Russia (bbabo.net), - In the region, homeowners began to be held criminally liable for improper maintenance of glazed balconies. And communal organizations that serve such houses, as well as state and municipal authorities that should control the state of the housing stock, seem to have nothing to do with it.

Danger in the yard

In Saratov, the court sentenced the death in the courtyard of the house on Azin Street in January last year of a 12-year-old teenager. When the boy was walking with his friend to the playground past a five-story building, an ice block fell on him. One of the children died on the spot, his friend, who was walking nearby, was not injured. The militiamen prosecuted the owner of the apartment on the fifth floor of this house. According to investigators, the ice came off the canopy that the owner had installed on her balcony. The court found the 72-year-old pensioner guilty of causing death by negligence and sentenced her to six months of confinement. The judge granted the civil suit in favor of the child's relatives.

In Saratov, in recent years, this is not the first time that the owner of a home in an apartment building has been held liable for the death of a person due to falling ice. For example, at the end of February 2019, a 61-year-old woman died from the impact of an ice block when she walked through the courtyard of a five-story building on Yemlyutina Street in the Frunzensky district of the city. For causing death by negligence, the court convicted the owner of the apartment on the fifth floor of the house. The owner of the balcony, from which, as the investigation decided, ice had fallen, was assigned a year of corrective labor. A civil claim of 500 thousand rubles was also collected from the hostess.

In Saratov, 2,600 balconies require repairs. By law, they could be repaired at the expense of capital repairs

From a legal point of view

The Rules for the maintenance of common property in an apartment building, approved by the government of the Russian Federation in 2006, indicate that the balcony slab and the outer wall belong to the common property of the house, and the railing enclosing the balcony is the property of the owner apartments. In addition, the Rules and Regulations for the technical operation of the housing stock, approved in 2003, do not allow unauthorized installation of "canopies, bay windows, balconies, loggias and development of inter-balcony space."

Glazing of balconies, according to the courts, is a redevelopment of a dwelling. In accordance with the Housing Code, such work requires coordination with local authorities.

From this, the courts conclude that the canopies over the balconies installed without the consent of the local authorities are not common property and should not be serviced by managing organizations, which means that the owners of the apartments are responsible for their maintenance.

The regional State Housing Inspectorate said that they are carrying out explanatory work with managing organizations about the need to clear such balconies. Information is posted on the official website and in public.

- The owners of unauthorized installed balcony visors (not provided for by the project during the construction of the house) are required to monitor their condition. And organizations that manage apartment buildings should inform owners about the need to clear them of snow and ice, - explains the press secretary of the housing inspection Natalya Zhukova.

According to the inspection, residents can independently, together with their neighbors or by agreement with the Criminal Code, hire climbers who perform work at heights to clean the balconies canopies.

In turn, management organizations are required to conduct a detour - an inspection of their homes and field inspections. Liability is also provided for the improper management of residential buildings.

How it really is

According to lawyer Anton Skiba, who defended the resident of the Zavodskoy district in court, the balcony in the apartment was glazed long before the pensioner bought it. The woman did not know about her obligation to clear the roof of the balcony from snow, and the employees of the managing organization did not inform her about this.

The order to clean the roof of the balcony by the owner was issued by the managing organization and posted on the entrance door only the next day after the death of the child.

According to the defender, on the one hand, now in the regulatory documents it is detailed even what form snowdrifts should have in the yards, on the other hand, these requirements are not met everywhere.

The house where the tragedy occurred is serviced by a contractor hired by the management company.

- In court, we could not find out which of the workers was supposed to monitor the condition of the roof of the house, inform the residents and control the work. None of the communal workers interviewed in court could explain this, they only referred to the head of the organization, who was on sick leave, - the lawyer said.

If you have it, answer it

According to the deputy of the Saratov City Duma Viktor Markov, the punishment imposed by the courts on the owners of the balconies is not excessively severe, at the same time it can become a lesson for other citizens.

- The owner is responsible for his property. For a long time we could not get the municipal services to clean the roof of one of the houses in the city center. In the end, the ice that came down there killed a passerby. After the head of the managing organization was convicted, they began to clean the roof, - the deputy said.

At the municipal level, the problem of clearing converted balconies in five-story buildings has been discussed more than once. As explained in the mayor's office, the owners have the right to include the cleaning of balconies from snow in the list of services of the managing organization, but for this it will be necessary to increase the tariff for housing maintenance, including for those who do not have such balconies. Apparently, in this regard, there were no such precedents. Two years ago, at a meeting of the city's Public Chamber, a proposal was made to refer the roofs of all converted balconies to common areas. However, this initiative also failed to materialize.

Meanwhile, the problem is not limited to icicles that threaten passers-by in winter. In many houses, the balconies themselves are in disrepair. Three years ago, in Engels, a local resident, who was trying to convince public utility workers of the need to repair the balcony, began to swing the railing in front of them - the fence came off and the man crashed to death. In Saratov, according to the mayor's office, 2,600 balconies require repairs. By law, these works can be done at the expense of funds for the overhaul of houses.

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- In the old part of the city, balconies and protruding parts of the houses overlook the sidewalks on which people walk. It is clear that often the owners of such apartments are pensioners who physically cannot clear the roofs of their balconies themselves, - says Sergey Sharov, chairman of the executive committee of the ONF. - Yes, according to the law, public utilities are not required to clean the canopy of the balcony, but they must go to the person, warn him. It is also necessary to intensify supervision of managing organizations. Employees of municipal authorities, the State Housing Inspectorate must also make detours for icicles. As they began to do this year after the request of the head of government Roman Busargin. But in general, the problem, unfortunately, has not disappeared anywhere.

To say that everything happened by chance and only the owner is to blame is unlawful, officials should also bear responsibility for failure to fulfill their duties, if this is not an isolated case, but a series. Until this happens, the situation will not change.

The ONF proposes to more clearly define the scope of responsibility of managing organizations and supervisory authorities, to work out the issues of the procedure for removing snow from balconies and paying for it. In addition, regulatory regulation in the construction of new houses also needs to be changed. Project documentation should be developed in such a way as to prevent the possibility of snow falling from roofs, canopies and split systems. And footpaths should be planned in safe areas.

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“People and children are dying due to the inaction of municipal services and housing inspections, which do not monitor the condition of roofs after snowfalls, do not achieve the dismantling of illegally installed structures on balconies. How many more children must die for the situation to change?” she asks.

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