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Rights at home: the overhaul system in Russia is going to radically change

The system of capital repairs of houses is planned to be changed. Mandatory technical inspection of houses can now be introduced before the formation of a work schedule. This will allow repairing the most worn-out areas and systems in the first place, which will increase the life of housing. The corresponding bill was approved at a meeting of the expert council of the State Duma committee on construction and housing and communal services. It is planned to be submitted to the State Duma in the spring session, Izvestia was told in the lower house of parliament. Now survey of houses before planning repairs is not carried out, and all regional programs were drawn up eight years ago – they need to be updated, experts pointed out. But the measure may lead to an increase in fees for this utility service by 5%, experts did not rule out.

Everything has its time

The system of overhaul of apartment buildings has been of great benefit, but at the same time it has shown that it needs to be reformed, Vladimir Koshelev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, told Izvestia. First of all, this concerns work behavior schedules: often they are not tied to the actual state of housing, he explained.

– Often, not the necessary work is performed, but those that are profitable to carry out at the moment. This leads to the fact that the efficiency of repairs, and at the expense of homeowners, is not only low, but sometimes completely absent, – said Alexander Yakubovsky, a member of the State Duma Committee for Construction and Housing and Communal Services.

Parliamentarians intend to radically change the overhaul system. In particular, before planning work, make a mandatory technical inspection of houses. Such a bill was approved at a meeting of the expert council of the State Duma committee on construction and housing and communal services. It is planned to be submitted to the State Duma in the spring session, said Alexander Yakubovsky.
entrance

“The legislative initiative involves dividing the assessment of the condition of the house and making a decision on the implementation of specific work in time,” said Anna Mamonova, executive director of the Association of Regional Operators for the Overhaul of Apartment Buildings (AROKR), who participated in the discussion of the document.

The measure will help carry out the work in the order in which they are necessary based on the technical condition of a single facility, said Alexander Yakubovsky. In addition, the regional overhaul programs were drawn up eight years ago, the condition of the houses has changed during this time – they need to be updated, Anna Mamonova added.

– So the position of the house in the chart will really correspond to the degree of wear and tear. A high-quality overhaul of a house without its technical examination is most often impossible, – Vladimir Koshelev emphasized.

The initiative is aimed at improving the efficiency of regional programs, said Irina Bulgakova, head of the commission on housing and communal services of the public council under the Ministry of Construction. This is indeed the right decision, but belated, added Pavel Sklyanchuk, an expert on the thematic platform of the ONF “Housing and Urban Environment”.
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For eight years, hundreds of mistakes were made in terms of planning the overhaul – for example, funds were allocated for work, and after a few years the houses were recognized as emergency and subject to demolition, he explained. This undermined the confidence of citizens in the system and the financial stability of the regional operators, the expert added.

 

Efficient spending

The short story assumes that the Ministry of Construction will establish methodological recommendations for updating regprograms and short-term plans for their implementation, Anna Mamonova noted. This will make it possible to unify approaches to the formation of programs in the regions, as well as to replicate the positive experience that has already developed in the subjects, she said. Izvestia sent a request to the Ministry of Construction.

The measure will contribute to a more efficient use of overhaul contributions – houses with a high degree of wear and tear will be more often recognized as emergency, Pavel Sklyanchuk said. But it is important that such a survey is not just visual, but instrumental, emphasized Susana Kirakosyan, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government, member of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Committee on Entrepreneurship in the Housing and Public Utilities Sector.

“It will cost more, but it will provide comprehensive data on the structural elements of the house that cannot be obtained from external signs during a visual inspection,” she said.

The implementation of the proposal may lead to an increase in the overhaul fee by 5%, since the technical examination requires additional funds, Pavel Sklyanchuk believes.

When overhaul funds are formed on the accounts of regional operators, that is, citizens’ funds are collected into a “common pot”, the money for the examination will be taken from there, believes Dmitry Gordeev, deputy chairman of the CCI committee on entrepreneurship in the housing sector. That is, according to the rule of communicating vessels, by reducing some other overhaul work, the expert believes.

He also noted that today the actual condition of houses can be determined by the results of a system of inspections of common property by owners, management organizations, homeowners’ associations (HOA – a form of house management) involved by experts. Such a system is provided for by the rules for maintaining common property (Government Decree No. 491) and the minimum list approved by Decree No. 290, said Dmitry Gordeev.

During such an inspection, it is possible to establish what repairs the house needs in the first place, he pointed out. According to the expert, technical inspection should be done far in all houses. Therefore, in the proposed form, the initiative is unreasonably broad and requires adjustment, Dmitry Gordeev believes.

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