{"id":2835,"date":"2026-05-31T16:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/advokat-z-zhytlovyh-pytan\/restrukturyzacziya-zaborgovanosti-zhkg\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T15:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T12:10:41","slug":"restrukturyzacziya-zaborgovanosti-zhkg","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/en\/advokat-z-zhytlovyh-pytan\/restrukturyzacziya-zaborgovanosti-zhkg\/","title":{"rendered":"Restructuring of housing and communal services debt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before agreeing a payment schedule, understand the main point: the amount demanded of you is almost never the amount that can be recovered in court<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A utilities debt usually contains items that cannot be recovered: arrears older than three years; penalties charged above the permitted limits; charges for services that were never actually supplied; and doubled amounts caused by court orders you never knew about.<\/p>\n

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Restructuring a utilities debt without checking it first means you have voluntarily acknowledged<\/strong> the whole amount, and challenging it afterwards is far harder.<\/p><\/div><\/div>

<\/svg>+38 095 554-54-24<\/span><\/a>legal consultation<\/span><\/div>\n

What can be taken off the debt<\/h2>\n
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Arrears older than three years<\/h3>

The limitation period is three years (Art. 257 of the Civil Code), and anything beyond it cannot be recovered. But the court applies the limitation period only if the defendant raises it<\/strong>: if you do not, the court will award everything, even a ten-year-old debt. That is why people lose cases they should have won.<\/p><\/div><\/article>

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Penalties<\/h3>

Under Art. 26(2) of the Law \u201cOn Housing and Utility Services\u201d the penalty is 0.01 % of the debt per day of delay and cannot exceed 100 % of the total debt. A shorter limitation period of one year<\/strong> applies to penalty claims (Art. 258 of the Civil Code). We check the martial law period separately: Law No. 2479-IX introduced restrictions on charging and recovering utility penalties, and whether they cover your period and category of consumer is checked against the current wording.<\/p><\/div><\/article>

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Services that were not supplied<\/h3>

No heating, no hot water, no refuse collection, no cleaning of the stairwell \u2014 there is nothing to pay. But the failure must be recorded in a formal report<\/strong>, ideally at the time.<\/p><\/div><\/article>

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Incorrect charges<\/h3>

For floor area, for the number of registered occupants, for meter readings, for residents who were not there.<\/p><\/div><\/article>

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Debts of a previous owner or tenant<\/h3>

You are not obliged to pay for someone else\u2019s period, although utility companies often \u201ccarry over\u201d the debt to the new occupant.<\/p><\/div><\/article><\/div>\n

\"Restructuring<\/a><\/p>\n

Court orders: how debts are actually recovered<\/h2>\n

Utility companies recover arrears on a mass scale by court orders<\/strong>: it is fast, cheap and happens without you<\/strong>, because the court decides the application within five days, with no hearing and without summoning the parties (Art. 167 of the Civil Procedure Code).<\/p>\n

The order then goes to the bailiff: frozen accounts, deductions from wages, a travel ban. Many people first learn of the debt when their card stops working.<\/p>\n

A court order can be set aside within 15 days<\/strong> of receiving a copy (Art. 170 of the Civil Procedure Code). An application is enough: the court sets the order aside without assessing your reasons, and the case moves into adversarial proceedings<\/strong>, where you can:<\/p>\n