Every winter in Russia, the same thing happens: roads, sidewalks and courtyards are suddenly covered with snow and frozen, and utilities are not ready for this. Snowdrifts can take too long and reluctantly to remove, but these obstacles interfere with both drivers and pedestrians. To combat this outrage, you need to know who is responsible for cleaning, how often it should be carried out and to whom you can complain on occasion.

Who should I ask

First you need to understand who is responsible for snow and ice removal. There is no single service that would do this throughout the city (and even more so throughout Russia). So the spaces are shared by several organizations at once.

First of all, let's consider the situation with the territory that is adjacent to the building. Whoever is responsible for the building itself will be responsible for its maintenance. Usually its operation depends on the owner. If the building or part of it is leased, then the responsibility will lie with the tenant.

Important: the person who uses the lower floor is responsible for snow removal near the building, and the person who uses the upper or technical floor, attic or roof is responsible for icicle cleaning. Sometimes they are different people or organizations.

If this is an apartment building, then you need to ask the management company (CC) or homeowners associations (HOAs).

Tatiana Zimina: Information about who is responsible for specific territories in your city or locality can be found on the website of the city administration (in the section with official documents). If you need to find out which management organization serves the adjacent territory of a particular apartment building, then this information can be found on the GIS Housing and Communal Services information portal in the Register of housing facilities section.

Who should I complain to

If you are triggered by snow removal with ice (or lack of this very cleaning), you can file a complaint with the responsible person, that is:

• to the management company (through the control room), if violations have occurred in the territory adjacent to an apartment building;

• to the owner or tenant of the building if there are problems with other house territories;

• to the district public utilities or directly to the district administration (city council, prefecture, profile department), if questions arise about urban infrastructure facilities.

If the complaints don't work

Often, complaints do not work: either they are ignored altogether, or unsubscriptions are received in response. Then file another complaint in response, this time for inaction.

First, it must be sent to a higher authority, for example, to the administration of the subject or the housing inspectorate. In Moscow, you can also complain about the management company to the Association of Administrative and Technical Inspections (OATI).

You can also file a complaint with the prosecutor's office, which oversees the enforcement of laws. In your claim, emphasize that the responsible person is inactive and does not fulfill his own duties. The prosecutor's office should conduct an audit and make some kind of decision. If everything goes well, the agency will force the violator to remove snow and ice. And if there are grounds, then he will bring him to justice.

As for liability, an unscrupulous management company may well be fined 250,000-300,000 rubles.

And for municipal officials, responsibility is spelled out in the rules of landscaping, Tatiana Zimina emphasized.

https://secretmag.ru/survival/sneg.htm - The source of the publication