Illinois Tenants Union

Illinois Tenants Union We believe all persons have a right to safe, decent, affordable housing. We work with tenants to ass Tenants living anywhere else are governed only by state law.

We are an organization which advocates for residential renters. Chicago Tenant Rights - We serve those who rent in apartment buildings, condos, or houses in the City of Chicago, Cook County, or elsewhere in the suburban metropolitan area. Whether the tenant has a problem with a landlord who does not make repairs or has been served a summons to go to court, tenants need to know their legal rights.

Residents of Chicago and Evanston are governed by a Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) and residents of Mount Prospect by the Residential Landlord and Tenant Regulations. You do not need to be a lawyer to read the law, but you do need someone experienced to help you exercise your rights under the law. Besides advice, we provide four services to tenants:

break lease
security deposit
repairs
eviction

Full time professionally trained staff assist tenants when they call. Our executive director is a licensed Illinois attorney and has been serving tenants since 1980. Please call us for a personal consultation at (773) 478-1133. Appointments with a tenant counselor are available Monday through Saturday. If you have any questions or would like more information, or to discuss your rights please contact us (773) 478-1133

03/09/2024

Reminder: the IL Tenants Union has been closed since the end of 2019.

11/29/2022

The IL Tenants Union has ceased all operations. We have no office in Chicago; our phone number is inoperative.

After more than 30 years of assisting tenants in Chicago and Illinois, we have closed due to retirement.

--Douglas Pensack, former ITU Associate Director. 11/29/22

07/29/2019

In 2016, the Electoral College elected a notorious scam artist, slumlord to be President of the United States. Now, as he rants at a black Maryland Congressman about how bad Baltimore is, it seems that the President's own son-in-law (Jared Kushner) is a notorious slumlord in Baltimore. Making America worse, one building at a time.

07/25/2019

Tenants in Cook County being sued for eviction? Call us 773-478-1133. We can find you legal representation!

06/21/2019

Housing Industry: No industry in America greater demonstrates the inadequacies of the capitalist market place to provide adequate service. It starts with a necessity of life--housing--and then turns it into a commodity in which profit, not need determines what type of housing is available, and to whom.

Like other industries, governments (local, state and federal) have intervened to regulate how and what is offered. There are Building Codes, construction standards, tax incentives, smattering of rent control, and rent subsidies. Unfortunately, most of these have either been woefully inadequate--only 3% of all tenants in the USA receive a rent subsidy, for example, compared to 40% in Sweden--or actually encouraged the availability of affordable housing crisis we are now suffering.

Greatest example of the failure of government to ameliorate the inadequacies of the housing market for the bottom 50% of Americans is the collapse of public housing. Huge, impersonal high rise housing was built as bunkers for minorities and the poor, rather than integrating poorer tenants into the larger community. In response to a lack of funding and lack of imaginative policy and hopelessly corrupt bureaucracy, public housing became a blight on the community instead of havens against the rapacious capitalist marketplace.

So, what was the response to this? Coming up with ways to actually provide affordable housing to millions? No. High rises are torn down and the tenants are scattered to the wind with false promises of adequate subsidies for better housing.

Chicago is great example of this housing failure. Despite anti-discrimination laws, housing remains dramatically racially segregated by neighborhood and sides of town. Tearing down the segregated high rise public housing projects has not changed that, as was promised.

Partially due to rental costs, and due to discrimination by landlords--in violation of city ordinance--against Section 8 voucher holders, Chicago has exported tens of thousands of poor people to poor suburbs, and even out of state.

In the past several decades in Chicago, even during booms in real estate development, nearly all housing construction has been in either pricey condo buildings and/or luxury single family homes, or expensive high rises located in or close to the Loop. No one is building multi-unit, reasonably-priced apartment buildings. There have been very few of them built since the 1920s. Fortunately for Chicago's tenants, many of those buildings are still standing and serviceable.

Not only was this a failure by the city, state and federal governments; it was their planned policy. Political decisions were made by administration after administration to skew tax laws to benefit rich developers and not poor and working class tenants.

06/17/2019

Only 10% (or fewer) of tenants in Cook County who are sued for eviction are able to hire an attorney to represent them in their case. These 90%+ are almost always have an eviction order entered against them the same day they show up in court, often "stayed" for only 7, or maybe 14 days.

