Landlords be aware of new Illinois Laws coming on the horizon!
Recently there has been a plethora of legislation in Illinois with landlord and tenant rights. Here are a few highlights:
SELLER DISCLOSURE-TOXIC MOLD
(HB 1543, sponsored by Representative Dan Beiser), amends
the seller disclosure law to add toxic mold to the items on the disclosure list). The bill also contained a definition of toxic mold. Most home sellers would be aware of mold on the premises but few would know, without testing, whether it was toxic mold. Further discussions will occur on this issue.
RADON DISCLOSURE-TENANTS
(HB 141, sponsored by Representative Dan Reitz), adds very limited provisions to the Illinois Radon Awareness Act regarding radon in rental units. The amended bill requires that if a lessor is notified by a tenant in a dwelling unit on or below the third floor of an elevated radon test or conducts a test that indicates an elevated level the lessor must disclose the elevated radon level to any prospective lessee of that dwelling unit.
MANDATORY LOCK CHANGING
(HB 1233, sponsored by Representative Rita Mayfield), following an amendment agreed to by the Illinois Association of Realtors, the Chicagoland Apartment Association, and the Rental Property Owners Association was put on the bill. As amended the bill requires a lessor of a residential dwelling unit to change or rekey the immediate access to a unit each time it is vacated and before a new lessee occupies the premises. The amendment limits the liability of a lessor to damages due to a theft attributable to not changing or rekeying the lock.
SEX OFFENDERS-POLICE NOTIFICATION TO ALL TENANTS
(HB 125) As amended, the bill provides that the local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction shall notify residents of a multi-unit dwelling that a sex offender resides on the premises. As introduced, the measure would have put this responsibility on the landlord.
EVICTING TENANTS FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
(Approved Senate Bill 1766, sponsored by Senator A.J. Wilhelmi), The bill amends the eviction provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure dealing with evicting tenants for engaging in criminal activity (Section 9-120) to provide that a written lease shall notify tenants that they can be evicted for engaging in criminal activity as provided for in the Code. The bill also allows the corporation counsel of a municipality to assume an eviction action under this Section at the request of a landlord. This legislation and a similar House measure, House Bill 1309 sponsored by Representative Anthony DeLuca, have become a framework for discussing the larger issues concerning criminal activity on rental property. Property owners in many areas are under extreme pressure from municipalities to deal with crime issues on rental property.
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