Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
Must i return a security deposit if I was discharged from a chapter 7 and the property wwent into forclosure. The tenant has not paid her portion of the rent in the last six months?
1 Answer from Attorneys
You are in Chicago. You were obligated by the Chicago Residential Landlord & Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) to keep any security deposit in a separate account and NOT treat it like your own money, if your building was not exempt from the RLTO. Under general Illinois law, security deposits are ALSO not your money. So your tenant would have an adversarial claim in your bankruptcy for their money back. The fact that they owed you rent is a separate issue. And when you say "her portion" I assume the tenant was on some kind of rental assistance program, which, if you breached it, could result in federal penalties.