Delayed selection

The State Duma will give residents of apartment buildings additional time to find management companies

Neither Russians nor the executive branch are ready to transfer public utilities and management of residential buildings into private hands. This obvious thesis should be confirmed today by the State Duma, having immediately considered two alternative bills that would extend the period for residents of apartment buildings to choose their management companies. Deputies seem to have no doubt that the final choice must be extended beyond January 1, 2007. In fact, only the duration of the “deferment” will be discussed: for a year or three. “We will discuss these bills and, I think, we will adopt one of them in the first reading,” said Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the lower house, yesterday. Amendments to the Housing Code, according to him, should be adopted in three readings by the end of December. “We see a real situation where the market for management companies has not yet been fully formed, and there is no proper competition yet,” noted Mr. Gryzlov.

There is every reason to believe that the discussion and adoption of the amendments will take place really quickly and unanimously. The two alternative options that Mr. Gryzlov spoke about are not the only proposals sent to the deputies for consideration. Yesterday, First Deputy Mayor in the Moscow government Yuri Roslyak also announced the proposal of the capital authorities to abolish the time limit for choosing a management company for servicing the housing and communal services of houses and local areas. “People need to have time to calmly understand the new situation and understand what the responsibilities of the homeowners association are,” he said. — You can’t force people into a homeowners’ association. First of all, a system of guarantees should be built in relation to residents on the part of management companies .”

Thus, today two branches of government have already begun competition for the right to be considered as the deliverer of all Russian citizens from the need to make in the shortest possible time a difficult, and for many simply and incomprehensible, choice. However, independent State Duma deputy Galina Khovanskaya , the author of another similar amendment, which was already adopted in September in the first reading by the lower house as part of a package of amendments to the Housing Code, believes that the main reason why the choice of a management company is now premature is unpreparedness authorities. “This delay is not as necessary for citizens as it is for the authorities,” she told a Vremya Novostei correspondent. “In itself, an extension for a year will not give anything, because in a year we will be in the same situation if the authorities do not solve all the problems.”

Ms. Khovanskaya's first argument is the old and dilapidated housing stock, which needs repairs. “We have 60% of such a fund. The obligations of budgets at all levels, starting with the federal level, have not yet been determined. On what terms will major repairs not carried out within 25-30 years be compensated? In what order will this funding go? This should be determined by the government,” she said.

In addition, Deputy Khovanskaya believes that the most important obstacle is that the property complex - houses and plots that municipalities intend to transfer into private hands - is not properly registered. “Has the land survey been completed? Do you know the general list of property? Nothing is known! she noted, calling the problem “very resource-intensive in terms of money.” Municipalities have also not decided on beneficiaries, which management companies are not required by law to deal with. According to the deputy, only a third of the regions have introduced personal personalized accounts for citizens, to which subsidies for utility bills are credited.

But there are problems that the legislature must solve. For example, HOAs are now subject to a 24 percent income tax and VAT. “The HOA is considered a reseller of utilities, hence the tax burden,” noted Galina Khovanskaya. “That is, we are reselling ourselves - a complete lack of common sense!”

And finally, from January 1, there is simply no one to transfer control to. Moscow alone, according to deputy Khovanskaya, needs several thousand management companies, but there are about five hundred. In this situation, people can fall into the clutches of scammers. “DEZs, which are state unitary enterprises, create, for example, LLC “DEZ of the Timiryazevsky district,” she gave an example from her deputy practice. - Do you think the pensioner understands who she is voting for? She thinks that this is DEZ. Two years ago, the law on self-regulation of such organizations passed its second reading. There is no licensing for this type of activity, no certification, no accreditation. The business community does not have the opportunity to create, for example, an Association of Management Companies, which will be responsible for each of its participants, including financially. This law is simply frozen.”

Irina BELASHEVA