OREANDA-NEWS In Russia wanted to collect the debts of Russians for housing and communal services (housing and communal services) in a new way - they offered to exempt public utilities from state duties for filing lawsuits against debtors. The corresponding bill should be submitted to the State Duma, Izvestia writes.

The measure is proposed to be extended to management companies (CC), resource-supplying organizations (which supply water, electricity and heat) and regional garbage removal operators. This measure should make it easier for public utilities to recover the funds owed to them.

The authors of the initiative believe that this way it will be possible to reduce the financial burden on housing and communal services enterprises and will save the judicial system from additional procedural actions — from making determinations on the refund of the fee or its offset.

"If management companies regularly work with debtors, they spend up to five percent of their income annually to pay such state duties," said Tatiana Vepretskaya, director of the non—profit partnership National Housing Congress.

The abolition of state duties will allow the Criminal Code to sue more often, but will not greatly affect the number of debtors, according to Alexander Subbotin, chairman of the regional branch of Delovaya Rossiya in the Vladimir region. "Residents are increasingly finding themselves in a difficult economic situation. At the same time, the vast majority of the population — more than 90 percent — makes payments on time and in full," the expert explained.

At the same time, Oksana Sevastyuk, CEO of the Siberia Management Company, called the initiative timely and aimed at protecting the interests of bona fide owners — due to the fact that utilities spend money on state duties, the quality of services may suffer.

Earlier, Russians were warned that new rules for housing and communal services payment began to take effect in October. Now, if, due to the fault of one of the owners, new costs for the maintenance of communal property have appeared, then they will be paid by the violator himself, and not by the management company.