Having differences with your landlord is like getting the chicken pox. Establishing the fact that you’ve got them is a no-brainer. The hard part is figuring out what to do.
Fortunately, there are a number of organizations around the city and suburbs that help tenants and landlords sort out their differences. The most common issues involve repairs, evictions, failure to return security deposits and discrimination.
– Repairs. Complaints about landlords not making repairs to an apartment unit represent “at least a third” of the nearly 12,000 calls received each year on the tenant hot line operated by the Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO, 773-292-4980), says hot-line coordinator John Bartlett. Included in those numbers are complaints that range from rental units that are infested with cockroaches to landlords who don’t heat during the winter, Bartlett says.
Whatever the dilemma, most tenants can find relief by following some simple procedures. In Chicago, under the Residential Landlord-Tenant Ordinance, tenants may have the right to make the repairs themselves and then deduct the costs from their rent. To find out about how to use the “repair and deduct” clause of the law, call a tenants rights group such as MTO or the Rogers Park Community Action Network (773-973-7888).
Such groups can help guide you through the step-by-step process, help you report the building owner to local officials or, if necessary, refer you to a group that provides legal assistance.
– Evictions. Evictions rank number two on the list of complaint calls fielded by MTO, which gets about 2,000 calls a year from tenants who are either being evicted from their apartments or threatened with eviction. After listening to the individual tenant’s story, the MTO’s advice usually boils down to one of two strategies: try to negotiate or get a lawyer.
“It’s not unusual to get a call from a tenant who’s been laid off from work and doesn’t have money to pay the rent,” Bartlett says. Because there is little legal recourse for such a tenant, MTO usually advises the person to try to negotiate with the landlord while seeking a new job.
In some cases, the tenant may be able to apply for financial assistance through his or her local department of human services, but “lots of landlords won’t take rent subsidies,” Bartlett says.
If a tenant has been evicted illegally, MTO often refers clients to groups such as the Legal Assistance Foundation (312-341-1070) or the Lawyers Committee for Better Housing (312-347-7600).
Based in Chicago, Legal Assistance Foundation (LAF) handles landlord-tenant disputes for low-income tenants, as defined by federal guidelines. For example, a family of four in Chicago that earns less than $24,604 would qualify for legal assistance from LAF.
Eviction cases represent about 60 percent of LAF’s caseload, says Richard Wheelock, housing supervisory attorney, but the group also handles other housing issues, such as tenants suing landlords to make repairs.
The Lawyers Committee for Better Housing also specializes in evictions, as well as housing conservation, which involves working with tenant groups to preserve habitable conditions in a building. The committee also provides legal assistance to tenants on fair housing matters, including sexual harassment and discrimination based on family status, race and sexual orientation, says Abby Van Echaut, policy intern.
Like the Legal Assistance Foundation, the committee follows federal income guidelines in providing assistance.
If you don’t qualify for free or subsidized legal help, experts recommend getting assistance from a qualified attorney. Eviction court is no place for the do-it-yourself lawyer, says LAF’s Wheelock.
“If you don’t have an attorney, your chances of prevailing are close to nil, regardless of how good your case is,” says Wheelock. “Unrepresented tenants almost always lose by virtue of the fact that the attorney brings more knowledge and expertise of the legal system. An attorney knows the rules.”
– Security deposits. While the Lawyer’s Committee, LAF and other like-minded organizations handle a variety of issues, they do not provide help in recovering security deposits, which rank among the top three complaints received by MTO.
“Our organization responds to the needs of the community, and we don’t have a large number of (security deposit) cases,” Van Echaut says.
Wheelock says the Legal Assistance Foundation doesn’t handle security deposit cases because it allocates the majority of its limited resources to eviction cases. Plus, he says, tenants seeking to recover security deposits can typically pursue the claim in pro se court, which handles smaller claims.
Under Chicago’s Residential Landlord-Tenant Ordinance, landlords are required to let you know of any planned deductions from your security deposit within 30 days from the end of the lease term. The landlord has an additional 15 days, for a total of 45 days from the end of the lease, to return the deposit minus any charges.
If you don’t receive anything from you landlord in the allotted 45 days, write a letter to your landlord highlighting that you paid a full deposit, left the apartment in good shape and expect your full deposit, plus any applicable interest, to be returned, Bartlett says.
If your correspondence nets you no deposit, you may want to contact an organization such as the Cook County Bar Association Community Law Project (312-630-9363), which works with volunteer lawyers to provide free legal services. Though these lawyers will not, typically, go in to court to litigate issues, they will provide assistance on drafting letters to landlords to explain your rights.
That’s often a motivational tool for landlords to pay up, says Francine Anderson, executive director of the Community Law Project.
“Generally, once a landlord gets a letter from an attorney, he’ll pay the security deposit because he sees the tenant is serious about pursuing the matter,” Anderson says.
In Chicago, tenants can sue to recover twice the amount of your deposit, interest, court costs and lawyer fees. In situations where a trip to court is required, Anderson advises getting legal help, even for pro se court.
Her group often refers tenants pushed to litigating to individual members of the Chicago Bar, as well as to groups that provide low-cost legal services such as the Chicago Legal Clinic (773-731-1762), the Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic (312-266-1345) or CARPLES (Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services (312-738-9200).
– Fair housing. While problems related to security deposits and evictions are usually apparent, discrimination by landlords is not always crystal clear.
“Many people don’t know they’re being discriminated against,” says MTO’s Bartlett. “It’s more like the prospective tenant goes to see an apartment and then goes to fill out an application and is told the apartment is no longer available.”
Fair-housing experts claim that discrimination that’s done “with a smile and handshake” is common in the Chicago area, and not just limited to refusing to rent to someone because of their race or religion or the fact they have children. Often, discrimination involves steering tenants to lower quality apartments, or asking for two-months’ security deposit or to pay higher application fees than typical.
In Chicago, you can contact a number of community and legal organizations, including the Lawyer’s Committee for Better Housing, the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities (312-341-5678) and the Latinos United/Comprehensive Advocacy for Fairness in Housing (312-258-8655).
Another local group is Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago (312-226-5900), which specializes in discrimination against people with disabilities. Suburban renters who believe they’ve been discriminated against can contact organizations such as the HOPE Fair Housing Center in Wheaton (630-690-6500) and the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs in Winnetka (847501-5760).
Both groups provide free investigations to those who may have experienced housing discrimination.
The Chicago Commission on Human Relations (312-744-2852), the Illinois Department of Human Rights (312-814-6200) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (312-353-7776) are responsible for policing housing discrimination on the local, state and federal level, respectively.
– Mediation. While the unfortunate common thread that runs through all the landlord-tenant disputes noted above seems to be legal process, both lessors and lessees should know there is a non-legal way to resolve differences. The Chicago Center for Conflict Resolution (312-922-6464) provides mediation services to help local residents negotiate solutions to problems. Among the many areas served by the Center for Conflict Resolution are housing and tenant issues.
