Breaking a lease and keeping the deposit?

July 7, 2009 8:12 AM

Chicago Lease-breaking Filter: Advice for confronting a negligent landlord after the lease has been broken?

Posting for a friend, but building on this old Ask-Me:

So my friend took an apartment with a 12-month lease in a not so great area. She suffered through the winter with an absentee landlord and various nit-picky problems which he promised to fix, but never did.

By the time the warmer month's rolled around my friend (who is white) began to encounter problems with the gang-banger-aged teens next door (who are not white.) This culminated in several confrontations, verbal assaults and led to her building being vandalized and egged several times. The police got involved several times to no avail.

Repeated appeals were made to the landlord to get involved, to come down and clean up the graffiti and the dried egg, which he didn't (it's still there to this day.)

Finally the friend had had enough, packed up her things and moved out two months before her lease was up. She literally did not feel safe in this apartment - which has no lock on the front gate (literally the lock is missing, something the landlord promised to fix when she first moved in.)

On Wednesday she's meeting with the landlord to turn over the keys and do a walk through of the apartment in the hopes that she can get some or all of her $650 deposit back.

She has a log of communications between her and the landlord, detailing conversations and unmet promises, as well as pictures of the property going back to the winter when she first moved in which document problems he never fixed. She now has pictures of the graffiti and damage inflicted by the neighbors.

My advice thus far has been this: print up all the pictures and organize them by date along with her detailed log. Present this to the landlord and basically say, "Look, you and I both know you haven't taken good care of this place or followed through on your promises. Give me back my deposit, and better luck with your next tenet." It's doubtful this approach will work, but it's a start.

The landlord is a youngish guy, this is his only property, and his first time being a landlord. The building is four units. It's unclear whether the landlord lives in one of the units, he's given mixed stories, but it's obvious he doesn't spend any time at the building.

Any advice on how to proceed? My friend incurred a lot of costs moving into her new apartment, and the $650 would go along way toward helping. She feels that the landlord was negligent on every level and feels that she has compelling proof of this.

Thanks!

posted by wfrgms to home & garden (6 comments total)

Talk to the Ward office. Unless the Alderman is crooked in a way that is related to that particular landlord (if it's a huge rental company, he/she probably is), it is in his/her best interests to f' them up for treating tenants badly, look like a hero, and get to act like a badass. In Chicago city government, Aldermen have TONS of power as relates to zoning and the general notion of how property is used to make money.

Now, if she lives in Ike Carruther's ward, this is probably out. Not because of connections to the landlord so much as the gangs.

Do you know what neighborhood/ward she lives in?
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly at 8:19 AM on July 7

Okay, wfrgms, I'm not your friend's lawyer, so this is not legal advice, BUT:

The Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (county summary, lawyer's website copy of the statute) does not--for the most part--apply to owner-occupied buildings containing six units or fewer, so it matters (legally) whether or not he lives there. Although if he claims to be living there in order to get out of complying with the RLTO, the exception for owner-occupied small dwellings in the RLTO expressly does not apply. That's a couple of hurdles, right there.

I think your approach is the best. Convince him that she's got her case together and that she's entitled to more than her deposit back and he may cave.

Should she take him to housing court, her filing fees will be around $300. Then, if she were able to convince the court of her claims, and demonstrate that the RLTO does apply to him, she'd likely be entitled to return of her deposit, plus the statutory interest, as well as fees and costs, and certain refunds of rent. Housing court is awful. But not as bad as drug court.
posted by crush-onastick at 8:37 AM on July 7

Ignatius, the neighborhood is Pilsen, Ward 25. Thanks.

Crush, when she first moved in he claimed to live in the building, it's obvious that "his" apartment is unoccupied - he lives with a girlfriend, we think.
posted by wfrgms at 8:42 AM on July 7

my friend (who is white) began to encounter problems with the gang-banger-aged teens next door (who are not white)

Yes, this isn't answering your question, but why were the facts in parentheses necessary?
posted by Adam_S at 8:56 AM on July 7 [2 favorites]

I agree with Adam_s that the additions in parens show an obvious bias that perhaps your friend shares. The use of "gang-banger-aged teens" makes it all the more clear.

Also... who doesn't clean up egg on their own building? The landlord AND your friend are at fault. Sheesh, at least get a hose...

And, to answer the question... this is from the Chicago lease we all sign:

5-12-070  Landlord's Responsibility to Maintain
The landlord shall maintain the premises in compliance with all
applicable provisions of the municipal code and shall promptly
make any and all repairs necessary to fulfill this obligation.

Compare and contrast her pictures and reports of things broken. If it is not up to municipal code, then you have a case and the lease (and deposit) should all be returned in good order. However, if the dude is a dick, then go get yourself a lawyer. Not for the $650, that'd be silly. But so that you can help out future tenants of this guy
posted by phrakture at 9:09 AM on July 7

I lived in Pilsen up until last month and, while I think that Crush has the best advice about how to proceed, I'd like to address the info included in the parentheses. Pilsen currently has some significant race issues between the people who feel that they are the traditional inhabitants (not white) and those who have been moving in more recently (white). It is not uncommon for a white person living in the area to hear comments about how they are ruining culture, gentrifying the neighborhood, and that they should go back to the suburbs where they belong. Sometimes there is actual overt hostility toward newly-moved in residents, usually by males in their late teens to early twenties. I know in my building specifically, it caused our front door to be tagged multiple times with "Yuppies out of Pilsen" and other equally inhospitable comments. Hope this provides some context.
posted by betty botter at 11:30 AM on July 8