"Kyivvodokanal disconnected water supply to comfort class residential complex: residents accuse the developer of fraud

Despite the 30-degree heat in Kyiv, two thousand residents of the new comfort-class buildings “British Quarter” were left without water – allegedly due to the legal entity’s debt to the JSC “Kyivvodokanal”.

Residents of the residential complex reported this.

People claim that since moving in in 2016, they have been paying all utility bills issued by the operating company on time. However, the developer company “Royal House” has still not signed a contract for water supply and sanitation, which is why a debt of more than UAH 1 million has accumulated as of early July 2021.

The developer’s office claims that all networks have long been transferred to the operating office. At the same time, the servicing cooperative "House Management" is a subsidiary of the developer, where the latter appoints and removes key managers.

"We have direct contracts only with Kyivenergo. For all other utilities, including water supply and sewerage, initially the contracts are only with House Management. They issue invoices, settle them with the developer - the company Royal House, and the latter must buy water and, in theory, pays for it to the service provider," says resident Iryna Bykovska.

PJSC Kyivvodokanal did not find it possible to clarify on what basis individuals were disconnected from water supply services and whether the company had signed a direct contract for the provision of water supply and sanitation services with this legal entity.

However, unofficially, the sewerage department of the KV utility reported a violation of the standards for laying utility lines, which the developer was allegedly repeatedly informed about. “The discrepancy in the diameter of the drainage systems does not allow us to accept the networks onto our balance sheet – no one wants to go to court voluntarily,” a source in the company said.

Bykovska claims that according to the information published by the Housing Office, the amount of debt for water supply and sanitation in the most populated building of the British Quarter does not exceed 12 thousand UAH. At the same time, there was no debt at all before 2018. “It all started when the developer changed the management of House Management, including the accountant,” she clarifies.

"Only House Management takes information on meters. They have not shown us a single document confirming the debt of one million hryvnia. At the same time, we have no opportunity to accept utility networks on the balance sheet or sign contracts with utility providers on a legal basis, since the developer refuses to provide technical documentation to homeowners," says Bykovska.

According to the Cadastral Map of Ukraine, all land plots on which the residential complex is located are owned by the House Management cooperative and have a single intended purpose. The Royal House Group commissioned the British Quarter residential complex in 2016. The effective area is 44,000 sq. m. The company is also the developer of the New England residential complex, located nearby.

At the moment, the founders of the company in the statutory documents are listed as cooperative members without specifying their names. But in 2016-2017, Viktor Hanzha, Vitaliy Hanzha - also the general director of "Royal House" and the former Kharkiv City Council of the VII convocation (elected from the PP "Kernes Bloc - Successful Kharkiv"), Vyacheslav Murenko and Vitaliy Petruchenko appeared in the Unified State Register.

Murenko is also a pastor of the Evangelical Christian Baptist community in the city of Vasylkiv. Vitaliy Hanzha, a possible relative of the pastor of the Word of Faith church, is also an active member of the ECB movement.

On the eve of the publication, KV reported that water supply services had been reconnected, but on what basis and for how long, residents do not know.

KyivVlada