According to lawyer Anastasia Tsybulko, if a person is unable to pay the debt, he can apply for debt restructuring.
A resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers adopted in January allows for the disconnection of household consumers who systematically do not pay bills and, as a result, have accumulated debts for utility services. Gracers Law Firm lawyer Anastasia Tsybulko explained whether Ukrainians have the right to hold Ukrainians accountable for failure to pay utility bills, and also in what cases the debt can be written off. Channel 24 writes about this.
According to the lawyer, if a person does not pay housing and communal services in the future, fines and penalties will be provided for such actions. In addition, the supplier will have the right to terminate the supply of utilities.
Also, the consumer may be stopped from supplying utilities, but he must be notified for this no later than 10 working days before the day of disconnection.
Is the presence of utility debts grounds for summons to court?
Legislation allows for the collection of utility debts from consumers in court. However, this is only possible when the person has refused to pay it voluntarily or has entered into a restructuring agreement.
“Now the process of collecting debts through the court has been resumed, as it happened before the full-scale invasion, taking into account clear criteria for both the amount and the “age” of the debt,” Tsybulko said.
Important
“Don’t wait until they turn you off”: Ukrainians were explained what to do with utility debts
She also noted that if a person cannot immediately pay the debt in full, he has the right to submit an application to the service provider for debt restructuring. The repayment process can be extended for up to 60 months, depending on the amount of debt and the level of income of citizens on the date of registration of the installment plan.
Writing off debts for utilities – when possible
Anastasia Tsybulko claims that consumers can apply for debt forgiveness. However, such a scenario is only possible if the company providing the services goes to court to collect the debt.
If the court decides to side with the consumer, debts can be written off for citizens who:
- have accumulated debt for more than three years;
- received debts from previous homeowners;
- have debts that are not in accordance with the area of housing;
- were declared bankrupt in accordance with a court decision.
The lawyer added that although the Ministry of Energy and the Ukrainian Institute of the Future have released various statements regarding the minimum amount of debt, it is worth noting that the legislation does not officially establish any minimum amount of debt. Therefore, the situation arises that the utility service provider, at its own discretion, decides to terminate the supply of services.
According to Tsybulko, the ban on disconnecting utilities, charging fines and penalties will only apply in temporarily occupied territories and where hostilities are taking place. In addition, the ban will apply in the event of damage to the consumer’s real estate due to hostilities, as well as if he informs the relevant utility service provider about this.
On March 18, it became known that combatants could spend significantly less money on housing and communal services. To do this, they can take advantage of the state benefit and receive a discount of 75%.
Also on February 6, Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said that in Ukraine, the transfer of the cost of a number of housing and communal services will take place using a new mechanism. According to it, consumers will pay only for quality services provided.
