Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

Failure to pay rent

I own property out of town and recently raised the rent. The tenants were given approximately 45 days notice. To date the lower tenants still owe Decembers' rent. Today I recieved Februarys' rent and a letter stating that they would not comply with the raising of the rent due to repairs needed to be done.This letter came from the lower tenants. The repairs that are needed are not keeping them from living safely in the apartment. Further, they stated a window has a crack in it. Also, silly things like a slow drain in the tub, a door knob sized dent in the door; these are things that I believe may have been done by them. Am I legally obligated to repair these items prior to being able to collect on a rent increase? I do realize these need to be repaired but the tenants are telling me that the want them to be repaired before they pay the new rent amount.


Asked on 2/15/00, 9:58 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Dobra Charles Wm. Dobra, Ltd.

Re: Failure to pay rent

I assume that you have your tenants on a month-to-month. Serving them with a 30 day notice to vacate would force the issue. You have no obligation to fix the minor things before increasing the rent, however, I have seen that a constructive eviction defense raised in an FE&D, which would be your next logical step.

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Answered on 2/22/00, 5:09 pm


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