Alderman Moreno is back with a piecemeal version of his prior CRLTO amendments

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Ordinance unfairly targeting landlords about to be introduced

If you read this blog, you are certainly aware of the “Good Cause for Eviction” ordinance championed by first ward Alderman Proco Joe Moreno in May earlier this year.  Landlords came out in force and Alderman Moreno’s office decided not to introduce the ordinance and instead was going to put together a task force to look at the issues he was proposing.  Now, not more than three months later, it looks like he is ready to propose an amendment to the CRLTO that was contained in the Good Cause for Eviction ordinance.

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Analysis Part three of the Chicago Good Cause for Eviction Ordinance

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Here we are in the week that the so called “Good Cause for Eviction Ordinance” is expected to be presented to the Chicago City Council possibly to introduce the most sweeping anti-landlord change to landlord-tenant law in Chicago since 1986.  So, remember where we left off.  The not-yet-proposed draft of the ordinance indicates that no landlord shall recover possession of a rental unit by not renewing or bringing an eviction unless the landlord brings the eviction or initiates the non-renewal for one of eight reasons.  We talked about the first two reasons in earlier bog posts.  Let’s take a look at the third reason which is entitled “Material non-compliance”:

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Breaking down the Chicago “Good Cause for Eviction” ordinance

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Yesterday, I went through the provision of the allegedly proposed Good Cause for Eviction ordinance provision allowing for eviction based on non-payment of rent (provided the tenant doesn’t make good before an eviction order is entered).  Today, I’ll examine the second reason that a Chicago landlord will be able to non-renew: habitual late payments.

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Chicago Good Cause Eviction Ordinance to be Proposed

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What about landlord’s rights?

I received from a friend a copy of an ordinance that one of the Chicago Alderman is apparently planning to present to the Chicago City Council on May 23, 2018. The ordinance appears to be penned by the tenant-friendly Lawyer’s Committee for Better Housing.  Its contents are shocking.  If you are a landlord, prepare to be shocked and awed as your property rights are whittled away.  The law is known as the Good Cause for Eviction Ordinance.  A text of the entire proposed ordinance, as believed will be introduced, can be found here.  A number of other landlord-hostile cities have adopted ordinances similar to this one.  The stated goal is to stabilize the community against greedy landlords.  A position paper from the Lawyer’s Committee for Better Housing dated February, 2018 indicates that “If “housing is a human right,” then it begins with “security of tenure,” which promotes long-term neighborhood stability.”     So what does this proposed law, in part, do?

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Rent control repeal seems to stall

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A day after CNN reported of the death of a New Yorker who had been paying $28 per month in rent as a result of a rent controlled property she rented from 1955 to 2018, reports come out of Springfield that the Illinois legislature seems to be stalling in attempts to overturn the Illinois’s Rent Control Preemption Act.  The Real Deal, a Chicago real estate web news organization, indicates that legislation to repeal the law that protects Illinois landlord’s from municipalities seeking to impose rent control policies has stalled with only a few weeks left in the summer session.

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Confusion with respect to Chicago’s Recycling Ordinance

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Does this law apply to “small” landlords?

Chicago recently amended its recycling ordinance, effective January 1, 2018, to fill in the gap between the City of Chicago’s “Blue Cart” recycling and the recycling for private multi-unit residential properties (big condos and rental units of 5 or more units).  The law includes a provision calling for “tenant education” in the form of informational flyers.  While the law APPEARS to be targeted toward those units that are 5 or more, there’s nothing in the law that “exempts” smaller buildings.  That leads to a question as to whether or not small building owners need to comply with the tenant education section of the law.

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Updates on trending Illinois and Chicago landlord-tenant stories

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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

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