[Housing stock managers do not have instruments to get money from those indebted. Info-Prim Neo analysis] The housing stock managers do not have instruments whereby to obtain money from the dwellers with maintenance debts. The only solution is to go to court. But some of the trials last for months or years and the buildings continue to have debts to suppliers. Among the apartment buildings with large debts to the suppliers is a block located in Chisinau’s Rascani district that is managed by a homebuilding cooperative. The building’s manager Vera Sarbu has told Info-Prim Neo that the situation is difficult. One of the dwellers has debts of almost 70,000 lei. The manager sued the dweller, but the problem remained unsolved. “Despite all our attempts, we did not yet manage to do justice. We won the case. The dweller must pay the debt, but the judge did not present the decision even if we asked him to. We were told on the phone that the man appealed the decision,” said Vera Sarbu. Homebuilding cooperative manager Maria Rotari said there are two dwellers with debts in the block that they administer in Botanica district. One of the dwellers is a socially underprivileged person, while the second dweller refuses to pay the debts. “He has debts of 4,000 lei for water and other debts for heat. He argued that his apartment was sequestrated and they should take it together with the debts,” said Maria Rotari. The head of a condominium co-owners association based in Botanica Ion Benic said that a dweller in their block hasn’t paid the bills for two years. There are also persons on low incomes who cannot pay for public utilities with their salaries. A year ago, the association decided that the calculations should be done by the municipal company “Infocom”, not by the manager. After such a decision was taken, the level of debts decreased and the dwellers became more responsible. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, deputy mayor of Chisinau Vlad Cotet said that if the consumers with debts refuse to pay them, they can be obliged to do it by court. It is not possible to exclude the members with debts from the association. “If you used a certain amount of water and heat, you must pay. It is already anarchism when somebody does what they want,” he stated. According to the deputy mayor, the Government Decision that obliges the consumers and suppliers to sign direct contracts is not respected. Petru Gontea, the head of the Public Amenities Division, stated for Info-Prim Neo that some try to gain advantages from the situations that are not regulated by law. “There are laws that contradict each other, as for example the law on service provision and the law on consumer protection. The legislation must be improved and the gaps filled,” he said. He also said that when the trials are delayed, certain goals are probably pursued. Under the legislation, if a court decision is not passed within three years, the debts are cancelled. The head of the press service of SA Termocom Iuliana Bogushevski said the heat supplier does not make a difference between the managers and the forms of ownership. If a consumer does not fulfill his obligations, the court is to take a decision – the manager should either recalculate the debts or the consumer should pay the debts. If the manager cannot afford legal assistance in court, the supplier provides this assistance. As to the participation in trials, the supplier’s representative attends the hearings when he is summoned. There were cases when the dwellers paid for all the services and the managers took the money and went abroad. According to Termocom, in Chisinau there are 91 associations that manage 103 buildings with 8,000 apartments, where the calculations are done by the manager. For another 180,000 apartments connected to the centralized heating system, the calculations are done by “Infocom”. “The answer to the question whether the members with debts should be excluded from an association of dwellers or a construction cooperative is evident,” Ion Dron, the head of the NGO Center of Initiatives and Public Authorities Monitoring, stated for Info-Prim Neo when asked to comment on the created situation and the possible solutions. “Legal norms for such a decision can be found. But what will be the consequences? It seems that a simple exclusion from the cooperative or the association will not solve the existing problems. The disputes are often generated by the quality of the provided services or the content of the bills. We consider that the calculations for the provided services should be done by specialized companies, while the administrations of the associations should stop colleting money for the bills. The civil procedure law should be analyzed so as to simplify the procedure in such disputes and avoid the postponement of the trials. In some cases, the overdue payments for public utilities can be levied by court order, as in the case of the overdue state social insurance and budget taxes,” said Ion Dron. [Elena Nistor, Info-Prim Neo]