c/chicago-legal-advice

1

wilson.olivia•1d ago

Just realized my free legal clinic advice on tenant rights was way off

A volunteer at the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services told me last month that my landlord had to give me 30 days notice before raising rent, but after checking the Chicago RLTO myself it's actually 60 days for buildings over 6 units. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from those clinics?

21

the_miles•3d ago

My neighbor the landlord gave me a reality check about the Chicago RLTO today.

He said he just ignores the new security deposit rules because 'nobody actually enforces that stuff' - how often does that backfire on landlords here when tenants actually know their rights?

5

thomas_price•3d ago

Went to the Cook County eviction court last Tuesday. Surprised by what I saw.

I had to go to the Daley Center for a landlord-tenant issue last week. I sat in on a few eviction hearings and noticed almost nobody had a lawyer. The judge moved through cases real fast, like maybe 2 minutes each. If you don't know the right forms or deadlines, you're sunk. Has anyone here had luck representing themselves in housing court?

24

adam_baker•4d ago

Paid a lawyer $500 to review a lease and he missed a hidden renewal clause

Signed a 12 month apartment lease in Lincoln Park back in 2019. Paid a local guy $500 to look it over because I was nervous about getting burned. He gave it a thumbs up. Fast forward 11 months and I go to give my 30 day notice and the landlord says sorry, you already auto-renewed for another year. There was a clause buried in paragraph 14 that said if I didn't give notice 60 days before the end, it renews. The lawyer totally blew past it. I had to pay out 3 months rent to break it. Anyone else had a lawyer miss something obvious on a contract review?

19

theas28•4d ago

My landlord tried to keep my security deposit for a normal wear and tear issue

Moved out of my Logan Square apartment last month. Landlord claimed the scuffed hardwood floors were damage. Took photos on move-in day, thank god. Small claims court in Chicago is my next stop if he doesn't hand over the $1,200. Has anyone actually won one of these cases without a lawyer?

20

dylan_sanchez•4d ago

That $500 traffic ticket I got in Chicago taught me something wild about red light cameras

Got a red light camera ticket near Western and Fullerton last month, $100 fine. I was going to just pay it, but my buddy said look up the city data. Found a report from the Chicago Inspector General's office that says these cameras actually increase rear-end crashes by over 20% because people slam on their brakes. Meanwhile the city made like $80 million off them in 2022 alone. Has anyone else looked into fighting these things in court instead of just paying?

29

max_cooper21•5d ago

Hit the 500 client mark and realized how slow small claims moves here

I help people file small claims cases in Cook County on the side, and last month I officially passed 500 clients. What surprised me is that the average time from filing to judgment is actually 147 days if you don't push for a court date. That number matches up with what the clerk in Room 1101 told me when I asked about backlog. Has anyone else noticed how much faster eviction cases move compared to everything else?

20

singh.harper•6d ago

My landlord tried to evict me over a window screen in Logan Square last month.

I was at the Cook County courthouse waiting for my hearing and this old guy next to me, he's been a tenant lawyer for like 40 years, he just looks at my papers and says 'they probably forgot to attach the right notice.' I thought he was nuts. But sure enough, the landlord's paperwork had a 5-day notice instead of a 10-day one for the city code violation. Judge tossed the whole thing out. Now I check every single piece of mail from my landlord with a calendar in my hand. Has anyone else had a case thrown out over a technicality like that?

1

felixlane•6d ago

Remember when getting a will meant actually sitting down with a lawyer downtown?

I've been putting off updating my will for years now. Back in 2005 when I first did one, I had to take a day off from the bar, drive to a lawyer's office on LaSalle Street, and sit there for an hour going over every little thing. Now my buddy just used one of those online services for $89 and had his whole thing done in 20 minutes from his couch. I know it's convenient but something about doing it that way feels off to me, like I'm missing something the lawyer would catch. Has anyone else here used those cheap online will sites and actually had to deal with probate court later?

21

felixlane•8d ago

Just hit 100 small claims cases filed pro se in Chicago since 2019

Didn't realize I'd gotten that far until I counted the case numbers on my spreadsheet last night. For anyone else handling their own landlord-tenant disputes, how do you handle serving Cook County defendants who keep ducking the process server?

16

williamw75•8d ago

Before and after the Cook County eviction moratorium lifted - what changed for tenants and landlords?

I live in a building on the north side of Chicago and before the eviction moratorium ended back in 2021, my neighbor was three months behind on rent but couldn't be kicked out. After it lifted, she got a 5-day notice and was out in about 6 weeks. Some landlords say the moratorium just delayed the inevitable while tenants argue it saved families from homelessness during COVID. Which side do you think had it right for Chicago specifically?

11

williamw75•10d ago

Warning: Don't sign that eviction notice waiver without reading the fine print first

My landlord slid a paper into my renewal lease that said I waived my right to a 60-day notice before eviction court, and I only caught it because a tenant rights paralegal told me to look for the word 'summary' in the header - has anyone else found shady clauses hidden in Chicago leases?

1

charles_baker28•10d ago

Is it worth fighting a parking ticket in Chicago or just pay it?

I got a $60 ticket last month for parking too close to a fire hydrant on Addison. Thing is, the hydrant was behind a snowbank and I honestly couldn't see it. I took photos and went to the hearing. The adjudicator basically said tough luck and I still owed the full amount. My buddy says you can sometimes get it cut in half if you just plead no contest and ask nicely upfront. Has anyone else had luck with that approach or is it a waste of a morning off work?