We are able to obtain legal representation for tenants, getting them far more time to move than that, and often avoid a money judgment, too. BEFORE tenants go to court, they should call us first 773-478-1133 or email "[email protected]".

06/17/2019

Some tenants mistakenly think that suing their former landlord to retrieve an illegally withheld security deposit costs too much or isn't worth it. Some things to consider before deciding:

In Chicago, Evanston, Mt. Prospect, & Oak Park, IL, there are city ordinances which allow a tenant to sue their former landlord not only for the amount improperly withheld, but also for DOUBLE the deposit as damages, AND attorney's fees if they hire a lawyer. This means that the former landlord can be forced by the court to pay damages and the tenant's costs in pursuing the case--IF the tenant wins.

Also, money can be legally withheld from a deposit for owed rent, not just damage to the property. So, if a tenant leaves a property owing rent, even the last month's rent only, that can be counted against the deposit.

Elsewhere in Illinois, other than the cities listed above, the state law allows tenants to sue for damages and costs, too, but ONLY if the former property had at least 5 apartment units or more.

Lastly, whenever contemplating pursuing a lawsuit of any kind, the person thinking of filing it must feel that the money is collectible from the other party. Some landlords are adept at hiding money, or are broke, or hide behind shell companies. A little research makes sense before filing a case.

06/13/2019

Need to move before the end of your lease? Landlord isn't helpful? Call ITU at 773-478-1133 or email "[email protected]" for assistance! One of our specialties.

06/11/2019

IL Legislature has passed a statute requiring the courts to charge an appearance fee to any attorney or legal services company representing tenants in eviction court. This fee will be charged EVEN IF the tenant qualifies for a waiver of fees due to low income!

This requirement will discourage legal representation of tenants--already only about 10% in Cook County--as it will require legal service providers to either pass on the cost to clients and/or "eat it" and be able to represent fewer tenant clients.

We can only conclude that these supposedly "progressive" Democrats in the legislature want to make it easier for landlords to evict tenants without the "interference" of attorneys who are trying to assist tenants in the process. Despicable.

05/28/2019

One of most frustrating problems we encounter in helping tenants isn't just landlord selfishness or cruelty, but simply them acting irrationally--not even in their own interests. Greed is understandable; obstinate irrationality is less so.

Case in point: we often help tenants being sued for eviction for non-payment of rent who relate to us that they obtained rental assistance from government or a private charity but their landlord refused to fill out paperwork so he could be paid--and simply sued to evict them instead.

05/23/2019

Over the past several decades, there has been a lot of new housing building in Chicago, but mostly for purchase by upper middle class or wealthy people. No new apartment buildings are built which aren't also considered "luxury".

Chicago lost 10,000s of public housing units which were never replaced. Since city has never enforced its Fair Housing Ordinance which prohibits discrimination against Section 8/subsidized rent tenants, tenants w/vouchers were largely forced to flee the City or accept substandard housing in dangerous neighborhoods.

Much is made of the fact that Chicago is losing population faster than any other major city in America. Few mention that a major factor in that has been the driving out of poor ppl to suburban towns or even other states.

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4616 N Drake Avenue
Chicago, IL
60625

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Tuesday 9am - 5pm
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Thursday 9am - 5pm
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We are an organization which advocates for residential renters firmly rooted in the belief that tenant rights come before property rights. We serve those who rent in apartment buildings, condos, or houses in the City of Chicago and suburban Cook County. Whether the tenant has a problem with a landlord who does not make repairs or has been served a summons to go to court, tenants need to know their legal rights. Residents of Chicago and Evanston are governed by a Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) and residents of Mount Prospect by the Residential Landlord and Tenant Regulations. Tenants living anywhere else are governed only by state law. You do not need to be a lawyer to read the law, but you do need someone experienced to help you exercise your rights under the law. Besides offering advice over the phone, we focus on helping tenants break their leases and in eviction proceedings. Full-time professionally trained staff assist tenants when they call. Our executive director is a licensed Illinois attorney and has been serving tenants since 1980. Please call us for a personal consultation at (773) 388-5888. Appointments with a tenant advocate are available Monday through Saturday. If you have any questions or would like more information, or to discuss your rights please contact us (773) 388-5888.

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ItuIL and read more about our organization at wwww.tenant.org