The City of Chicago Did What?

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New Chicago RLTO Summary released Back in March 2024, we discovered something new on the City of Chicago website section dealing with rentals. The link for the Chicago RLTO summary connected to a document that vaguely looked like an RLTO summary. It had all the same information as the prior summary with just a small … Read more

Chicago Issues New Summary?

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I was alerted to a new issue on the City of Chicago website. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance Summary is NEW. However, it looks unformatted. Frankly, it looks unprofessional. I’m not sure why. The new summary doesn’t even have a date on it. This will surely add to confusion for Chicago landlords.

IDFPR releases 2024 Illinois Security Deposit Interest Rate

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Yesterday, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s Division of Banking announced the new rate of interest for security deposits governed by the Illinois Security Deposit Interest Act 765 ILCS 715 (and other local laws that utilize the Illinois rate). The rate was explained to be “paid by the largest commercial bank with its … Read more

We are still waiting on the interest rate summary

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It seemed like things were getting better with the City of Chicago, however, the last two years haven’t been great when it came to the timely release of security deposit interest rates. It is January 3, 2024 and the page that was updated on January 5, 2023 remains up (see below in case they change … Read more

An important announcement – High Court Proposes New Forms

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Illinois Supreme Court Proposed FormsAnswers, Counterclaims, and Defenses

As my readers know from my posting infrequency over the last few months, things are super busy in our landlord-tenant practice.  However, this morning, a fellow attorney alerted me to an issue that I want to take time out to share.  The Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice has promulgated a set of new Answer, Defenses, and Counterclaim forms for tenants’ use in eviction cases.  The forms can be found here on the Illinois Courts webpage.

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What is old is new as HB 2775 is signed into law by Illinois Governor

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Section 8 protections expanded House Bill 2775 was signed into law on May 23, 2022.  The law, introduced by Representative La Shawn K. Ford, amends the Illinois Human Rights Act by prohibiting source of income discrimination in real estate transaction under the State’s fair housing laws.  This change brings the entire State of Illinois into … Read more

The Current State of Evictions in Cook County

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Can we evict?

I get the phonecalls from landlords every day.  “I hear we can evict tenants again – is that true?”  Hmm… that’s a simple question that requires a nuanced answer.  It is true that on October 4, 2021, the eviction moratorium was lifted, but what replaced it is a system that pre-covid landlords (and their attorneys) might not recognize.  A system that was flawed could arguably be said to be purposefully broken.  We couldn’t evict (except in rare circumstances) before the moratorium ended.   Now, with the moratorium lifted, we face a system that seems almost designed to slow the process and is already in need of significant reform.  Here’s a “state of the union” for evictions in Cook County’s 1st district:

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Where is the bilingual 2022 security deposit interest rate summary?

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UPDATE: Shortly after publication of this article, the Interest Rate Summary was made available by the City of Chicago and it can be found here.  The point about the City’s tardy delivery remains valid.

Why does this happen every year?  It is now January 4, 2022 and we still do not have a bilingual interest rate summary from the City of Chicago as required by Section 5-12-170 of the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.  Why?

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