On January 3, 2018, NBC Channel 5 reported that the City of Chicago Building Department is taking landlords to court during this cold snap. The report indicates that the Department of Buildings has received over 600 heat complaints. City building inspectors are going out in response to 311 calls. For those landlords who are not in compliance with the City’s heat ordinance, the City is bringing court actions to appoint receivers to run the buildings and provide the heat tenants are entitled to receive.
heat
No one wants to think about winter but…
Chicago Landlords Turn Up the Heat Here’s our annual reminder that Chicago landlords responsible to supply heat to their tenants are now within the required City of Chicago time period for heating. The Chicago Municipal Code (13-196-410) requires minimum amounts of heat from September 15, 2014 and to June 1, 2015. Heat must be supplied … Read more
Turn that heat on this weekend! Chicago and Suburbs enter heating season.
It’s an annual event. Tenants throughout Chicago and some suburbs are entitled to minimum amounts of heat beginning this coming Sunday, September 15, 2013. I’ve posted before on the Chicago rules and some of the suburban rules. It’s been hot in September and that’s likely to continue. No matter, the CRLTO and other laws require … Read more
Landlords, it is now “heating season”!
September 15 marks “heating season” for landlords who are responsible to provide heat for their tenants. A number of municipalities have heating ordinances. Here is a small survey:
Update: Heat and water to be restored to Lincoln Park hi-rise tenants
Well, that was fast! According to NBC News, the City of Chicago and the landlord who suggested that tenants use space heaters and ovens to heat their units for three weeks while apartment building repairs left residents without heat and hot water, entered an order providing, among other things, that the heat and hot water … Read more
Chicago landlords cannot leave tenants without heat and hot water
January 2018 Update: This news is as relevant today as it was in 2012.
Today’s news demonstrates yet another high profile example of a landlord ignoring the law. According to the Chicago Tribune, one Chicago landlord has notified its tenants that building repairs are expected to leave tenants without heat or hot water for about three weeks. Instead of leaving tenants without a warm shower, the landlord found itself in hot water with the City of Chicago.
Just asking to make matters worse, the building’s management company delivered a letter (the Chicago Tribune has posted a copy of the letter here) to tenants suggesting that building occupants use a space heater for heat and that the tenants “can also turn your oven on to supplement heat as needed”.
Get the heat on!
It is fitting that today is a cold day in Chicago. Many Chicago lessors are caught unaware of their obligation to supply a minimum level of heat to their rental units. Today, September 15, is the first day of 2011 that heat requirements are in effect for lessors in the City of Chicago.