Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

Your assistance needs should have been written into the lease if they knew about it, and it may not be too late to do that and straighten things out.

In Chicago we have a special ordinance that limits late fees as follows, but only if you are living in an apartment complex (could be more than 1 building) of 3 or more units where the landlord does NOT live there.

The ordinance says your lease can NOT have a provision that would charge you more than the following:

"...h) agrees that a tenant shall pay a charge, fee or penalty in excess of $10.00 per month for the first $500.00 in monthly rent plus 5% per month for any amount in excess of $500.00 in monthly rent for the late payment of rent; and..."

So if the ordinance applies and your rent is $800, 5% of $300 is $15, plus $10 for the first $500, so yes they can charge $25 as a late fee BUT ONLY ONCE FOR THE MONTH, not every day..... !!!

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