The debts of citizens of the Russian Federation for housing and communal services are constantly growing, and the efficiency of their collection by bailiffs is falling, note collectors who take part in the return of debts to companies in the utility sector. They expect an increase in orders for the return of citizens' debts to management companies and homeowners' associations: the July increase in tariffs in housing and communal services will not contribute in any way to reducing debts.

The share of overdue debt in the total debt of the population for housing and communal services is about 5%. The population and organizations of the country owe over 300 billion rubles to suppliers of electricity, gas and water, while the total debt of citizens for housing and communal services increases annually by 50–55 billion rubles. According to the Ministry of Regional Development, in the first half of 2012, the population’s current debt for utility services exceeded 170 billion rubles; the structure of “overdue payments” is dominated by payments for heating and hot water supply.

The debt for housing and communal services at the stage of enforcement proceedings in the first half of 2012, according to the FSSP, amounted to 41.6 billion rubles. 2.6 million enforcement proceedings. 6.4 billion rubles were recovered. (15% of those under execution) for 498 thousand enforcement proceedings. The volume of debts handled by bailiffs in the housing and communal services sector is growing every year, but their quality is deteriorating: for the entire 2010, the number of such debts processed by the FSSP was the same as in the first half of 2012 - 41.6 billion rubles, however 27%, or 11.3 billion rubles, were recovered. In 2011, the FSSP had debts for housing and communal services in the amount of 51.3 billion rubles, and 24%, or 12.4 billion rubles, were collected.

Due to the high workload of bailiffs until the end of the year, the trend towards an increase in the volume of uncollected payments for housing and communal services at the stage of enforcement proceedings will continue, note the collection agency Sequoia Credit Consolidation. “In the total mass of debts, the share of non-payments on the part of low-income categories of citizens is increasing. It is obvious that the tariff increase that took place in July and the expected one in September will only support this trend,” the agency says.

According to collectors, the average defaulter of utility bills in the Russian Federation owes 30–40 thousand rubles. Most often this is a married man or divorced woman aged 40–45 years, with a secondary or secondary specialized education. The average period of overdue debt is 10–12 months. The share of problem debts received by collection agencies is estimated at 10–15%.

In this regard, collectors note the expanding participation of such agencies in the recovery of housing and communal services debts: in 2012, pilot cooperation projects with them were launched not only by management companies, homeowners associations, housing complexes and housing cooperatives, “but also by larger players in the housing and communal services sector at the regional and federal levels.”

Oleg Sapozhkov

Collection agencies expect an increase in utility debts