Landlord Safety

FEBRUARY LCPIA MEETING TOPIC: LANDLORD SAFETY

WHERE:
American Legion Gurnee Post #771
Located 1 block east of Rt. 21 at Grand Avenue in Gurnee.

WHEN:
February 10, 2009
6:30 p.m. (Registration 6:00 to 6:30)

Aug 24, 2008 | CHICAGO | The 77-year-old South Side landlord who was set on fire last week, allegedly by a 28-year-old former tenant, has died.

Harlan Hayes was pronounced dead at 12:15 a.m. Sunday, according to a spokesman for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

Police responding to a fire about 2 a.m. Tuesday found Hayes screaming for help on a sidewalk in the 6300 block of South Ellis Avenue.

Hayes told police he had answered an early knock at his door at 6319 S. Ellis Ave. when a former tenant drenched him with gasoline and lit him on fire.

Hayes was initially taken to University of Chicago Hospitals in critical condition with third degree burns to more than 90 percent of his body. Hayes was doused with an accelerant and lit on fire inside his building, police said.

A tenant who called 911 after seeing smoke coming from Hayes’ apartment said Hayes had asked the alleged arsonist to move because of illegal activities in the apartment. He would not specify the type of illegal activities.

The tenant said he thought he heard noises in the former tenant’s apartment just before Tuesday’s incident.

The former tenant, Donald Hardy, 28, of the 800 block of East 65th Street, was charged Friday afternoon with attempted first-degree murder.

Hardy turned himself into Grand Crossing District police on Thursday after realizing he had been identified as a person of interest, police said.

A judge denied bond for Hardy during a Saturday morning hearing.
(Source: Chicago Sun-Times)
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Like it or not, landlords engage in high-risk activity all the time. From working alone in vacant units to meeting strangers at all hours, it’s a wonder we aren’t victims of violence more often.

Join us February 10 and learn how to take precautions to avoid becoming a victim.

LCPIA member Mel Metts has adapted a presentation from the Arlington Heights Police Department that was created for Realtors.

You will learn how to protect yourself when showing vacancies, minimize risk in your daily activities, and reduce chances of identity theft on the Internet.

Are Month-to-Month Leases Right For You?

By Mel Metts

There is a great deal of confusion over month-to-month tenancies. Yes, they should be in writing. No, you don’t have to sign a new one every month.

To minimize confusion, my leases are titled “Rental Agreement.” I have annual rental agreements and month-to-month rental agreements, depending on the circumstance.

A month-to-month tenancy has a start date but no end date. Instead, I insert language that says,

“In consideration of the mutual agreements and covenants herein stated, Landlord hereby rents to Tenant, and Tenant hereby rents from Landlord, for a private dwelling, the Apartment designated above, together with the fixtures and appliances belonging thereto, for an initial period of one (1) month, then month-to-month thereafter until terminated by either party by thirty (30) days advance written notice.”

When do I use month-to-month leases? When my market is geared toward low income residents, many who don’t even have checking accounts.

Why month-to-month? If my tenants have nothing to lose by defaulting on the lease, then I am the only party who is bound by the contract. They’re not bound by the lease; what am I going to do if they default; garnish their savings account? Their wages? No, I’m better off cutting my losses and re-renting the apartment as soon as possible.

When I use month-to-month leases, I normally do so for all the units at the property. If an applicant questions this, I tell them, “It’s my policy. All my leases are month-to-month.” End of discussion.

What keeps them from moving out?

Nothing keeps a tenant from moving out when she wants to. Especially if she is judgment proof (nothing to lose). I’ve lost tenants after just a few months. In most cases, though, they seem to stay longer if they don’t have to commit for a full year at a time.

My tenant Ella

Ella had an unusual story. When she applied for an apartment, she explained that she needed to get away from her husband “before I kill him.”

I didn’t ask her to go into detail, but she had decent credit and references, so I rented to her on my usual month-to-month terms.

During her stay with me, Ella was a great tenant. Always paid the rent on time, and kept a beautiful apartment.

After six months, though, Ella gave me notice that she would be moving in thirty days. She said things had been worked out with her husband, and she was going to give it another try.

When she moved out, Ella left everything in move-in condition, and I had no problem re-renting the apartment.

Several months passed before I read a newspaper article about a woman who had been arrested for shooting her husband. Sure enough, it was Ella.

Flexibility for me

With a month-to-month rental agreement, I can terminate a tenant with thirty days’ written notice. Or I can raise the rent just as quickly.

Once I had a tenant who refused to put his trash inside the dumpster. Too much trouble for Francisco to lift the lid and toss the bag inside. I warned him. He ignored me.

So the next time I found his garbage resting outside the dumpster (I put on rubber gloves and went through the bag), Francisco received a 30 Day Notice of rent increase. A $25 increase. Per month. The Notice explained why his rent was being increased.

That got Francisco’s attention. He called to complain to me. Guess what I did? I ignored him!

