Landlord Rights

Q:

My tenants gave me a 30 day notice that their moving out. This is a Single family residence and money is very very tight. I know that I have to give them a 24 hr notice to show the house to prospective renters during reasonable hours of 8am to 5pm and no Sundays or holidays.

Can they refuse and do they have to be there when I show the house?
Any advice and/or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

A:

The City of Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance requires that the Landlord notify the Tenant at least 2 days before the visit. If the Tenant refuses then the Landlord can sue the Tenant for interference with prospective contract.

Q: I need help in evicting a person who was invited to stay for two weeks and now refuses to leave. There was never any lease.

A: You need to serve that person a 5 days notice for rent due or a 30 days notice to vacate the premises. Then you need to file an eviction against that person.

Q: My tenant got locked up in jail the same day I closed on my building. She has been locked up since 10/08/10. Can I put her out due to abandonment without being legally sued?

A: Since you know where the tenant is, you need to file an eviction to protect yourself. Post the 5 days notice on the door, then serve the tenant in the county jail with summons.

Q: I am a landlord and need counsel to resolve a tenant dispute. The tenants are located on the first floor of the 3-flat building above an unfinished basement. Their furnace is located in the basement. During the winter, some of the vents in the basement ductwork leading to their furnace were opened and they want compensation for 50% of their gas bills for heating the basement. They also want access to the gas bills of the other 2 units in order to compare.

They are further requesting compensation for their electric bills claiming extra cost of air conditioning in the summer related to the basement (when there were no vents open). The situation has several complicating factors and I need advice on my legal rights and responsibilities as well as guidance on a fair way to resolve the matter.

A: I am only concerned about the basement ductwork being opened and who has access to the basement. Normally the basement heating is a building expense.

Q:

 I’m pre-construction condo buyer. About 3 years ago I signed purchase agreement with pre-construction condo deal. The closing was scheduled at the end of this month. But I don’t think I can get the mortgage because my debt to income ratio is high. Also, since the condo is not approved by Fanni Mae, the
lenders couldn’t get the low rate for me. So I’m trying to terminate my purchase agreement and the question is ‘Can I get the deposit that I paid when I signed the purchase agreement?’. I paid about $80,000 which is about 10% of the condo purchase price.

A: It depends upon the real estate contract you signed.

Q:

I was served a 5 Days notice two weeks ago. I send all of my rent to the landlord by certified mail . My landlord accepted my rent after the 5 day notice expired. Now he has filed for court.

A: The Landlord will lose in court. When your landlord cashed the check, then he started a new tenancy with you. The 5 days notice is no longer valid. The Landlord needed to return the money back to you if he wanted to evict you. 

Q:

My tenant’s lease expires this Monday. She’s not looking to move out. What process do I follow to evict her? She has made some damages to my property.

A:

If she is not out by Tuesday, file an eviction. You do not need to serve any notice as by the lease’s terms it was over on Monday. About the damages to the apartment, you will need to sue her after you regain possession. Take good picture and itemize the damages.

Condominiums

Q:

My sister and I were left a condominium by my late mother to be shared 50/50. My sister got divorced and I told her she could live in the condo as long as she paid the assessments and taxes which amount to approximately under $500 per month. Last May she moved her boyfriend into the condo unbeknownst to me and I said I felt he should pay me rent since I own half the condo. I asked for $450 a month from him. They have refused to pay me.
Is there any legal recourse?

A:

Since you are both owners of the property and only one lives in the property, under the law the one who lives in the property owns the non-occupying owner the pro rata fair market rental value. If your sister refuses to pay, you can file a lawsuit. If you wish to sell the property, you can file suit for a partition. In the partition suit you can ask for an accounting. Under the law you can recoup past unpaid rent.

Q:

My condo is located in Chicago, IL, over the past year and 4mos my condo has flooded over 4 times with raw sewage due to collapse of the main line from the condo to the city streets. the management company and condo association as yet to resolve this issue. the management company in particular has dragged their feet regarding this issue and proceeded to inform me that they do not have to pay for any damages to my unit. my insurance company will not cover sewage damage. the management company in place has not handled this situation well at all. in the meantime my unit is not inhabitable

A:

You can call the City and have the building inspector fine the Condominium Association. Or you can file suit against the Association for breaching its fiduciary duty to you. The sewer line is a common element. Since it is defective, the Association is responsible for its maintenance.

