Should you have to write a letter to get your security deposit back?

Last updated: April 27, 2010 – 12:37 PM

There’s a very important piece of legislation coming before the Chicago city council, one that would do a lot for ordinary people waylaid by the foreclosure crisis.

But there’s a problem with that bill, or at least a version of it floating around the council chambers. One that could hurt vulnerable tenants around the city.

Megan Cottrell reports – Read it on True/Slant

All 3 Comments

  1. One of the biggest problems for landlords and management companies is that, except for CIC – The Community Investment Corporation… there is no landlord organization that is doing near enough to educate landlords and management companies about the provisions of the RLTO and how to COMPLY with the requirements of the RLTO.

    In addition, I have personally been involved with at least three, and perhaps four attempts by MTO and other Not-For-Profit Corporations, like LCBH, LAF and others, over the years, to meet and talk about changes to the RLTO that Landlords and TENANTS believe need some adjustment and sound thinking….in each instance, the landlords, without reason or provication, and in a very mean-spirited fashion (and I mean MEAN!!), made it very clear that the landlords and owners did NOT CARE AT ALL for tenant concerns (like more details in the RLTO on how to deal with Illegal lock-outs or landlords who retaliate against tenants by turning off the heat and other utilities in the middle of the winter)…all the landlords wanted was WHAT THEY WANTED, and refused to further discuss tenant requests that NO reasonable person could disagree with.

    In these very difficult economic times and given the 10-year anniversary of “9-11”, one would think that landlords would agree that tenants are people too, and this is America and landlords of today were most likely tenants of yesterday. It seems that it is still not possible for all of us “To just get along with each other”, and if someone can explain this to me/us, would love to know why there is this very strong adversarial focus by landlords and their most powerful organized groups.

  2. This is interesting as in the UK one would normally have to send a letter of notification to end the tenancy (even if the tenancy if for a fixed term)

    Within the termination letter you would normally include a forwarding address and instructions on how the landlord should forward on your deposit.

    There is also a goverment run tenancy deposit scheme where landlords are forced to keep deposits instead of keeping them in their own bank accounts

    Tenants Rights UK

    1. Having a government run deposit scheme would help to eliminate much of the controversy around security deposit. A coalition of organizations proposed this very solution nearly 10 years ago to the Chicago City Council. It was never taken seriously as the landlord’s fought to keep it from moving ahead. I still think that it is the best option.

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