I was not planning on discussing bedbugs this week, however, in the wake of Orkin’s recent report that Chicago has the worst bedbug problem in the nation, the City Council of Chicago has proposed a new ordinance that would impose a responsibility on Chicago landlords to address bedbug problems and the law is getting quite a bit of press. We’ve been discussing tenant move-in and move-out this week, so let’s talk just a bit about when bedbugs move-in and what, if anything, landlords have to do to move them out. The Chicago Tribune reported that alderman had a hearing this past Tuesday at a joint meeting of the City Council Health and Housing committees on comprehensive new proposed ordinance to deal with these increasingly common pests.
CRLTO
2013 Chicago Security Deposit Interest Rate Summary released for CRLTO covered properties
The City of Chicago has released the new 2013 version of the separate security deposit interest rate summary required to be attached to leases covered by the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance executed in 2013.
This is the second of the two summaries required by Section 5-12-170 of the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.
2013 City of Chicago CRLTO Secuirty Deposit Interest Rate set
The Comptroller of the City of Chicago has issued its statement of the interest rate paid on passbook savings accounts, insured money market accounts and six month certificates of deposit at the commercial bank having its main branch located in the city and having the largest total asset value which sets the interest rate for landlords to charge under Section 5-12-080 of the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance.
The rate for 2013 is
Notice of code violations and utility shut offs under the CRLTO
Landlords of tenancies covered by the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance must make a number of disclosures to prospective tenants before entering into a lease. One such required disclosure, found in Section 5-12-100 of the CRLTO, is the notice to lessees of “conditions affecting habitability”.
Section 100 imposes two written disclosure requirements. Section (a) deals with code violations and section (b) deals with utilities. The ordinance requires that the disclosure be made before a tenant initially enters into a lease or before the tenant renews a rental agreement. That means landlords must constantly be aware of these disclosures whether the lease is new or being renewed. Some “Chicago” lease forms (remember, there is no such thing as a “standard” Chicago lease) provide a space for the information right on the form but many (most) do not. Landlords without a form for this information should prepare one (we commonly provide such a form when we assist landlords with their lease drafting and review) and make sure it makes it into the tenant’s hands when the lease is offered.
The 5 stages of “grief” for Landlords with CRLTO problems
The Kübler-Ross Model of the stages of grief deals with the feelings people experience in response to death or terminal illness. There are five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. There is no real “order” to the stages and many people move from one stage to the other and back again. Eventually, people move on to a peaceful acceptance of death.
Interestingly, in my landlord-tenant practice, I have found that Chicago landlords who have violated the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance go through these same stages after being served with a complaint or a nasty attorney letter threatening legal action based upon violations of the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.
Unciteable CRLTO cases – Part II
A few weeks ago, I wrote about an interesting case, Weininger v. Haldes, published pursuant to Rule 23(e). Be reminded that this is the rule that provides that the case usually cannot be cited in other cases and does not have precedential authority in other cases. In other words, the opinion is “out there” but cannot be relied upon by landlords or tenants. Today, I will discuss another fairly recent Supreme Court Rule 23(e) case from 2011, Bilsky v. Calabrese, that muddies the landlord-tenant waters with an uncharacteristically landlord friendly holding.
Unciteable CRLTO cases
Every now and then, we come across “uncitable” orders filed pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23(e), that deal with fundamental Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) security deposit issues. These are strange birds. They are “out there” in the stream of discourse, however, they cannot be cited (except in rare exceptions) and have no precedential value. Depending on your perspective, this might or might not be a good thing.
Notice of Intent Not to Renew under the CRLTO – when a 30 day notice becomes a 60 day notice
UPDATE: A new version of 5-12-130(j) has passed the City Council. This article is no longer timely. As Chicago landlord-tenant attorneys, one situation that we frequently run into is when a Chicago landlord is forced to serve a sixty (60) day notice to terminate tenancy instead of a thirty (30) day notice. This situation arises when the CRLTO applies and the tenant’s lease term has expired without the landlord serving a proper notice of intent not to renew. Many Chicago landlord’s incorrectly believe that once a lease term expires, that is the end of the tenancy. This is not so.
Why does CRLTO compliance matter for landlords?
I know. Really, I know. You hate the ordinance. I hate it too. I think it is poorly written, contains lots of ambiguities, and is certainly draconian. The law leaves much room for improvement, however, landlords themselves have brought some of the law’s harshness upon themselves with their past bad acts. Unfortunately, it is the law. Landlords need to comply strictly… before it is too late.