Demsky new building residents endure second month without heating
Residents of new buildings in Ufa«s Demsky district are shivering from the cold — and no, the outdoor frost is hardly to blame here, although it does affect the situation. The temperature in some apartments is so low that it»s felt immediately upon entry, as if the owners have thrown the windows wide open. In reality, it«s worse — the radiators, if they heat at all, do so only slightly. Residents believe the problem lies with the boiler room on the roof of the building. UFA1.RU visited the »Yarkiy« microdistrict and spoke with locals.
Residents of building No. 9 on Kustarevskaya Embankment contacted our editorial office: according to them, heating interruptions began back in December and continue to this day. The building itself was handed over in 2020.
«We have our own boiler room on the roof. It broke down: out of four boilers, only one is working, the others are leaking, with holes formed. The management company didn»t monitor the boilers. Every morning and evening we call the management company to come and «start» the boilers. They take a long time to arrive, sometimes they don«t come at all, and now they say they bought boilers and we have to pay for them,» a resident of the building said.
In the entranceway, meanwhile, a New Year«s mood prevails, with a Christmas tree standing, and overall everything looks very nice. It»s just cold — even here the radiator is barely warm.
The woman says that apartment owners appealed to the district administration, but it only relayed the management company«s words that the problem was solved. But that»s not the case — and we confirmed it. Although, perhaps at that specific moment, there was indeed heat. They also claim to have written to the State Housing Inspectorate, but there they were advised to resolve issues with the management company. Now, Demsky residents intend to contact the prosecutor«s office if the apartments don»t get warmer.
A fifth-floor resident showed us his apartment — as soon as we entered, we immediately felt the cold, as if the windows were open. But they were closed — the man said he even replaced the seals on them for winter. We touched the radiator — slightly warm.
«Usually they are much colder. They are still warm now,» the apartment owner noted.
A neighbor adds: hers is even colder.
When it«s really cold, the man turns on the oven in his apartment and leaves it on for an hour or two. Yes, it»s unsafe, but there«s no other way. His neighbor has heat guns — they consume electricity but don»t help much.
«We»re trying to do something. We wrote to the Demsky District Administration. They come, tidy things up downstairs, the heating is supplied, they measure — and it«s already normal. They come at 3:00 or 4:00 p.m., when the building is already warmed up. But at night, early in the morning, you constantly wake up from the cold,» the man says.
According to residents, no one warned them that if the boiler room broke down, they would have to buy components for it at their own expense. Moreover, they believe the management company knew this perfectly well. Residents note: if they had been told right away that this could happen, they wouldn«t have taken the apartment (well, maybe that»s the point).
«As our building senior wrote, the warranty on the boilers has expired. They broke down before, but it was livable, but this winter we»re practically living without heating. It«s freezing at home. I sometimes walk around in a jacket because it»s impossible,« a resident shares.
Last year there was a different scourge — the radiators were roasting too hot. Now, they say, the apartments are generally unfit for living. Homeowners believe the boilers are in rusty and emergency condition because no one monitored them during the entire warranty period.
Residents think that if the management company bought the boilers with its own money, it would treat them more carefully. They want to install cameras on the roof to see the condition of the equipment.
Calling a repair crew from the management company, residents say, is not easy: first they send a plumber who is supposed to measure the temperature, but he doesn«t have access to the roof, and the instrumentation technicians arrive after 3–4 hours.
«If it»s cold at home, we don«t call out of a good life. If we call when our heating has stopped, it»s an emergency situation. We want them to respond urgently. Such negligent attitude is unpleasant,« people say.
Difficulties aren«t only with heating. The roof-top boiler room supplies hot water to the taps. Accordingly, now it»s hard for residents to even take a shower: there«s no hot water at night, nor in the morning, they have to catch the moment.
According to their measurements, the temperature at home doesn«t rise above +20 degrees Celsius (68°F), which overall is the norm (starting from +18°C or 64°F). Some last paid for heating back in November, but as soon as interruptions began — they stopped.
Those who continued to pay bills receive different figures. One resident in December 2025 had to pay 958 rubles (about $11 at current rates) for 0.7 Gcal, in January 2026 — 774 rubles (about $9) for 0.5 Gcal, while in November 2025 he paid 844 rubles (about $9). That is, the difference calculated was only about 100 rubles (about $1).
Another resident in previous months had bills of no more than a thousand rubles (in past November, only 400 rubles or about $4), in January 2026 he was charged a little over a thousand, which he paid. Another owner shared that she pays about 1.5 thousand rubles (about $17), similar figures were cited by other residents of the building.
«Just need to move the toilet outside — and it will be like in a village. No difference, no conditions,» says a woman from a fifth-floor apartment.
When we went to the sixth floor, we met another resident by the elevator and told him about the purpose of the visit. He laughed a little and replied:
«Very cold. It»s cold everywhere here — you can go into every apartment,« said the fifth-floor resident.
On the sixth floor, we met with another owner, he has three children who have been sick for the second day. The temperature on the floor of the apartment, according to his measurements, is only +15 degrees Celsius (59°F), in the room — about +20°C (68°F), but the resident notes that usually the temperature is lower.
The man says that when the emergency crew arrives, they do something, the heating starts working, but it only lasts for an hour or two.
«We wrote to all authorities, under posts by the head of the district administration, the mayor, but so far nothing has helped,» the resident says.
He noted that last year the apartments were indeed hot, but it didn«t cause inconvenience because they could regulate the heat in their radiators. Our interlocutor believes it»s all about the maintenance of the boilers.
«As I understand it, the management company accepted them without water treatment. Everything settles there, maintenance needs to be done. Therefore, out of four boilers, only one works. Hot water is still more or less, but the radiator doesn»t heat at all,« he said.
In the dispatch office of the management company, they tried several times to connect us with the manager, but he couldn«t answer the calls. We also couldn»t reach director Regina Valitova. UFA1.RU correspondent sent questions to the management company«s email — as soon as a response is received, we will publish it.
The houses are serviced by «Progress-Ufa Management Company». It was registered in 2016 in Ufa.
According to «Kontur.Fokus» data, the director is Regina Valitova — in the past she worked in the Demsky District Housing and Utilities Department. The owner is Rustem Akhmadullin, associated with a number of other management companies.
Revenue for 2024 amounted to 153 million rubles (about $1.7 million), and net profit — 136 thousand rubles (about $1,500).
Recall, earlier UFA1.RU showed how the «Yarkiy» microdistrict developed — from an empty field to dense development. In this material we gathered tips on how to legally save on utility bills, including how to request a recalculation.
