“Many will be left without their parents’ apartments”: MP Oleksiy Kucherenko explains the reason
Debt for communal services in Ukraine is becoming an increasingly serious problem that affects not only the financial condition of citizens, but also their ability to manage their own real estate. The issue of indebtedness becomes especially important in the conditions of war, when the economic situation in the country worsens, and many citizens lose the opportunity to pay bills for housing and communal services on time.
People’s Deputy of Ukraine, former Minister of Housing and Communal Affairs of Ukraine, Oleksiy Kucherenko, has repeatedly expressed concern about this issue, stressing that the state should immediately intervene in the situation and take decisive measures to stabilize the financial state of the communal sector and protect the interests of citizens.
On opinion Kucherenka, the accumulation of debts for communal services can have serious consequences for citizens, especially in matters related to their real estate. If a citizen has a debt for housing and communal services, this can significantly complicate the sale of the apartment or its inheritance. According to Kucherenko, debt can become a legal burden for real estate, which will actually make it impossible to carry out any transactions with it until the debt is fully repaid. This approach, according to the deputy, is justified, as it will allow the state to ensure the payment of utility bills and avoid the further growth of debt, which is already reaching critical levels today.
Kucherenko also emphasizes that the situation with debts for communal services worsens due to the low solvency of citizens, especially pensioners, who are forced to choose between paying for essential goods and services, such as food and medicine, and paying utility bills. Low pensions and rising prices for basic goods mean that many people are unable to pay their housing and communal services on time, leading to the accumulation of debt.
According to OpenDataBot data, in the last two years of the war, debt for communal services in Ukraine has increased by 37%. Today, more than 700,000 citizens are registered in the Unified Register of Debtors, and this number continues to grow. Most non-payers are concentrated in Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regions, where the situation with paying for communal services is particularly critical. The main problems are non-payment for heating and water supply, which constitute a significant part of household maintenance costs.
Deputy Kucherenko believes that the reason for the increase in debts is not only the economic crisis, but also the imperfection of the existing legislation, which does not provide sufficient control over the payment of utility bills. According to him, the state should strengthen control over the situation and introduce legislative mechanisms that would allow reducing the amount of debt and preventing its further growth. One of such mechanisms, according to the deputy, is the introduction of restrictions on real estate transactions for citizens who have debts for housing and communal services. This approach, although it looks radical, is necessary to ensure the stability of the communal system and protect the interests of the state.
In addition, Kucherenko draws attention to the fact that despite the current moratorium on tariff increases, many citizens have stopped paying utility bills. This is especially true in Kyiv, where a large part of residents stopped paying for water supply services. According to the deputy, this creates an additional burden on the housing and communal system, which is already in a difficult state due to the economic crisis caused by the war. He believes that the state should take more responsibility for solving this problem and strengthen legislative measures to ensure the stable functioning of the communal system.
Kucherenko also emphasizes that the problem of debt for communal services is not only financial, but also social. Many citizens, especially retirees and the poor, are simply unable to pay their bills on time due to low incomes and the rising cost of living. This endangers the stability not only of the housing and communal system, but also of the social sphere in general. Therefore, according to the deputy, the state should develop comprehensive measures that would include both strengthening control over the payment of communal services and providing social support to those citizens most affected by the economic crisis.
Thus, Oleksiy Kucherenko calls for urgent actions in the direction of solving the problem of debt for housing and communal services in Ukraine. He believes that without decisive legislative changes, the situation may lead to an even greater accumulation of debts, which will endanger not only the functioning of the communal sphere, but also the financial stability of many Ukrainian families. The deputy emphasizes that in order to solve the problem, it is necessary to ensure a balanced approach that will take into account the interests of both the state and citizens, in particular through the strengthening of legislative control and the provision of social support to the most vulnerable categories of the population.
