Apartment Conditions & Repair: Rent Reduction Sample Letter
last updated on December 4, 2009 – 4:16 pm17 comments
This letter applies to residents within the city of Chicago only who are covered under the Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RLTO). Please see the Exceptions to the RLTO to ensure the law applies to you.
For tenants in suburban Chicagoland, please click here for the law as it applies in your town.
Do you have to give 14 days for the landlord to make the repair before you make the repair and reduce the cost from your rent? Our property manager never makes repairs, and our bathtub will not drain. Waiting for 14 more days will be very difficult. -Thanks
In cases of essential services you can give less time. A bath tub drain could potentially fit that description. You should consult with an attorney. It may depend on such things as do you have another tub or shower, how bad is the drain etc.
John
My apartment has had countless issues over the course of 1 year. To date my tub and kitchen sink drains slow, my ceiling is leaking again,the roof has yet to be properly fixed, my windows are still waiting to be weatherproofed (since I moved in), & my outlets haven’t been repaired, just to name a few. How do I determine the amount I should reduce from my rent until all of these things have been taken care of?
There is no scientific way to do this. At MTO we think that the judges of City Council should set some guidelines. Short of that it may be best to consult an attorney.
My boyfriend and i are on the lease. We had starting in late may bed bugs told the landlord but nothing done. I began steaming everything, spending alot of money at the laundromat to do all mine, my boyfriends, and my six years old things. I bought bed bug spray out of my own pocket. I kept calling the land lord they finally bought two more cans of bed bug spray refusing to pay an exterminator. Could not find the landlords address the only address they have is to my apartment and it also is stated on my the 1st floor tenants lease the address where we are. We told the land lord in June that we will not pay them the full amount of rent if not taken care of. I moved out June 6th, because I could not take the bites any more. My boyfriend works 12-14 hrs daily so he never noticed them. Told me they were gone so i moved back. Now its the end of august and the first floor has them and ive got more than before and the land lord still refuses to call an exterminator. What can we do. Any help would greatly be appreciated.
Is this a multi-unit building? Are there others in the building that are being impacted by the pests. If so you might want to work with other tenants to get the landlord to fix the problem. Bed bugs are hard to get rid of. Also you your boyfriend may not notice the bugs because about 40 percent of people do not react to the bites. If this is a multi-unit building and other tenants have pests then the landlord is responsible for remedying the situation. You might want to call 311 and request an inspection.
If the tenant is not sure her neighbors have bud bugs but, she has already received written confirmation there is an infestation from a professional, can she still use this sample letter? Or, does it HAVE to be a problem in more than one unit?
I am working with her to get her to ask her neighbors in the multi-unit building.
The tenant should definitely contact the landlord. Currently under Chicago law, if there are bed bugs in only one unit it is not a code violation. There are efforts underway to change that.
I am on the third floor of a multi-unit walk up. The landlord does not live in the building. I have been here since March when i signed a 1 yr. lease.
The doorbell/intercom has not worked since i moved in -The landlord has told me that it would be fixed and that we would be getting a state of the art intercom system that rings your phone, this was several months ago and still nothing has been done and landlord will not return my phone calls about this problem. I cannot receive packages or even know if i have a visitor since i have no doorbell. It has worked on and off, but then I can’t find out who is at the door without running down 3 flights of stairs, since the intercom has never worked.
There is no access to the basement to change fuses, the only person who has a key is the store owner of a stained glass store on the street level of the building, he is not open 24/7 so if a fuse blows during non store hours, there is no way to change the fuse and have functioning electric in the apartment since the landlord does not return phone calls or text messages.
I have recently seen cockroaches and had to contact the landlord several times to get an exterminator, he finally gave me the exterminators phone to set up an appointment with him, the only communication i have been able to have about the process is through the exterminator himself. I have had to purchase Diatomaceous Earth to put around the apartment to try to kill the bugs without being toxic to me or my dog…I have not gotten any reimbursement for this…My landlord rarely ever returns phone calls or text messages.
The bathroom tub regularly gets clogged and i have had to purchase drano repeatedly, again no reimbursement from the landlord. The landlord has rodded it twice only after several attempts to contact him.
The kitchen drain gurgles and bubbles on a consistent basis and lately there is a rotten egg smell that fills the apartment when this happens….landlord will not respond to requests to fix.
The hallway has no ventilation, the windows are nailed shut and the smoke detector in the hall is constantly beeping, the hallway has only been cleaned once since i’ve moved in 6 months ago.
There are pigeon droppings and pigeons living on the back porch.
I have been without hot water twice this week and when it came back on after not working i had orange rusty water running from the drains…no response from the landlord about this problem.
There is a sports bar below me in the building (I was not aware that this was an active bar when i moved in, the leasing agent told me she didn’t know what was in that space because it was papered up and looked vacant) There is constant noise at night until 2 and 3am from drunken patrons and occassionally they have a DJ and the Bass from the music vibrates the whole building. I work retail hours so I often work on the weekends…this disturbs my sleep even though i wear earplugs.
I would like to know if I can renegotiate my rent for a reduction. I can’t afford to move again. Or is there anything else I can do? Thanks!
I did file a complaint online with the city building code violations, I am hoping that this does not get me in trouble with the landlord, i know that there is a law against retailiation, but it is very hard to fight, I just don’t know what else to do since the landlord will rarely ever call me back. did i do the right thing?
