Dive Brief:
- Starting next year, rental housing providers in Illinois will be prohibited from retaliating against a variety of tenant complaints, according to House Bill 4768, also known as the Landlord Retaliation Act, signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last month.
- Protected tenant actions under this law include reporting code violations to a government agency or official, complaining about a code violation or illegal landlord practice to a community organization, requesting repairs to a property from the landlord, joining or forming a tenants’ union, testifying in court about the condition of the premises or any other “right or remedy provided by law,” according to the act’s text.
- A landlord cannot deliberately evict a tenant, increase rent, decrease services, bring or threaten to bring a lawsuit or refuse to renew a lease in response to these actions.
Dive Insight:
Illinois’s existing Retaliatory Eviction Act, passed in 1963, only forbade landlords from evicting tenants in response to a complaint to a government organization about code violations. The Landlord Retaliation Act expands this list of protected and retaliatory actions.
An action is not considered retaliatory if a landlord can prove that it had another legitimate reason for occurring, or if it occurred before the tenant’s protected action, according to the text of the law. If a landlord is found to have violated the act, potential remedies include:
- Terminating the rental agreement and returning the security deposit and all prepaid rent.
- Recovering possession of the property if the landlord has dispossessed or is dispossessing the tenant.
- Recovery of either twice the monthly rent or twice the damages sustained by the tenant, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorneys’ fees.
The law’s sponsor, State Sen. Karina Villa, said that it is meant to protect tenants from eviction, homelessness or living in inhospitable conditions out of fear of retaliation.
“With the high cost of living, it is irresponsible to continue to allow unjust forms of retaliation that put tenants in dangerous situations,” said Villa in a news release on the law’s passing. “Tenants spend their hard-earned money on rent. Renters who are simply holding their landlords accountable should be protected.”
Risks for landlords
Paul Arena, director of legislative affairs at the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association, told Multifamily Dive that the law places landlords in a defensive position around management decisions.
Under this law, Arena said, any rent increases, changes in property rules or a decision not to renew a lease can be considered retaliation if a tenant has recently made a maintenance request. “Even if the landlord performed the maintenance immediately, or when the damage is caused by the tenant, the landlord is presumed guilty,” Arena said.
This law is especially difficult for small landlords, who lack the financial resources to fund a defense, Arena said. He expects this situation to drive more mom-and-pop landlords out of providing housing and, in turn, reduce affordable housing options in the state.
In order to prepare to comply with this new legislation, Arena recommends implementing strict screening standards and lease term enforcement.
“Don’t take chances on tenants,” Arena said. “If a landlord fails to act in response to lease violations in one case it could be used against them if they take action in other cases. Document everything you do and the reasons for your actions.”
Only six states — Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming — do not have a landlord retaliation statute on their books, though retaliation has been used as a legal defense in eviction cases in Idaho, according to legal aid organization Nolo. Laws in the other 44 states and the District of Columbia vary widely in what is considered retaliation, and some set a specific timeframe in which landlords’ actions can be considered retaliatory following a complaint.
