Residential landlords and snow!Yesterday, I attended a great seminar put on by Chicago Title in Gurnee about fire and snow issues and landlords. In the past, I have blogged a bit here and here about landlord obligations related to snow and snow removal and readers might want to review that information. In general,
I hope that the landlords who read this blog know this already: landlords should not ask tenants for sexual favors in return for rent credits. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a lawsuit against a Richton Park landlord accused of allegedly offering his tenant a reduction … Read more
The Toledo Blade reports that earlier this week, an Ohio landlord was indicted on charges of reckless homicide in the carbon monoxide deaths of four tenants in the landlord’s rental unit. Allegedly the landlord supplied the tenants with a faulty space heater because the rental unit did not have an operating furnace. The rental unit also supposedly lacked carbon monoxide detectors. Unfortunately, stories like this are all too common. In October, 2010, a New York landlord was sentenced to criminal charges in connection with the carbon monoxide deaths of three tenants resulting from the installation of a gas-powered generator in a rental unit. In many cases, landlords might be criminally or civilly responsible for carbon monoxide related injuries.
You can’t go anywhere in the City of Chicago without seeing a dog. The Chicago Park District lists no fewer than eighteen dog parks in the City of Chicago. Whether or not allow pets, especially dogs, is a question that regularly confronts landlords. On the plus side, allowing pets usually expands a landlord’s pool of available renters making marketing time shorter and less expensive. On one hand, pets can cause lots of damage to rental units, drive away “allergic” tenants, and cause noise problems for neighbors. A landlord also needs to consider what would happen if a pet in the landlord’s building attacked another person. Is a landlord responsible for damage to third parties caused by a tenant’s pet?