The persons who have not paid utility bills for six month must be forjudged, officials say. The administrative proceedings of eviction will be developed after the Housing Code is put into practice.
According to the new Belarusian Housing Code, a citizen can be removed even to another settlement; futhermore, its distance from the primary place of residence is not laid down in the document.
“We are not going to remove a person to Homel or Vitsebsk region if they live in Minsk. A new possession will be provided in Minsk region,” Natallia Kachan, a representative of the Ministry of Housing and Community Amenities, promises. Everything depends on the availability of vacant housing units, a final decision will be taken by court, she notes. A cheerless prospect of being forjudged is sure to give an impulse to pay off all the debts.
Off-beat ways of fighting against non-payers
In 2010 Minsk utility providers used to block water-closets in debtors’flats. But as the method missed fire it did not gain wide acceptance.
“Boards of shame” where Belarusian housing services non-payers’ names where placed on does not work as well: they garner no attention of either debtors or their neighbours. The most creative utilities workers write their calls for settling debts in verses.
Do threats have effect?
This year 160 eviction orders have been produced in a first quarter. The court took the decision of providing a flat of a smaller sizes in 17 cases. According to Edmund Hryshkevich, an official of the Ministry of Housing and Community Amenities, most debtors do pay bills as soon as the case comes to trial.
Belsat