There are several steps that tenants can take.
1. You can call 311 and request an inspection. I do not know how well the online complaint system works. Did you receive a complaint tracking number? If so you can call 311 and find out the status of the complaint. The city inspectors will cite the landlord for code violation which it sounds like there are several and force the landlord to make the repairs or face fines.
2. You can use rent withholding or repair and deduct remedies. These remedies start with a written letter to the landlord give the owner 14 days to fix things.
Hello,
I did give my landlord the letter stating all of the problems and that I would be deducting rent for October, I had a meeting with another landlord (turns out 2 brother own the building and the other brother has taken over handling the situation with me) He said he would work on fixing the problems to make me happy and that i could take $300 off of October’s rent, but it would be a one time thing. He also said he had other buildings and wanted to put me in another apartment and would help me out with the moving costs. etc…He has not shown me the apartment as of yet, says he’s busy or doesn’t get back to me when i try to set up an appointment.
The only problem that was addressed was that he rodded the bathtub drain and has had the exterminator out. he also took me downstairs to the bar to talk to the owners about keeping the noise level down.
Nothing else has been fixed. The bar continues to have loud dj’s and i have had to call 311 at least 3 times and have talked to the alderman’s office. He has had an exterminator come out, but the problem is ongoing with the roaches.
Since these problems have not been fixed, I took $300 off of November’s rent (rent is $700) and sent a letter stating that since these problems have not been resolved that I am deducting the reduced value from the rent as per the Tenants Rights.
I received a voice mail to day from my landlord saying that I need to call him immediately and let him know what time he could pick up the rest of the rent TODAY. He said he’s not playing around and was trying to be nice by giving me a discount last month..
What are my rights? What can I do? Please Help!!!
thanks,
simone
No repairs have taken place in my apartment since I moved in my new apartment the weekend of October 1, 2012. The landlord has been promising to fix stuff since the day my family and I moved in, but nothing has been done. My family has been immensely inconvenienced. After speaking to a representative at MTO, I sent a 14-day rent reduction letter by certified mail on December 15, 2012. The letter included the list of repairs as instructed by the MTO representative. I know the landlord received an attempt-to-deliver notice; we live in the same building and I saw the notice in the hallway. Today, I went online to track the letter; I found that there was an attempt to deliver on December 17, 2012, but that was the only information available.
Here are my questions/concerns:
1. Can I still reduce my rent EVEN THOUGH I don’t know if my landlord ever picked up the certified letter from the post office? I paid extra for a return receipt once delivered, but I haven’t received anything yet.
2. If the landlord continues not to make repairs, even after I’ve reduced the rent, can I then break my lease using the 14-day lease termination letter?
I feel that my landlord has been avoiding me for the past couple of weeks. I need to be proactive in my next step if he still doesn’t make repairs.
I graciously thank you for any assistance or advice you can give to me.
Sincerely,
Ms. Roberts
No repairs have taken place in my apartment since I moved in my new apartment the weekend of October 1, 2012. The landlord has been promising to fix stuff since the day my family and I moved in, but nothing has been done. My family has been immensely inconvenienced. After speaking to a representative at MTO, I sent a 14-day rent reduction letter by certified mail on December 15, 2012. The letter included the list of repairs as instructed by the MTO representative. I know the landlord received an attempt-to-deliver notice; we live in the same building and I saw the notice in the hallway. Today, I went online to track the letter; I found that there was an attempt to deliver on December 17, 2012, but that was the only information available.
Here are my questions/concerns:
1. Can I still reduce my rent EVEN THOUGH I don’t know if my landlord ever picked up the certified letter from the post office? I paid extra for a return receipt once delivered, but I haven’t received anything yet.
2. If the landlord continues not to make repairs, even after I’ve reduced the rent, can I then break my lease using the 14-day lease termination letter?
I feel that my landlord has been avoiding me for the past couple of weeks. I need to be proactive in my next step if he still doesn’t make repairs.
I graciously thank you for any assistance or advice you can give to me.
Sincerely,
Ms. Roberts
The law states that tenants can take action 14 days after the landlord receives the notice. If you reduce the rent for January that could be problematic. Another suggestion is to give the landlord the notice with your rent check. At least that way you can document that the landlord received the notice.
As for breaking the lease, that would required another notice. The law around breaking the lease states the needed repairs nave to make the unit not reasonably fit and habitable. I do not know what the problems are but that is a higher standard.
Hello,
I would like to know how much of a rent reduction can I take out of my monthly payment of 900 dollars? I stay in a 6 unit building (landlord does not live there)and the front mutual door has been broken for 9 months. I have been complaining and I have been getting the run around. Strangers off the street comes into the building and people sleeping on the stairs. I’m submitting my 14 day notice in the morning.
Thank you in advance,
Linette
I cannot give you legal advice such as informing you how much to reduce the rent. The reduction should reflect the diminished value of the unit.
There are several issues in your letter. The first is that you sent the letter and in response the landlord fixed several items and halfway fixed others and did not fix the others. I cannot tell from here how much to reduce the rent for the items not fixed at all. Because the landlord fixed some of the problems it should change the amount of your reduction.
As for raising the rent, are there other renters in the building? Did the landlord raise the rent on everyone else. If so then it will be harder to raise a retaliation claim.
I would suggest that you contact an attorney.