The Russians will be obliged to let inspectors checking metering devices in apartments

Citizens of Russia, who did not privatize their housing, will be obliged to let inspectors checking cold and hot water meters in apartments. This regulation was established in the new draft Rules for the use of accommodation, developed by the Ministry of Regional Development.

This regulation will not be applied to specialized housing such as housing for deputies. In addition, the possible innovation will not affect the homeowners.

New rules are to be adopted by the Order of the newly appointed Minister of Construction and Housing Mikhail Men. The newly formed Ministry is not yet prepared to comment on the document. The Ministry of Regional Development stated that this issue is not related to their jurisdiction.

Now, as reported by member of the Public Chamber Svetlana Razvorotneva, not all citizens are willing to let inspection bodies in their apartments. “The apartment can accommodate many more people than registered. All this results in additional costs for utilities, which are distributed among all the tenants of the house, which is not fair, of course”, she said.

However, the overruns are not the only problem. Under Federal Law No. 261- FZ “On energy saving and energy efficiency improvement...” the tenants were required to install meters for gas and water prior to July 1st, 2012. Yet, more than half of the apartments are not equipped with the meters. But until this year, when the authorities had stepped up the fight against the so-called rubber flats, the problem of the meters was not the center of attention. This year, everything has suddenly changed.

People who register visitors, who do not live in the apartments, were declared a real war. In this situation, metering devices are a convenient excuse to visit the living space to compare the number of registered people and actually living people.

But visits to the privatized apartments are problematic, because the Constitution protects the rights of the owner. So, they try to resolve the issue at least with those who use low rent municipal apartments.

However, the responsibility of the tenants in the event of failure to open the door is still not spelled out.

 “This responsibility should be introduced to the Code of Administrative Offences, the housing law cannot regulate the administrative law”, said Advisor to Director General of State Corporation “Fund Assisting the Restructuring of Housing and Public Utilities” Aleksandr Budarin.