Best Ways to Get Your Landlord to Make a Repair in Illinois

If you’re having trouble getting your landlord to fix something in Chicago or anywhere else in Illinois, start off by making sure that the repair is their responsibility. In Illinois, the only way to know this for sure is to study judicial decisions from the last century, but we’ve done our best to summarize what is and isn’t a landlord's responsibility.

After that, you need to have made a request for a repair in writing and then wait for your landlord to respond and fix the problem. If you did all those things and nothing’s happened, that probably why you found yourself here.

You should still make sure that problem could be reasonably argued to be covered by the warranty of habitability, then choose an option:

Leave without notice: Terminating your lease immediately is always an option for serious repairs.

Withhold rent until it gets fixed: Chicago laws give tenants the right to withhold rent until a repair is made. If you’re outside of Chicago then you can try doing this, but if you’re evicted or taken to court you won’t have much of a leg to stand on.

Repair yourself and pay less rent:Throughout the state, you’re allowed to hire someone to fix the problem and take it out of next month’s rent. The great thing about this option is that it allows you to get your issue repaired right away.

Sue your landlord for damages: You can take your landlord to court if you feel you deserve to be awarded damages.

Next steps

Read about habitability in Illinois so you know what to expect.