Ian Spula

1) Fair Warning
Your friends might unexpectedly drop by at inconvenient times, but legally, your landlord cannot. Your landlord or building manager should never enter your apartment without notifying you at least two days ahead of time. Even if they have to come in because of an emergency, you should be told about it within two days afterwards. Your rental is not a dorm room and is not subject to random searches or check-ups.

2) Deposit Interest
Though you shouldn’t consider it a money-making investment, you should be earning interest on your security deposit. Upon receiving your deposit, your landlord must put it into an interest-bearing account. That way, your money is safe and will not be affected at all by the owner’s personal finances. Every year that you remain there, you are legally entitled to the accumulated interest on your deposit. Granted, depending on the amount of your deposit, it may just be some change, but you should be receiving it anyway.

3) Security Deposit Return
This often seems to be a contentious area between tenants and landlords. While many renters feel lost in the fog of deductions, the timeline for deposit return is concrete. Regardless of how much your landlord may or may not be withholding, your security deposit must be paid back to you within 45 days of you vacating the apartment or house. That is plenty of time for any deductions to be calculated and for the payment to be made.

4) Security Deposit Deductions
If you’ve taken excellent care of the place and there are no damages, you should expect to receive the full amount of your security deposit. If, however, there are any damages, the owner is entitled to deduct the cost of repairs from your deposit. If that occurs, though, you must receive an itemized list of repairs within 30 days after you’ve left. In this itemization, your landlord needs to account for each repair and its cost – a vague mention of cleaning or paint is not enough.

5) Minor Repairs
One of the most frustrating experiences a tenant can experience is an unresponsive owner who won’t make necessary repairs. Don’t fret, though – you have recourse. If there is a minor issue (something that isn’t causing health or safety issues), your first step should be a verbal request. If nothing is done within a reasonable amount of time, however, you should submit a written request which states that you expect the issues to be resolved within 14 days. If two weeks pass and the repair has not been made, you are now legally allowed to hire someone else to do it, and then deduct the cost from your next rent check, as long as that amount doesn’t exceed $500. Alternatively, you can just withhold an amount from your rent that reflects the lowered value of the unit. Basically, that means you can claim that a unit without a working buzzer might cost $50 less per month and subtract that amount from your rent until the buzzer is fixed.

6) Major Repairs
If the repairs that need to be made are more serious than a buzzer or a leaky faucet you should submit a written request that the repair be made within 14 days. The difference here is that if nothing is done within that time, you can actually terminate the lease. This course of action requires you to vacate within 30 days. It may be a good option if your requests are routinely ignored and you no longer have the patience to deal with the inconvenience.

7) Essential Services
No matter what is going on between you and the owner of your building, they may not ever cut off essential services such as water, electricity and heat. If such a failure happens, after submitting written notice of the lack of service, you have several options. First, you can have alternative services instated and then deduct those costs from your rent. You’d also be free to pay for another place to stay and deduct the cost of those accommodations from your next rent check. Your third option is to give the owner 24-hours to fix the issue. If that doesn’t work, you are legally permitted to pay a lower rate for the period in which the apartment lacked services. If all else fails, you can file suit against the landlord for damages.

8) Sub-Letting
Renters’ circumstances often change in the middle of a lease and that’s ok, and it shouldn’t end up costing you. If it turns out that you need to leave a rent before your lease is up, you should look for another suitable tenant to present to your landlord. The owner actually has to accept a “reasonable” sub-tenant. If your landlord is picky and doesn’t like the person you’ve found, he needs to make a good faith effort to find someone else. Only if neither way works would you be responsible for paying rent for the rest of your leasing period.

9) Late Rent
We’ve all slipped up on getting the rent check in on the 1st – it happens to the best of us. The good news is, it’s not really a big deal. If you’re late in paying rent, your landlord can charge you $10, plus 5% on any amount over a $500 monthly rent. That means, you’d pay just $10 extra if your rent is $400 per month. If you pay $800 per month, the late fee would be $10 plus 5% of $300 ($15), or $25 total. If you’re very behind on rent and your landlord wants to end the lease, he or she must give you 5 days’ notice in writing before doing so.

10) Retaliation
As a tenant, you are protected by law against any retaliation on the part of your landlord. You are free to complain to government agencies, officials, police, community groups, tenant unions or the landlord himself without fear of retaliation of any form. Your fear of increased rent, eviction or any other bad treatment should never prevent you from speaking out. I hope you never have to throw the code at any of your future landlords and that you always end up with building owners who will bend over backwards to make sure that you’re comfortable in your home. Chances are, though, at one time or another, you may find yourself find in a sticky situation. When that happens, you’ll be glad to know your rights as a renter. Citing the landlord’s legal responsibilities is an effective way to show that you’re informed and prepared to take legal action.

—Evan Sauer

Evan Sauer is a Chicago business attorney at Reda & Des Jardins, a forward-thinking, technologically savvy law firm providing top-notch legal services to clients ranging from startups to large companies in a variety of industries. R&D’s practice areas include real estate services, business services, estate planning, and litigation. Learn more at Reda & Des Jardins and find us on Google+ today!