Over the past months, we have been tracking a few stories that will affect landlords and their rental businesses in the Chicagoland area. We wanted to take a moment to provide some updates.
With respect to the potential change in Illinois Supreme Court Rules related to the contents and attachments to an eviction complaint that we discussed in early march, it appears that the proposed rule change is not being considered at this time and is now listed on the court’s website as “withdrawn”.
At the end of 2017, we also discussed the attempts by tenants’ rights groups to put a measure on the Chicago election ballot in support of abolishing Illinois’ prohibition on rent control. While non-binding, the “advisory referendum” will be cited by rent control advocates in favor of abolishing the law that prohibits governments in Illinois from enacting rent control laws. Sadly, this is a cheap tactic. We could put a measure on the ballot that says “should the government give everyone $1000?” and it would surely pass with broad approval. That’s the equivalent of asking a city of tenants whether or not they want their rent increases capped, limited, or stopped. What kind of response could we expect? Predictably, the majority of votes were cast in favor of rent control.