Q:

I am fighting with my association for some charges they put on my account and I was not even aware of them. Please let me know if you could help me with some advise because its been so long and this is getting out of control already.

A:

In Illinois you have the right to inspect the records of the Association and ascertain if the Association books are correct. You must make a written demand. If the records are in error, you need to notify the error to the Association. If it still doesn’t get changed, then you can sue the Board for breach of fiduciary duty.

Q:

I have a commercial condo in a four unit mixed use bldg.My ground floor unit has a separate entrance and exit directly to the outside completely separate from the entrance and stairwells to the residential units however they use common assessments to pay for the cleaning of their limited common area ( a large portion of the monthly assessment ). Can they legally do that? The ownership is proportioned 22% commercial and 26% each (3) residential but they also have larger square footage as their front and rear entry halls and stairwells take up a lot of my square ft. As well they have roof decks and two balconies.

A:

Life is unfair at times. Your assessments are the percentage of ownership of the building you have. This was determined by the developer and you had an opportunity to review this before you purchased the unit. It is next to impossible to change this percentage after the fact.

Q:

Condo is in complete disarray. Self enacted construction projects in common areas, city fines, delinquent assessments and no payment of special assessments, and poor upkeep of individual units (ie. broken windows, newpaper as window treatments, etc.). My wife and I have tried repeatedly to work with our neighbors to address the issues, including being elected officers on our Association. We fought tooth and nail with them just to hire an attorney to represent us in court against the city fines. Our attorney has done a fantastic job in representing the interest of our condo. Nevertheless, after 4 years of dealing with no progression, the court has given our building a July deadline for construction permits. A special assessment was voted on well over 9 months ago to raise construction costs. A construction bid was voted on well over 2 years ago, so owners knew that a special assessment would be coming. We just received our financials from the Treasurer and discovered that we are the only unit owners to have paid the special assessment. In addition, two or three owners have not paid any assessments for 3 months or more.

A:

This property is heading into receivership. A court can appoint a receiver to manage the building if the Association is unable to. A receiver can file
evictions against unit owners who refuse to pay the special assessments. You also have a cause of action against the Association for not enforcing
collection of assessments. Only have you pay the special assessments is a dereliction of duty.

Q:

We are buying condo in Chicago and what should we do?

A:

You should read the bylaws and declaration of the Association and the minutes of the board meetings of the Association for the past 5 years to see if there are any disputes between the neighbors. After you buy it may be too late.

Property

Q:

My landlord went to federal prison in 10/2009 for drugs and his sister comes to collect the rent but BAC home loan service filed foreclosure on 2/19/2010 on the the property for 195000 and the sheriff came out to serve him and the sister is telling me it isn’t in foreclosure but he has been behind in payment since 09/2009 can she do anything with property if her name is not on the mortgage?

A:

Interesting facts. Under the law the owner of the property is still allowed to collect rent from the tenant even though the property is in foreclosure. The
lender has the right to ask the judge to appoint a receiver to collect the rent or be made mortgagee in possession. If this happens then the lender needs to
provide you with the court order. About the sister collecting rent for her brother, it would be unwise to give her the rent money until you see a power of
attorney signed by the brother giving her the power to collect the rent.

Q:

 I and my wife have a real estate property. In the title of that property included my son. My question: in case of our death does my son have to go through probate procedure to take possetion of the property?

A:

If the title is in joint tenancy, then the last one of you three to survive will get the whole property. Of course there are problems with this situation.
If you son gets divorced, then potentially his ex-wife could get part of your house.

Q:

Can you list a house for sale with out the 2cd owner’s consent knowing that he does not want to sell. What steps do I need to take to make sure no one forge my signature in order to sell.

A:

No you can’t put a house up for sale without the 2nd owner consenting. If you want to sell, then you need to sue for partition.