It’s time for the City of Chicago to renew the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. The ordinance provides rights for many tenants which has helped many find resolution, but what about those who aren’t as financially strong to be able to find a new place in a short time?
What about additional penalties to ensure enforcement actions from the City have teeth to promote compliance with these larger firms who feel its financially viable to stay out of compliance?
We request the city consider the following additions / changes to support the rights of tenants in the City of Chicago.
- Require landlords to advise up front of all outstanding violations, not just those done in the last 12 months. The current standard puts the prospective tenant at a financial loss if they back out as they don’t get the detail until after a lease is drawn up.
- Hold agents accountable who show properties to ensure that such violations are advised ahead of time.
- Require landlords to inform tenants by notice that an inspection was performed and whether they failed or passed, including all related notes, within 14 days of the inspection.
- Three strike rule. If a repair has had to be conducted more than three times, that the tenant reserves the right to terminate their lease.
- Allow tenants to recover up to 2 months of rent, move-in fees, security deposit, and credit check fees if they leverage their rights under the RLTO to early terminate their lease due to a breach of RLTO provisions.
- Provide a standard template by which said violations should be shown to a tenant to avoid landlords from minimalizing or reducing the visibility under the disclosure requirement.
Believe there should be more to this? Please send us an email and let us know!