legislation

Proposed law seeks to impose penalties on landlords for tenant crimes

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crimesceneIRPOA urges landlords to contact their representatives

Senate Bill 1547 has passed the Illinois Senate and is being debated in committee tomorrow at 10am in the Illinois House Judiciary Committee.  The Illinois Rental Property Owners Association is asking landlords to contact their representatives to oppose this legislation.  The proposed legislation seeks to allow municipalities to penalize landlords for the “underlying criminal conduct” of their tenants.  Penalties can include fees or fines, revocation, suspension or nonrenewal of a rental permit or license, termination or denial of subsidized housing contracts, and termination or nonrenewal of leases.

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Landlords beware: assessor can now crack down on wrongful property tax exemptions

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exemptThe Illinois Legislature has passed an amendment, effective immediately, to the Illinois Property Tax Code adding a new section to the law at 35 ILCS 200/9-275.  The law, which has been long opposed by Illinois landlords, allows the county assessor to go back as many as six assessment years (depending on the number of exemptions claimed) prior to the current assessment year, to record a tax lien against a parcel that was granted an improper property tax exemption.  Exemptions that the assessor can challenge are the disabled veteran exemption, returning veteran exemption, disabled person exemption, disabled veteran standard homestead, senior citizen exemption, senior citizens assessment freeze, general homestead exemption, alternative general homestead exemption, and long-time occupant exemption.

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How long will it be until Chicago landlords mimic San Francisco’s landlords?

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quitIn addition to handling landlord-tenant legal issues for our clients, our firm also handles real estate closings.  One interesting trend I have taken notice of recently is the number of my landlord clients who have decided to quit.  That’s right, they are quitting the landlording game.  During the last week of May, I closed a real estate sale for a client I had helped just a few months before remove an unruly tenant from her condominium unit.  Just last week, a client hired me to “handle my eviction and then help me with the sale of this place”.  The scenario is getting more and more common.  A landlord comes to me to get the tenant out and then to help with the sale of the real estate.  It is a trend that I think will continue.

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