What would you do if you came home to your apartment to discover that the landlord had changed the locks?
Or, as a landlord, you received your tenant`s rent check on time-but it was $100 short?
How would you handle an unreturned security deposit?
Such dilemmas give rise to migraine headaches, flaring tempers and, sometimes, litigation. But there are ways for suburban renters and landlords, like their urban counterparts, to avert costly legal procedures and find help through local government, legal aid foundations and tenant organizations.
In Chicago, residents can turn to the Rogers Park Community Action Network, the Metropolitan Tenants Organization or the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing. There are similar organizations that offer help to suburban residents and some organizations that operate both in Chicago and in the suburbs.
Seeking help locally
Sometimes, a local source of help is the best source.
”In general, whatever region someone lives in, there`s probably a village or city attorney they could contact in their town, or a building inspector,” says Ralph Scott, housing organizer for the Rogers Park Community Action Network.
”In the suburbs, I refer them to the village hall in that community. They should call directly and speak to someone in the economic development or housing department,” says Chris Williams, housing counselor at the West Suburban Housing Center in Westchester, a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. The center, which charges no fee for its services, serves west suburban Cook and Du Page Counties.
Williams said that a familiarity with local ordinance can help renters learn when it is appropriate to make reduced rent payments if a landlord refuses to make needed repairs. ”But it must be done in compliance with local ordinance,” she says.
Though Williams` organization`s principal concern is offering housing referrals and wrestling with racial discrimination issues, center personnel can offer renters advice on how to handle other contentious issues.
For example, Williams advises tenants to ask a potential landlord to include special provisions in a lease, such as a ”transfer” or
”cancellation” clause, which allows the renter to terminate the lease agreement with a 60-day notice.
Williams also counsels callers that landlords can deduct charges for dirty carpets, missing light bulbs, undefrosted refrigerators and missing ice trays from the returnable portion of the security deposit.
”You should have the landlord do a walk-through with you so they don`t go deducting money from you. You need to get a moveout inspection,” Williams says.
Lawyer referrals
Residents can also seek help from lawyer referral services sponsored by county bar associations.
For a $25 fee, the service will refer you to a nearby attorney who is a member of the county bar association, says Tonya Sears, administrative assistant for the Du Page County Lawyers Referral Service.
Sears says the fee covers a half-hour in-office consultation with the attorney. The fee goes to the referral service to keep it running and the time is donated by the participating attorneys. If further legal counsel is needed, the attorney will discuss fee schedules with the client. ”It really depends on the case, what they`re going to charge,” says Sears.
Sears says the Du Page service lists 20 lawyers as specialists in landlord-tenant disputes. She says the center receives a total of about 1,200 calls per month. About 600 of those callers are referred to attorneys and about 30 of those referrals are made regarding landlord-tenant problems, she says.
Similar services are offered by referral services in Lake, Kane and Cook Counties, Sears said.
Low-income and elderly tenants in Chicago suburbs can seek advice from Prairie State Legal Services Inc. That organization`s Wheaton office serves Du Page County, the St. Charles office serves Kane County and the Waukegan office serves McHenry and Lake Counties.
”We get a lot of landlord-tenant problems. That`s probably the thing we get the most of besides family law,” says Linda Rothnagel, managing attorney at the Waukegan office. She says the Waukegan office alone handles more than 300 inquiries and complaints each year.
Eliot Abarbanel, managing attorney for Prairie State`s Wheaton office, says many disputes are resolved through Prairie State without lawsuits. ”More than a majority of suits can be resolved by mediation,” he says, ”both before and after a lawsuit has been filed.”
The Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation Inc., which also serves low-income and senior citizens for no charge, has offices in Evanston, Oak Park and Harvey. Will County Legal Assistance is located in Joliet.
Try mediation
Another alternative source of help for suburban renters is the Center for Conflict Resolution, which offers free mediation services to both Chicagoans and suburban residents.
”Mediation can work in cases where people have ongoing relationships-
(with in) families, or if both parties have a complaint (for example, if the rent was withheld in retaliation for an alleged wrongdoing committed by the landlord),” says Kathy Cheney-Egan, the conflict resolution center`s project coordinator.
There is no charge for the mediation service, which is partially funded by court filing fees. It can be used to avoid court proceedings or after court action has been initiated. If it`s chosen before the conflict has reached the litigation stage, a meeting can be set up at the mediation center in Chicago. John Grisius, the center`s associate director, says about 65 to 75 percent of the 1,300 mediations done by the center last year resulted in resolution.
But, he cautions, ”Some disputes are not appropriate for mediation. They`re not at a stage where they`re willing to resolve it.”
Douglas Pensack, field director of the Illinois Tenants Union, says he considers mediation ”worthless.”
”Landlords have an automatic advantage,” Pensack says, ”because of the fact that they own property. They have a position of authority that comes from ownership of property and they have more money.”
Pensack`s organization, which receives no government subsidy, charges for its services, which it provides to both city and suburban residents.
Pensack advises people to know their rights as defined by law. ”The main protection tenants have is following the letter of the law. If you`re having a dispute and the dispute could have legal ramifications, get advice before you act or get advice before the landlord acts,” he says.
The Illinois Tenants Union will help renters conduct property inspections in addition to dispensing advice on breaking leases, security deposits, eviction and reduced rent payments, Pensack says. ”We can find out the facts and, if there are technical issues, we can help them with that,” he says.
Pensack says the law affords tenants additional protection in Chicago, Evanston and Mt. Prospect, the three municipalities that have local landlord- tenant legislation.
”In all three cases, tenants have quite a few rights conferred by those laws,” Pensack says.
Evanston`s ordinance, adopted in 1975, puts limits on security deposit amounts and pre-paid rent amounts, says Bill Povalla, Evanston`s housing planner. ”We basically told the landlords they could collect up to 1 1/2 months` rent in security,” he says.
Mt. Prospect followed suit in 1983. Village Manager John Dixon says the ordinance seems to have helped people cope with disputes. ”The first year there were an awful lot of calls we had and then it dropped significantly,”
Dixon says. And callers include both landlords and tenants, he says. ”The ordinance gives rights to both sides.”
”Our ultimate goal is to get a landlord-tenant ordinance similar to Chicago or Evanston,” says Russ Sorber, of the Oak Park Community Action Network, a citizen group formed in the 1980s in response to landlord-tenant problems.
Sorber became personally involved with the group after experiencing his own rental problems. ”I got involved because of a heat problem I was having with a landlord. It was 42 degrees and the front door lock stopped working a week after I moved in,” he says.
Though no comprehensive ordinance has been passed by the village board, Oak Park does have requirements more stringent than state law regarding interest payments on security deposits. State law mandates that tenants who live in buildings with 25 or more units must receive 5 percent interest on their deposit. Oak Park`s law applies to tenants in buildings with four or more units, Sorber says.
The group has also helped people with unsafe living conditions and evictions, Sorber says.
”We ask a lot of questions about code violations. A lot of times we give people the number of the code enforcement officials in Oak Park,” Sorber says.
