lease drafting

Rent Increase Provisions for 2020?

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New Residential Lease Concepts?

As 2020 begins, Illinois landlords are finding a business landscape that is not hospitable.  There are new regulations (Just Housing Amendment) and threats of new regulations (just cause for eviction and rent control).  They are facing a looming triennial reasessment by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi who is clearly targeting multi-unit residential properties.  They face higher taxes, higher fees, and higher utility charges.  What’s to be done?

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The 5 stages of “grief” for Landlords with CRLTO problems

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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.

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Top Five Reasons to Have an Attorney Draft Your Lease

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Leases are important business contracts.  After choosing the “right” tenant, having a valid, enforceable, and favorable lease is the best protection of a landlord’s rental business.  Unfortunately, a poorly drafted lease or a lease that fails to include required disclosures or legal requirements can result in a nightmare for a landlord.  A written lease provides landlords certainty of the agreed upon terms that govern the landlord-tenant relationship.

Many landlords buy a lease “off the shelf”, find a form online, or borrow one from a friend.  Worse, they put these leases into use without really considering the lease’s contents.  When trouble brews, these landlords are often unpleasantly surprised to find that their “standard” lease does not help them and maybe even hurts their cause.

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