How much is recommended to keep receipts for utility bills and how best to do it?

Even those people who regularly pay utility bills for bills for many years and have no rent arrears may have disputes with the management company. Only if you know how much to keep receipts for utility bills and clearly adhere to the recommended parameters, you can count on your security from unreasonable claims.

Today, the payment process is as simple and optimized as possible. Gas, water, rent, electricity consumption and other payments are included in one account, which significantly reduces the volume of processed paper. Despite the fact that increased attention is paid to the government in this area, questions about why to keep paid receipts and how long to do this do not lose their relevance.

Normative acts and recommendations of lawyers on this issue

A computer malfunction, a regular change in tariffs, causing confusion, dishonesty of employees of the accounting center and elementary attempts of fraud lead to a lawsuit between the consumer of housing and communal services and the management company. In this case, only documentary evidence confirming the fact that gas, water, electricity and other consumer products were paid as evidence of correctness.

Some grandmothers stubbornly keep paid receipts for the last 20-25 years, this is not necessary, but you will have to take into account several nuances:

1. Not a single normative act specifically indicates how many years it is necessary to keep receipts with a mark or a receipt on payment for housing and communal services, therefore the law on the limitation period of the statement of claim comes into play. According to him, the limitation period for disputes of this kind expires in 3 years from the moment a problem situation arises.
2. This law is not an obstacle for a lawsuit to be accepted by a court, but if the court makes this point public, a decision will be made in 100% of cases in favor of the consumer.
3. It happens that management companies try to make various tricks, trying to forcibly extend the statute of limitations. This is extremely rare, only in the event of real force majeure circumstances. For example, a management company in its entirety was on a desert island for three years, and was not able to go to court to collect debt for housing services.

Tip: Despite this, lawyers recommend storing paid coupons for 5 years in order to protect themselves from unnecessary unrest. Thus it is necessary to trace that all receipts have stamps. Otherwise, it is recommended to go to the bank and update the receipt or receive a letter of refusal with a link to the statute of limitations.

Practical situations that make adjustments to the regulation of the issue

Given the rapid development of technological progress, today many pay for gas, electricity and water using bank cards or e-commerce centers. This brings its own corrections to the familiar process:

• The opinion that when paying by credit card it is not necessary to keep confirming checks for 3 years is fundamentally wrong. If the organization closes and access to its data disappears, serious problems will arise with obtaining the necessary documents. Experts recommend storing payment receipts for a year, after which visit the bank in order to obtain statements for a given period and get rid of waste paper. It is enough for owners of a personal account on the bank’s website to print out such statements with electronic notes on their own.

• Users of e-commerce services need to be even more careful. After payment for electricity, gas and other services has been made, you must print the receipt yourself. It will also have to be stored for at least 3 years.
• There is another version of behavior that can simplify life. You can visit your management company at the beginning of each year in order to obtain an act stating that this organization does not have any claims regarding rent or other indicators.
• Particular attention to the availability of utility bills must be paid when buying an apartment or its long-term lease. In this case, you can limit yourself to checks for 3-5 years, but it is better to receive acts from the management company regarding the absence of claims.

Another authority capable of providing information on the status of settlements is the accounting center, which is responsible for invoicing consumers. True, they have data for a long period stored only in the event of arrears. But the lack of such may be a sufficient argument for the court. On the other hand, it is these organizations that provide data to management companies, so they cannot differ much.