Category: Laws and Justice

The History of the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure

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When a Chicago renter signs a lease or a lease renewal they usually receive a whole raft of additional disclosures. Lease packets in the modern era can include as much as 50 pages of disclosures about health issues ranging from radon to sprinkler systems to bedbugs. Back in the spring of 2016 we ran a long series on the history of one of those disclosures, the summary of the Chicago Residential Landlord-Tenant Ordinance. Today we will be discussing the history of another one, the lead-based paint disclosure.

Next to the CRLTO summary, lead-based paint disclosures are probably the most consistent inclusion in a Chicago lease packet. By federal law, they must be included with every lease and lease renewal in residential buildings constructed prior to 1978 with the exception of senior housing. Most renters will also be familiar with the booklet titled "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home," which is published by the EPA in six languages and also must be included with every lease that requires a lead paint disclosure.

Benefits Outweighed Risks

Lead was known to cause severe health problems way back in the year 200 BCE. Descriptions of the effects of lead poisoning are found in medical texts dating back to the ancient Greeks, and reappear consistently from then on. Julius Caesar's engineers advised against the use of lead pipes in the Roman aqueducts because of their harmful effects. But until the late 19th century, lead poisoning was common among heavy drinkers, painters, laborers, the military and high society women, all individuals who consistently and knowingly exposed themselves to high levels of the substance. Continue reading The History of the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Chicago’s Proposed Rent Increase Notification Law: Expectation vs. Reality

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At the July 25, 2018 meeting of the Chicago City Council, Alderman Moreno of the 1st ward proposed an amendment to Chapter 5, section 12 of the city code, also known as the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance or CRLTO. The proposed change is currently in the hands of the council's Committee on Housing and Real Estate. The amendment would require landlords to provide lease renewals to tenants with specific lead times dependent on the amount their rent will increase in the next term. The times required would be as follows:

  • Less than 5%: 30 days
  • 5-9.99%: 60 days
  • 10-14.99%: 90 days
  • 15% or more: 120 days

If a landlord fails to provide the proper amount of notice, the tenants' existing lease would be extended at the current rate until the proper notice term has elapsed. As an example, if a landlord sends a 10% increase 45 days before the lease expires, the tenant could stay on for an extra 45 days after the lease expires at the old rent rate.

This is Moreno's second major attempt at rent reform in the past four months. He first flirted with proposing a Good Cause Eviction ordinance in May. We found that idea be well-meant but near-sighted to the point of impracticality. This new proposal suffers from the same failings, and unlike its parent document it's actually made it to the table of the city council. Continue reading Chicago’s Proposed Rent Increase Notification Law: Expectation vs. Reality

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Selective Enforcement, or the Fourth of July

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As I was walking through the debris-strewn alley behind my building this morning it struck me that I should probably write a little something about selective enforcement. Selective enforcement is what they call it when a person or group in authority chooses to punish some people who break the rules but not others. Chicago is notorious for its selective enforcement of some rules. The wintertime practice of reserving cleared street parking spots with lawn chairs and other random furniture that we call "dibs" is illegal, but few are ever ticketed for it. Business owners who don't shovel their sidewalks in winter are definitely not fined on a consistent basis. And of course, the statewide ban on fireworks is certainly not enforced evenly if the six hour long display in the school parking lot near my house is any measure.

Not all selective enforcement is bad, either. Sometimes the government has to use whatever levers and tools they have at their disposal to remove a dangerous person from public. Notorious mobster Al Capone might never have gone to prison if the IRS hadn't been able to selectively enforce the tax code.

Apartment landlords and condo associations are also often guilty of selective enforcement. Maybe you get nailed by your landlord for smoking in a smoke-free building but your neighbor gets away with turning their bedroom into a hotbox every night without any penalty. Maybe you are fined by your homeowner's association for failing to trim your hedges while your neighbor's lawn is an overgrown jungle of weeds. So today we're going to discuss what selective enforcement is, what it is not, and how to respond to it.

Disclaimer: As always we focus on rental situations here. If you feel like a police officer or other government group is unfairly targeting you for punishment this is not the article for you.

1. It is legal ... mostly.

The current trends in courtrooms around the country dictate that selective enforcement, especially if it's committed by a private entity such as a business or a civilian, is not a legal liability provided that it is done in good faith and without obvious vindictiveness. Continue reading Selective Enforcement, or the Fourth of July

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Good Cause Evictions: The Law That Didn’t Happen (Yet)

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This past week an urgent email arrived from another prominent blogger in the Chicago rental scene, Richard Magnone of the law firm of Reda, Ciprian and Magnone. He is the author of the Chicago Eviction blog, which speaks to landlords much in the same way that we speak to tenants, with the added bonus that Rich is an attorney. The email referenced a draft "Good Cause Eviction" ordinance that Proco Joe Moreno was planning to introduce to the city council this past week.

The draft was written with input from the Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing, a group of attorneys that predominantly focuses on defending low income renters in court. It echoes similar laws already on the books in cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, DC and Los Angeles.

Magnone treated this proposed new law with outrage, calling to action his entire mailing list of landlords and the attorneys that represent them. Whether a mass landlord protest at Moreno's office occurred or not, what we know is that the alderman has decided to postpone the introduction of this legislation to the city council for this time and has instead decided to create a task force for further investigation.

So what is this ordinance and why is Mr. Magnone so upset about it? If landlords are angry about it, should tenants be supporting it vocally and emphatically? Let's get into the details. Continue reading Good Cause Evictions: The Law That Didn’t Happen (Yet)

Published by

Kay Cleaves

Why Are There No Mobile Home Parks in Chicago?

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A recent guest of mine in from out of town commented to me on the absence of trailer parks in the city. This remark brought to the forefront a topic that I've been meaning to discuss for some time.

Manufactured housing. Modular housing. Container homes. Mobile homes. They all have assorted differences but they have two things in common. The first is that they are constructed in factories somewhere other than the land they're intended to occupy. The other is that they are very, very scarce on the ground in Chicago. In any other city a blog about rental housing would spend a whole lot of time talking about mobile home parks but we've barely touched on them at all because there's really no overlap between mobile home renters and Chicago renters.

There is one mobile home park in Chicago. It's located at 4000 E. 134th Street on the far south side smack up against the border of Indiana and it's called Harbor Point Estates. There are plenty in the neighboring suburbs, though. In fact, one of the worst airplane crashes in Chicago history occurred in 1979 when a DC-10 taking off from O'Hare landed on a trailer park in Des Plaines, just a few miles from the airport.

The simple reason behind the absence of trailer parks in Chicago is something called "highest and best land use." The more complicated reason is also "highest and best land use." So of course we must explain things in more detail. Continue reading Why Are There No Mobile Home Parks in Chicago?

Published by

Kay Cleaves