In 2023 alone, courts in Ukraine issued at least 300,000 decisions to collect debts for utility services. This applies not only to those who ignore payments, but also to pensioners, migrants, Ukrainians abroad, and even those who sell apartments with debts. Court cases are launched using a simplified procedure, without summoning the defendants — and within a few days, the debtors' accounts can be blocked and the money forcibly written off.
According to OpenDatabot analytics, over 28% of all civil cases in 2023 were related to utility debts. For comparison: cases regarding bank loans account for only 12%.
Court without summons and minimum terms
By law, utility companies can file a lawsuit without the participation of the debtor — and receive a court order within 5 days. If the debtor does not file an objection within the next 15 days, the case is automatically transferred to the enforcement service. There, accounts are blocked, funds are debited, and in the absence of money, personal property is seized.
The accountant of one of the condominiums near Kyiv told OBOZ.UA how it works:
“We submit a list of debtors to a lawyer. A few months later, we receive court orders. Then the enforcement service automatically collects money from the accounts.”.
Even pensioners and refugees are on the list.
For example, a resident of the Odessa region, 84-year-old Mykola Fedorovych, ended up in the debtors' register for 7.3 thousand UAH in debt for house maintenance. The municipal enterprise "Vuzivsky" did not even pay the court fee, explaining that it has a total debt of residents of more than 42 million UAH.
The courts side with utility companies even in cases where people do not live in apartments. For example, in Lviv, residents of one apartment owed UAH 21.8 thousand. The court ordered them to pay the debt, interest, inflation costs, and even court fees — a total of UAH 27.8 thousand. One of the defendants argued that he had been living abroad since May 2023, but this did not convince the court.
Even selling an apartment does not relieve you of debt. A woman who owned the apartment only from February to September 2023 was ordered to pay over UAH 7,000 in 2025 - because it was at that time that the property rights were registered.
The situation is getting worse: more and more debtors
According to OpenDatabot, since the beginning of the full-scale war, the number of debtors has increased by a third. The biggest problems are with water utilities, which cannot raise tariffs without the regulator's permission, but at the same time do not receive payment.
Judicial mechanisms have become the de facto main method of “knocking out” debts. And the law allows for the imposition of fines, penalties, seizure of property, and blocking of accounts.
What threatens debtors
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Penalty: 0.01% for each day of delay
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Lawsuits without a summons
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Seizure of property and accounts
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Removal of household appliances, furniture and personal belongings
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Disabling the service (if technically possible)
All of this is a reality for those who do not pay their bills on time. War, moving, or not living in an apartment does not exempt them from the obligation to pay. The law is not on the side of debtors.
How to avoid a debt trap?
Appeal court orders within 15 days, record the fact of non-residence, monitor payments, and check your presence in the Ministry of Justice's debtors' register.
