains around the edges. That is, the consequences of the emergency situation seem to have been eliminated.

“We have repeatedly contacted Housing Management Company about repairing the roof and replacing the slate covering with metal, but they told us: there is no money,” says Larisa Zhuravleva. — In 2012, I personally submitted an application to the Soviet administration to repair the roof of at least my apartment. Then, with my own slate, several sheets were placed above my apartment for my money. Now we have tried to bring the management company to justice. But Evsyukov (director of the management company “Zhilishche” - editor’s note) was given only an administrative punishment. And we received an answer that to repair the roof, we should have received a collective application. And since it didn’t exist, it’s our own fault.”

This building has 12 apartments, all apartments are freehold. That is, the house is in fact completely the property of the residents. By analogy with a private house, residents really need to take the initiative into their own hands. That is, at a general meeting, decide that they need a major repair of the roof, instruct the management company to carry out an examination and transfer its results to the district administration to speed up the resolution of the issue. If this is not done, you may wait a long time for major repairs.

We are told that there are houses in even worse condition. That you need at least 2 million to repair the roof. Only the money we collect ourselves is used for short-term repairs. But there aren’t enough of them,” says Larisa Zhuravleva. — We have now written a statement to the Housing Management Company. The answer came that some “short-term repair” of our roof is planned for 2018-20. Nobody understands what it is. But from the regional Department of Housing and Communal Services they responded that a major repair of the roof is planned for the period 2041-43. Will we live to see this?

We turned to the Capital Repair Fund for clarification: on what principle is the queue for major repairs formed.

Nikolai Savotin, General Director of the Regional Capital Repair Fund of the Tomsk Region, tells the story.

How much money do we collect?

— The fund collects money and implements a 3-year short-term plan, which was approved by the housing and communal services department of the Tomsk region based on proposals from district administrations. When we trade orders for major repairs, part of the money is freed up, because at auction, as a rule, the price goes down. And then we make adjustments to this 3-year plan. Approximately 10 to 12 percent is released. This is tangible money. This year, 1 billion 36 million rubles will be spent on major repairs. About 700 million are collected annually. There is an airbag, it has changed since last year; previously it should have been 20 percent, but the legislator reduced it to 10 percent. Therefore, part of last year's pillow was transferred to this year. There are approximately 12 percent of non-payers on bills for major repairs.

Common boiler and special account.

Apartment buildings are divided into several types. There are houses that cannot be included in the regional overhaul program at all. These are the so-called houses of blocked development. This is when each apartment has its own exit to the street. That is, there is no entrance - common property.

There are houses that are less than five years old. And they also have the right not to pay for these five years until this period expires. But residents can decide at a meeting that they are already collecting money and it will accumulate on this house.

Money is accumulated either in a separate special account or in a common pot managed by a regional operator. A special account can be managed by either a regional operator or a homeowners association or management company. If this is a special account, but the money goes only to a specific house, which collects this money. Now there are more than 500 such houses with a special account in the region.

But a common boiler precisely implies a regional program. Where all the houses, each with their own problems, occupy certain places in the queue until 2046. Divided into periods of three years.

How to advance in line?

First option. We send information to municipalities about how much money has been released. We still have houses behind the 3-year short-term plan that are in the queue, and they are moving higher when adjusted. Residents of the house at Sibirskaya 101 A, if they want to carry out major roof repairs earlier, in order to be included in the short-term plan, several conditions must be met. They must prepare a package of documents so that the district administration can consider their home when adjusting these short-term plans. That is, residents must get together and make a decision. The management company should help in inspecting the house and collecting technical documentation.

Second option. In this house, plans for major renovations for 2023-25 ​​include heating and a water supply system. Residents can replace one repair with another. They are the first to have heating repairs, but now they need a roof. They may have a meeting and decide to replace one with the other. The overhaul fund doesn't care what to do first. But there must be an expert opinion. To draw up an expert opinion, you need to hire a specialized organization that is licensed to issue such opinions. The management company can hire such a company, but only by decision of the owners. Otherwise, there will be inappropriate spending of funds.

How the queue was formed.

This program was formed on the basis of two main criteria: the year of construction and information about the physical deterioration of the house - this is the service life of the building.

But there are two more criteria. 1. If the owners of their house have collected a sufficient amount of funds to carry out the necessary type of major repairs. They can ask us for this information, and if there is enough money, the residents send a certificate to their municipality and say, keep in mind that we have already collected the money to repair this roof ourselves. And the house moves up the line. 2. The technical condition of the house has changed. For example, something happened to the roof or the heating system collapsed. Residents call a meeting. Expertise. And if it says that urgent major repairs are needed, you can get from 2043 to 2017. If an emergency occurs, the administration may make a decision on repairs without including it in this 3-year short-term plan. But then we must receive such an order. Airbag money is spent on this. 65-70 percent of this airbag falls on the city of Tomsk. But we must not just make a new roof, but take measures sufficient to eliminate this emergency situation.

This is in theory. In life everything is even more complicated.

Residents say the roof collapsed because snow was not cleared from the roof in time.

The management company “Zhilishche” claims that snow was dumped, and more than once this winter. At the time of the collapse, they say, there was only 15 centimeters of snow on the roof. And the roof collapsed because it was dilapidated and the residents themselves did not want to carry out an examination of the roof earlier, before the February emergency.

Author: photo from the Ministry of Emergency Situations The photo taken immediately after the collapse shows that there was clearly more than 15 centimeters of snow.

Now such an examination has been carried out on the initiative of the Criminal Code itself. And according to the deputy director of the Housing Management Company Andrei Krasnov, the findings of the examination were sent to the administration of the Sovetsky district.

The Soviet administration says that so far they have not received such an examination.

When asked when they held a general meeting and whether the issue of the roof was decided at it, the residents cannot answer anything concrete.

The district administration and the Capital Repair Fund say everything is in the hands of the residents. It is not enough to collect money, you need to constantly show initiative. Otherwise, according to the approved plan, they will have to wait until 2041. And it doesn’t matter whether the roof leaks or not.