Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

We paid rent on 2-11-12. We paid the late fee. We also deducted for the supplies we had to buy for heat. There is a broken radiator in bedroom. We also deducted for the spike in comed bill do to space heater we had to buy. She refused our rent money order twice. She lives down stairs and we slide it under her door. She slide it back under our door twice. We then took it to post office to send it to her certified. She slide us a 5 day eviction notice because we deducted from rent for heating supplies they failed to provided. Can she evict us even after we paid rent and she is the one that wont take money ordet. We informed her in writting last month we would deduct until she provides us with a working radiator in our bedroom. Can she evict us? What should we do?


Asked on 2/16/12, 6:04 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

1. You are in Chicago. You MAY or MAY NOT be covered by the Chicago Residential Landlord & Tenant Ordinance (CRLTO). Buildings of 6 or less units in which the landlord lives are NOT covered under the CRLTO, and you would therefore only be covered under Illinois law.

2. If you want to deduct repair costs from your rent there are procedures you must follow, including giving the landlord notice and opportunity to cure, whether you are covered or not covered by the CRLTO. So if you did not give notice you may NOT have properly exercised your rights.

3. If you did not properly exercise your rights, the landlord can serve you a 5 day notice. In Chicago if the landlord accepts any money after serving the notice, the landlord can NOT evict, so it appears the landlord has obtained some advice and would prefer to evict, especially if the notice has a paragraph beginning "ONLY FULL PAYMENT....." and you are attempting to deduct repairs without having given proper notice. If you are NOT covered by the CRLTO, and the notice has that paragraph, the landlord can accept partial payment or reject it, and if they accept it can still evict unless they agree not to evict in exchange for partial payment, in writing. Your landlord is rejecting what the landlord appears to believe is partial payment.

4. Time to talk to an attorney because you may not be able to "undo" the improper exercise and may still owe full rent.

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Answered on 2/17/12, 8:28 am


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