This wasn’t my only problem with Francisco. When I’d had my fill, I simply served him a 30 Day Notice to move. Good-bye Francisco. Problem solved! An annual lease would have made this impossible. My only option would be to evict for a lease violation. I cover lease violations in ny book. Here’s a hint: Most lease violation evictions are unsuccessful.

Helps you sell

Month-to-month leases are ideal when you decide to sell your rental property. Potential buyers have more options; they can raise rents, remove tenants, even move in themselves. Rental properties with annual leases locked in to below-market rents are difficult to sell for a decent price.

On rare occasions, a lender might have problems lending on a property with monthly tenants. This is mostly due to ignorance on the part of the lender. My advice: Find a smarter lender.

Section 8 requires annual lease

The Housing Choice Voucher program requires that the initial lease be for twelve full months. If the tenant moves in mid-month, the lease must extend to the end of the thirteenth month (12½ months duration).

Lease renewals may be written with a provision for
cancellation upon thirty-days’ notice.

Mel Metts is LCPIA Newsletter Editor. Mel is also author and publisher of the book, Do it Yourself Evictions; A layman’s guide to Forcible Entry and Detainer procedures in Illinois. For more information visit http://www.melmetts.com.

 

New Laws For 2009

What are these items?

 

If you’re like me, you would say these are a sprinkler head and a smoke detector. You would be wrong.

In fact, these are non-operable fakes. Instead, they contain tiny surveillance cameras and they are now illegal in Illinois since they are non-functioning.

Fire and Life Safety Device Act Public Act 95-946. New criminal penalties will be in effect as of January 1, 2009, for persons who manufacture, install or sell any device or object that appears to be a smoke detector, sprinkler head, carbon monoxide alarm, heat detector or any other similar device used for life safety or fire protection but in fact is not capable of performing such function. Violators are guilty of a petty offense subject to a $100 fine for the first offense, $500 for a second offense and $1,000 for a third or subsequent offense. Each day that a device is installed in violation constitutes a separate offense. Local governmental inspectors and licensed fire sprinkler contractors are authorized to inspect devices to ensure compliance but no inspections can be conducted in any single family residence or living unit of a multi-family residence or mixed use building.

 

More Laws

High School Consumer Education Public Act 95-863. Beginning in 2009 consumer education courses taken by high school students will include instruction in the area of homeownership, including the basic process of obtaining a mortgage and the concepts of fixed and adjustable rate mortgages, subprime loans and predatory lending.

Notice of Annexation Public Act 95-931. When a municipality seeks to annex certain unincorporated territory, notice must be published in a newspaper no less than 10 days before the passage of an annexation ordinance. Beginning January 1, 2009, a municipality will ALSO be required, not less than 15 days before the passage of the annexation ordinance, to provide written notification of the planned annexation to the taxpayers within the territory. This notice must either be given to the taxpayer of record in person or sent by certified mail. Once notice of the proposed annexation is given, other municipalities are prohibited from annexing the proposed territory for 60 days from the date the notice is mailed or delivered to the taxpayers.

Foreclosure Actions Public Act 95-961 will require a homeowner notice to be attached to the summons in all residential foreclosure actions. The notice will provide the homeowner basic information about the foreclosure process and their rights. The new law outlines a procedure for the homeowner to request a payoff demand statement from the lender and provides for damages if this notice is not provided in a timely manner. A homeowner may also recover attorney’s fees if they prevail in the foreclosure action.

Lawn Sprinkler Systems Public Act 95-421. All landscape irrigation systems installed after January 1, 2009, will be required to have furnished and installed technology that will prevent or stop operation of the sprinkler system during rainfall. The technology is required to be adjustable either by the user or the irrigation contractor. Systems operated on golf courses or agricultural lands are NOT covered by the new law.

Effective January 1, 2009, a new provision added to the Real Estate License Act [225 ILCS 454/20-20 (h) (8) (B)] significantly shortens the time frame within which certain instances escrow moneys must be deemed abandoned and transferred to the Office of the State Treasurer and handled as unclaimed property pursuant to the Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act. Currently earnest monies held in escrow for a period of five years after a transaction fails to close are to be treated as unclaimed property and turned over to the State Treasurer. This new provision requires that earnest moneys held in escrow be deemed “abandoned” in the absence of disbursement, if the transaction fails to close, in the absence of the filing of a claim in a court of competent jurisdiction and if six months have elapsed from the receipt by the broker of a written demand for the escrow moneys by either principal to the transaction or either principal’s duly authorized agent.

(Under the current law a licensee must maintain all escrow moneys in a special account, separate and apart from personal and other business accounts, all escrow moneys belonging to others until the transactions are consummated or terminated, except to the extent that the moneys (or any part thereof) are disbursed in accordance with (1) the written direction of the principals, or their duly authorized agents, to the transaction (2) directions providing for the release, payment or distribution of escrow moneys contained in any written contract signed by the principals to the transaction, or their duly authorized agents OR (3) pursuant to an order of a court of competent jurisdiction.)

From Illinois Realtor