All-Russian Capital Chess

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Long money for the elite

The federal law, which supplemented the Housing Code with norms on regional operators of capital repairs, was "presented" to the Russians at the very end of 2013: on December 23 it was adopted by the State Duma, on the 25th it was approved by the Federation Council, and on the 28th it was signed by the president. New Year's Eve is the traditional time for pushing forward controversial initiatives. Moreover, the country then lived in the information space between the Maidan and Sochi and was not exchanged for such trifles as major repairs. Novaya Gazeta tried to find out why it was necessary to redraw the housing legislation, who could lobby for this process, and most importantly, who could become the beneficiary of the new system.

As you know, since 2007, the main player in the market for capital repairs of apartment buildings (MKD) has been a specially created state corporation "Fund for Assistance to Reforming Housing and Communal Services". The money raised by the budget from the sale of Yuganskneftegaz to the legendary company Baikalfinancegroup was transferred to its authorized capital. The state corporation is headed by Konstantin Tsitsin. This functionary is little known to the general public, although he managed colossal money - 240 billion rubles.

According to our source, this is the whole essence of manipulations around the topic of overhaul. This is a source of long-term money, which is constantly replenishing. Yukos's money ran out corny, and another source was needed. They, in fact, became the population, which is not in vain called "the only inexhaustible resource."

A significant plus of the scheme with regional funds is that a long time elapses between filling and spending money in the "common pot", sometimes literally decades. All this time, the money will supposedly be dead weight, but in reality it will work. In the interests of the credit institution where they will be accumulated.

Wealthy regions with strong governors are more likely to keep this money. This, for example, happened in Moscow, where an account, which will accumulate colossal amounts of receipts from the owners of the capital's real estate, was opened in the finance department of the city government. But, as our interlocutor believes, the informal but strict supervision of the activities of the majority of regional operators will be carried out by the same Konstantin Tsitsin.

In addition to Gazprombank, Rosselkhozbank is also named among the possible beneficiaries, which also periodically experiences funding problems. Tens of billions of rubles, which the population will pay to regional operators annually, are able to minimize these problems.

As with any scheme, there must be a loser here. And this role is traditionally taken by the citizens, who will actually pay the inflation tax. Indeed, unlike the same pension savings, the legislation does not provide for specific mechanisms for capitalizing payments for housing and communal services; these are not investments, but, in fact, savings. Eaten up by inflation.

“I don’t pay for my Moscow apartment,” admits Novaya’s interlocutor from the Ministry of Regional Development and Housing and Communal Services. - My house was commissioned four years ago, what kind of overhaul to talk about? And personally, I don't see any legal reason to pay for these receipts.

The law is really "raw" and with "holes", but if necessary, it can be finalized, and, where necessary, polished by law enforcement practice. If non-payments by the population reach critical levels, which is very likely, regional courts and bailiffs' offices will be thrown into a priority area. Too big a prize at stake.

Andrey SUKHOTIN

Kirov

Effective Democracy Governance

When we talk about bills for overhaul, the first complaint is “they are pulling money from us again”, the second is “it’s not clear how this money will be spent”. And if the first bewilderment is of a rhetorical plan, then the second is with a solution.

Residents of house no. 19 on Studencheskiy proezd in Kirov are not worried about where their money, given under the "Contribution for overhaul" column, will go. They themselves decided what to renovate in their home. At a meeting of the HOA.

- We hold meetings on any important issue: painting the entrance, changes in the adjacent territory. Any step is definitely discussed,”says Vera, a resident of the house. - By general voting we elect the chairman of the HOA. Every two years.

Vera lives in an apartment with an area of 48.4 sq. m. And pays 343, 64 rubles for overhaul every month.

The decision on what exactly to repair with the money collected from the "overhaul" line, the residents of Student Proezd, 19, also made themselves.

- The chairman said that the commission under the regional government, which deals with overhaul issues, recommended that we repair the elevator. This proposal was supported by everyone, because the elevator is really a painful topic for us: it has been working since the very construction of the house - since 1988: slow by today's standards and, unfortunately, not very neat.

“The new elevator will cost us 1.5 million rubles,” says Lydia Maryina. - We have to repair it by 2020. And, of course, by this time the amount will have accumulated.

Ivan Zhilin

Omsk

Citizens owe half a billion and do not want to pay

More than a third of the tenants of apartment buildings do not pay bills for "major repairs", the Deputy Regional Minister of Construction and Housing and Communal Services Dmitry Shekalov admitted to the Vesti-Omsk program on July 13. The number of payers has sharply decreased, according to him, in recent months: in February-March there were 78%, and since April a decline began, and now their number is 65%. The official assumes that the difference is made by summer residents, who, in their concerns about the harvest, forget or do not have time to come to the post office with receipts.

