Richard Magnone

Cook County Issues Yet Another Set of Just Housing Rules

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Cook County Landlord Rules for Criminal Background Checks

The Cook County Board of Commissioners released a new set of rules on October 23, 2019 to implement the Just Housing Amendment to the Cook County Housing Ordinance.  This set of rules is basically a rejection of a number of landlord suggested modifications.  The County went with a pro-tenant version.  Distilled down to its essence, under the Just Housing Amendment, a landlord cannot run a criminal background check until after following a number of procedural steps. 

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Just Housing Ordinance Info

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For those of you following the saga of the Cook County’s Just Housing Ordinance, feel free to click on this legislative update link from the Chicago Creative Investors Association for some important information on TOMORROW’s hearing.

Call to Action for Comment on Just Housing Ordinance

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Call to Cook County Landlords time to act on Criminal Background Screening

Yesterday, I posted about the Cook County Joint Housing Ordinance.  Today, the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance issued a landlord “Call to Action” related to the proposed interpretive rules that are under consideration by the Cook County Commissioners.  Oftentimes, landlords ask me “what can I do about all this legislation that points in favor of tenants and against landlords”.  The only real answer is to get involved and get active in landlord advocacy.  This is one of those opportunities.

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Do you know about the new Cook County Just Housing Ordinance?

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That was FAST

On April 21, 2019, the Cook County Board proposed an amendment to the fair housing portion of the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance.  They voted on and passed the measure on April 25, 2019.  That’s not a typo.  They proposed it on a Sunday and passed it by Thursday.  That sure seems like shady dealing.  Dubbed the “Just Housing Ordinance” (do justice-y laws usually need to get rushed through a legislative body without comment or consideration?), the law is to take effect on October 25, 2019.   What is the purpose of the ordinance? 

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Pritzker signs law to protect illegal immigrants

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Legislation Prohibits Landlords from Reporting Illegal Immigrants

It was President Barak Obama who said that elections have consequences.  I don’t get political on this page, but I do talk about policy and you can’t talk about policy without recognizing how politics can sometimes play into the development of a policy.  In a move that may have more to do with politicizing the tug of war between “red states” and “blue states” or those who wish to “resist” the immigration policies of President Donald Trump, Illinois became the second state in the nation (the other state is California) to pass legislation that seeks to protect tenants based upon their immigration or citizenship status.  According to the Chicago Tribune, Governor Pritzker said “he wants Illinois to stand as a firewall against a xenophobic president who is creating a climate of fear”.

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Lots going on – Illinois amending Human Rights Act

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Illinois Landlords Criminal Screening to Change Drastically

I’ve been away busy most of the summer, but plenty has been going on in Illinois and Chicago and not much of it has been good for landlords.  In the coming weeks, I’ll be back with some quick hits to go over some of the important things that have gone on over the last 120 days.

I’ll start with the State of Illinois legislature’s amendments to the Illinois Human Rights Act.  This law prohibits discrimination in real estate transactions, financial transactions, employment, and public accommodations based upon membership in a protected class.  Senate Bill SB1780 has passed both houses of the Illinois legislature and has been sent to Governor Pritzker.  if the law is not vetoed by August 31, 2019, it will pass into law and will be effective beginning January 1, 2020.

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A victory for landlords in the rent control fight

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HB0255 defeated A number of sources, including Capital Fax, are beginning to report that Rep. Will Guzzardi’s HB0255 intending to repeal the ban on rent control has been defeated in committee.  Other bills remain in both the House and the Senate but this is a major victory for landlords in Illinois.  Landlords need to remain … Read more

Eviction Record Sealing Measure Advances

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A few weeks back, I wrote about a senate bill intended to seal eviction records.  A similar measure was filed as HB2299.  NPR is reporting that the measure has passed out of committee.  This is a dangerous proposition for landlords.  As NPR reported, proponents of the measure have indicated that while they acknowledge that landlords want to screen tenants, they do not believe that an eviction filing correlates to a person’s ability to be a good tenant.  Huh?

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Now tenants want eviction records sealed

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Blinded by the Law

Illinois State Senator Patricia Van Pelt, a Democrat representing Chicago’s in the 5th District, has proposed SB0077 which is a new attempt to pass legislation to seal eviction records.  This concept has popped up in the past and hasn’t gone anywhere, but, as demonstrated by the current fight over rent control, the more progressive members of the legislature have targeted landlords and we seem to be in the middle of an all out effort to overpower landlords in Illinois.

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Breaking down the proposed Illinois Rent Control Act Part 3

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What’s the Board going to be up to?

Now that State Representative Mary E. Flowers has re-introduced the Rent Control Act (this time in the State House of Representatives), it is important that we continue our breakdown of and commentary on this divisive and likely destructive proposed legislation.  I will no longer analyze the amended text of last years Senate Bill 3512 but will now be reviewing the proposed HB2192.  In this third part of our review

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