Questions and answers

The header of the bill shows the payee and their contact details: this may be a management company, a homeowners' association or a utility supplier. If you receive several bills, you are paying different organisations directly for different services.

Usually on the bill, with the service provider, in GIS ZhKKh or on Gosuslugi. GIS ZhKKh is a state information system created under Federal Law No. 209-FZ of 21 July 2014. What it offers depends on whether your region and provider are connected to it.

It is a check that a water or heat meter reads correctly. Meters undergo it periodically; the time until the next verification is called the verification interval and is stated in the meter's data sheet. Keep the data sheet and verification documents.

Check the readings and the billing period, the personal account and the list of services. If the discrepancy remains, contact the payee using the details on the bill and ask for the charge to be explained. We do not check calculations and do not know your building's tariffs.

Under the WHO principles for safer food, cooked food should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours. Put leftovers in the fridge, which should be below 5 °C.

Separately. Keep raw meat, poultry and fish in closed containers below ready-to-eat food and use a separate board and knife for them. This is one of the WHO's five keys: keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, use safe water and raw materials.

Do not switch lights or electrical appliances on or off and do not light a flame. Turn off the tap on the cooker if it is safe to do so, open the windows, leave the premises and call the emergency gas service on 104 or the single emergency number 112 (in Russia).

No. Mixing household chemicals is dangerous: for example, chlorine-based products combined with acidic products or ammonia release hazardous gases. Use one product according to its instructions and keep chemicals in their original packaging, out of children's reach.

Usually jobs that do not involve opening up the building services: tightening furniture fittings, changing a bulb in a switched-off light fitting, clearing a sink trap, replacing a window seal. If in doubt, stop and ask a professional.

We give no instructions for work on electrical wiring or the consumer unit. Such work requires training and certification — call an electrician. If a socket gets hot, sparks or smells of burning, switch the appliance off and do not use the socket until it has been checked.

No. Connecting, moving and repairing gas equipment is done only by gas service specialists or the organisation you have a maintenance contract with. If you smell gas, call 104 or 112.

Turn off the water at the valve on the supply hose or at the flat's main inlet, put a container underneath and mop up the water so it does not leak to the neighbours below. If the leak is before the stop valve or from the riser, call the building's emergency dispatch service straight away — its number is on your bill.