Sending them to Omsk residents - apart from current utility bills - the regional capital repair fund, established by the regional government, since September 2014. The collection rates for 10 months changed abruptly several times: in September 2014 - 50.1%, in October - 64.2%, in November - 82%, in December - 48.8%, in January 2015 - 76, 1%, etc. Probably, they depend on the activity, on the one hand, of regional agitators, explaining to the residents of the region the need for this payment, and on the other hand, on human rights activists and communists who urge citizens not to pay for the "phony overhaul".

The preponderance in this information war, of course, belongs to the former, but the resources of their opponents are not so small: the Omsk branch of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation has newspapers and television, the communists hold pickets and rallies, covered by local Internet publications. The regional HRC (Human Rights Committee) at all protest events distributes them to the participants of the "memo" - how to behave conscientious non-payers, if suddenly they are summoned to court. And also - ready-made application forms to the head of the regional fund for overhaul "on the refusal to conclude an agreement for the repair of apartment buildings" (a sample of it is published on the website "Political Omsk"). The arguments in it are quite deadly: this fund, although established by the regional government, is a non-profit organization. Article 10 of Law No. 82-FZ says that the property of such a fund can be formed exclusively "on the basis of voluntary contributions, and its founders" are not responsible for its obligations, "as well as" the fund is not responsible for the obligations of the founders."

In Omsk, the courts in the past few years have made 1,640 decisions obliging the mayor's office to repair apartment buildings at the expense of the city treasury: the issue price is 13 billion rubles, slightly less than the city's annual budget.“If the house,” says human rights activist Kuznetsov, “has not undergone major repairs for more than 20 years, then the municipality is obliged to take it upon itself, without demanding a dime from the residents. But these decisions are ignored by the bailiffs, and we will appeal against their inaction in the courts, so far without tangible results."

The human rights activist himself lives in a house that, like the overwhelming majority of Omsk "khrushchobs", has not been overhauled for more than 40 years, but all this time, tenants have been regularly charged for "maintenance and repair of housing."

In total, to date, residents of the Omsk region owe more than half a billion rubles for overhaul. If you divide this amount by the tariff - 6 rubles. 70 kopecks. per sq. m, multiplied by the average living space (50-60 square meters) and by 10 months, it turns out that more than 100 thousand Omsk families do not pay anything for major repairs. Many, of course, ignore these payments due to poverty, but the majority, Valentin Kuznetsov is sure, - not only for material, but also for ideological reasons.

Georgy BORODYANSKY

Samara

Our home - "Land Cruiser"

To date, the local tariff is 5, 07 rubles per meter in houses up to 5 floors and 5, 84 rubles per meter in high-rise buildings. It is noteworthy that the plans of the regional government were to increase the amount in 2015 to 6, 21 rubles, and the director of the regional capital repair fund Andrei Chibisov suggested that the average wage be increased to 7 rubles from 1 sq. m; the idea was not supported by the deputies and the minister of energy and housing and communal services Sergei Krainev.

Actually, Andrei Chibisov, as recently as last spring, became a defendant in a scandal over the purchase of the Land Cruiser Prado by the fund for overhaul. At the end of March, the fund announced an auction for the purchase of the car, the initial contract price was 1.9 million rubles. The auction was declared invalid, and within five days they signed an agreement for 1.89 million rubles with a single participant - SamREK-Operation, which deals with heat supply in cities and districts of the region. In this case, the head of SamREK-Operation is the same Andrey Chibisov. The local media and the governor himself drew attention to the conflict of interest when buying a car. The overhaul fund was forced to announce an auction for the sale of the Land Cruiser and the purchase of the domestic Lada Largus.

However, the program itself was frankly failed in 2014 and without any Land Cruisers: only about 30% of payments were collected from the population, and only 127 of the 862 houses that were included in the renovation plan were completed.

In 2015, in the Samara region, it is planned to overhaul 886 apartment buildings, while there are no real figures about the work performed. According to Sergei Krainev, the collection rate has reached 40%.

At a recent press conference, Sergei Ulyankin, Deputy Minister of Energy and Housing and Communal Services of the Samara Region, spoke about the difficulties faced by the fund's employees.

Firstly, it is unprofitable to repair houses with a high degree of wear and tear, and it is beneficial to give them the status of emergency and dilapidated housing, but all this needs to be done intensively.

Secondly, the foundation cannot start repairs on its own; everything must be coordinated with the tenants.

From the speech of the deputy minister, it became clear that the operator of the major repairs would have worked very well if it were not for these unpleasant tenants of apartment buildings.

Natalia FOMINA

Statement of refusal to pay for overhaul