The 5 stages of “grief” for Landlords with CRLTO problems

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The Kübler-Ross Model of the stages of grief deals with the feelings people experience in response to death or terminal illness. There are five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. There is no real “order” to the stages and many people move from one stage to the other and back again. Eventually, people move on to a peaceful acceptance of death.

Interestingly, in my landlord-tenant practice, I have found that Chicago landlords who have violated the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance go through these same stages after being served with a complaint or a nasty attorney letter threatening legal action based upon violations of the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.

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Unciteable CRLTO cases – Part II

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about an interesting case, Weininger v. Haldes, published pursuant to Rule 23(e).  Be reminded that this is the rule that provides that the case usually cannot be cited in other cases and does not have precedential authority in other cases.  In other words, the opinion is “out there” but cannot be relied upon by landlords or tenants.  Today, I will discuss another fairly recent Supreme Court Rule 23(e) case from 2011,  Bilsky v. Calabrese, that muddies the landlord-tenant waters with an uncharacteristically landlord friendly holding.

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Landlord’s 3.8% medicare tax example

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, in 2013, some lucky Landlords will face the new “3.8% tax” on investment income.  This legislation is unlikely to be affected by the “financial cliff” legislation (read: “Bush Tax Cuts”) that is the topic of so much news right now and so landlords need to get familiar with the rules.

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Now that the election is over… let’s talk about that 3.8% Medicare tax

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I hesitate to get political here, so now that the nation has decided how it wants to go for the next two to four years, let’s talk about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare” or “Obamatax” depending on your particular side of the aisle.  Starting next year (January 1, 2013), Obamacare (for lack of a better shorthanded term for it) brings America a new three point eight percent (3.8%) Medicare tax imposed on certain investment income.

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Unciteable CRLTO cases

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Every now and then, we come across “uncitable” orders filed pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23(e), that deal with fundamental Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) security deposit issues.  These are strange birds.  They are “out there” in the stream of discourse, however, they cannot be cited (except in rare exceptions) and have no precedential value.  Depending on your perspective, this might or might not be a good thing.

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Free Chicagoland building energy analysis

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According to the Chicago Gazette, Community Investment Corporation and CNT Energy are offering an “Energy Savers” program to landlords that includes a free energy audit.  According to the CIC website, the program is available to qualifying multifamily rental buildings of five or more units in Cook County, DuPage County, Lake, County, McHenry County, or Will … Read more