Were you landlords naughty or nice this year? How about your tenants? As it is the holiday season, I have made up a list of five presents that “nice” Chicagoland landlords should ask for for the coming year.
1. Further changes to the CRLTO. 2010 brought some relief to landlords who paid security deposit interest on time but made calculation mistakes. However, the additional changes could go further to alleviate some of the draconian nature of CRLTO penalties. A simple suggestion would be that a tenant would not have a right to a “two times the security deposit” penalty until the tenant contacted the landlord to request compliance with the ordinance. Unfortunately, many lessors in the City of Chicago don’t even know the ordinance exists.
2. Reduced wait times for eviction enforcement. This might be a gift that landlords received a bit early this year. In my opinion, in the fall, Cook County Sheriff Dart really got on the ball and reduced the wait time for evictions. Landlords should hope for more of the same in 2011!
3. Nice tenants. Landlording is a joyful activity when a “nice” landlord is paired with a “nice” tenant. The landlord provides a clean, safe place to live at a fair price and the tenant keeps the property in good repair and pays rent regularly and on time.
4. Less confusion at the courthouse. The eviction procedure is technical in theory. In practice, it can be maddening. Missing files and short service or computer problems can delay and derail even the most straightforward case.
5. A Happy, healthy, and wealthy 2012 free of mechanical breakdowns and full of lots of well qualified applicants!
Happy Holidays.