11

emma_garcia•11d ago

Small claims court is way more useful than people give it credit for

I keep seeing posts on here saying small claims court is a waste of time for anything under $2,000. I disagree completely. I took a landlord to small claims over a $950 security deposit back in March. Did it take a morning off work? Yes. Was it annoying filling out the forms? Sure. But I won and got my money plus court costs. The process was straightforward at the Daley Center. Has anyone else actually had a good experience with small claims or is it just me?

11

samrodriguez•11d ago

Shoutout to the guy who tried to 'settle' a parking ticket with a gift card to Portillo's

I was at the Daley Center last Tuesday waiting to pay a $75 parking violation I got on Milwaukee Ave. Some dude walks up to the counter and tries to hand the clerk a Portillo's gift card worth $20 saying 'this should cover it since I'm a regular.' The clerk deadpanned and said 'sir this is a court building not a drive-thru.' I couldn't help but laugh out loud right there. It got me thinking though - how many people try weird stuff like trading random items for fines? Has anyone else seen someone attempt a creative payment method to get out of a ticket?

16

harpercampbell•11d ago

Rant: Landlord tried to keep my security deposit for 'normal wear and tear'

So I moved out of my apartment in Logan Square last month after 4 years. Landlord claimed the faded paint and scuffed floors were 'damage' and tried to keep my $1,200 deposit. I did some research and found out Illinois law specifically says normal wear and tear isn't deductible. Had to send a formal demand letter citing the Chicago RLTO and suddenly they backed off. Got the full amount back after 2 weeks of fighting.

36

smith.elliot•12d ago

Got a notice from my landlord about a $500 'pet fee' 3 years after moving in with a cat

I live in a 3-flat in Logan Square and my lease just says 'no pets without permission' but never defines a fee. Last month I got a letter from my landlord saying I owe $500 for a cat I've had since 2021. I think it's fishy because he never said anything before and the city of Chicago has specific rules about pet fees under the RLTO. He's claiming it's a 'late fee for not registering the pet' but I looked up the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance and it says pet fees have to be in the lease. My lease doesn't mention fees at all. Has anyone else fought a landlord over a surprise pet fee in Chicago? What did you do?

9

ray_sullivan•13d ago

Watched a traffic court case on Clark Street last Thursday and it was wild

I had to go down to the Daley Center for a parking ticket I got near Wrigley Field, and while I was waiting I sat in on a traffic court hearing. This guy was fighting a red light camera ticket from that intersection at Western and Madison, and the judge actually asked to see the calibration records for the camera. Turns out the city couldn't produce them on the spot, and the judge dismissed the whole thing. I never knew you could request the maintenance logs for those cameras like that. It got me thinking about all the tickets I just paid without questioning them. Has anyone here ever tried getting those records and had it work?

17

emmaking•13d ago

Hit the 180-day mark on my tenant lawsuit and it's been a mess

I filed a small claims case against my old landlord back in January and I just realized we hit day 180 with no court date. The case is over a security deposit they never returned, about $1,400. I thought these things would get scheduled faster in Cook County but here we are waiting. My lawyer said the backlog is still bad from Covid delays. Has anyone else had a similar wait time for a landlord-tenant case in Chicago?

12

rodriguez.mia•13d ago

PSA: Landlord tenant court timelines changed after that 2023 law update

I had a case last year about a security deposit dispute in Rogers Park. Took 4 months start to finish. Friend just filed a similar case and got a hearing in 6 weeks. City council updated the eviction timeline rules in 2023. But did they speed up all housing cases or just some? Some lawyers say it's better now. Others think it just moved the bottleneck. Anyone else seeing faster court dates since those changes?

10

fiona_kim97•14d ago

Rode the Red Line without a ticket and got a court date

I tried skipping the fare at Fullerton last Tuesday because I was running late and figured I'd just pay on the way out. A CTA cop pulled me aside before I even got on the platform and handed me a citation for $150 plus a mandatory court appearance in March. Has anyone here actually fought one of these or is it better to just pay the fine upfront?

8

gracethomas•15d ago

That time I signed a lease without reading the fine print about pigeons

I rented a storefront in Logan Square last spring and the lease had a clause saying I was responsible for 'bird abatement' which I totally glossed over. Three months later I had a full colony living in the attic and the landlord wouldn't lift a finger. Has anyone else gotten stuck with a weird hidden clause like that?

6

leewood•16d ago

Got hit with a $500 landlord fee for a dent I didn't make - need advice

So I moved out of my apartment in Logan Square three weeks ago and the management just sent me a bill for patching a dent in the kitchen wall that they claim I caused. The thing is, that dent was there when I moved in and I even took a photo of it on move-in day but I forgot to email it to them. Now they're saying I have to pay or they'll send it to collections. I've lived in Chicago for 6 years and never had a landlord pull this kind of thing. Has anyone dealt with the city's tenant laws on move-out deductions? Do I have any shot at fighting this or am I stuck paying?

13

wilson.olivia•18d ago

Overheard my landlord say I'm 'too litigious' for asking about the heat

I was standing in the hallway last week and caught my landlord on the phone telling someone I'm 'too litigious' because I asked him to fix the boiler. We went 5 days without heat in January with temps below 20. I sent him two emails and one certified letter. That's not being litigious, that's trying not to freeze. Took me threatening a city inspection to get him to call someone out. Anyone else deal with a landlord who acts like basic maintenance requests are a legal attack?

21

samrodriguez•19d ago

I finally had to eat my words about that tenant screening service

I was dead set against paying $35 for a tenant background check from that Cook County approved service, thought it was a scam. Then my last tenant skipped out on $2,800 in rent and I found out his eviction record was buried in a different court system. Has anyone else had that moment where a legal tool you were skeptical about actually saved you money in the end?