Slumlord! Help!! Living in an illegal apartment and having an evil landlord :( (Chicago: sale, 2015)

[canneverfindagoodlandlord]

Okay so I just signed a lease this past July for a 1-bedroom in Little Italy, $1,000 security deposit and $500 for half a month of rent for July. The landlord told us we had to get gas and electric in our name right away.. So we tried.. People's gas would not turn on the gas because it looked like the landlord did all the gas plumbing himself and quoting the People's Gas technician "There is no doubt in my mind this entire building will explode if I turn this on", they came out 3 times because he would not get it fixed and tried to get my roommate and I to agree to turning on the gas himself. There was a ticket from People's Gas from December 2014 left on the furnace (which is in our room) stating he needed to redo all plumbing. It was obvious he's been turning the gas on illegally for years. SO anyway this all meant we did not have gas (no hot water or cooking gas) from July 15th - September 14th 2015. It has been fixed since then and he wants rent for August and September (out of his mind) he gave us a 5 day notice and termination of the lease (were still here). I called the city because there is only one exit in our a apartment when there is a furnace in the bedroom and bars on the back windows so if there were a fire in the front we are screwed. Even a fire in the back room, it's over for us (and he was probably going to start one). He has RT4 zoning, I'm pretty sure he forced this apartment on the first floor because the building next door has the same floor plan and our apartment is being used as a storage space there. I just want to know if I should stay calm or be worried about this? I want to move out but I really don't have the money, I'm in school. I feel like the stress from this apartment already ruined my summer school grades and I just gave up. I don't want to pay him for the time we did not have gas and I'm hoping this apartment is illegal so I don't have to pay him ever. He took his sweet time to fix the gas problem and did not care about my roommate and I's safety and he doesnt fix anything for anyone in our building. I think he had this coming to him. I'm asking for help and venting lol I feel like crying just writing all this, I HATE HIM.

if you can give me any advice or words of encouragement would be appreciated lol i guess if you have anything mean but true to say also let me know like risks I'm taking or if I'm screwed

thanks so much

[MSchemist80]

I think your options are move out though he will probably pocket your security unless you take him to small claims for it. Or stay and not pay and make a nuisance of yourself until he goes through formal eviction which could take all winter or he throws some money at you to get you to leave.

[linicx]

If you kept your possessions in that apartment from when you moved in until the present you owe him rent. However, from 15-July to July 31, and from 1-Sept to 15 September, plus August 1- August 31is sixty days you could not shower or cook. .If you gave him more than 500 dollars for the specific 60 days, he was overpaid.

I would check the Chicago Tenant & Landlord Rules, and I would talk to a attorney. It will save a lot of threats and angst, and general chaos. The law should be on your side on this one. .

[reenzz]

You can sue the landlord for a partial rent abatement for the dates that you didn't have services, but if you lived there, you can not just withhold ALL of the rent.

[canneverfindagoodlandlord]

@MSchemist80 I was thinking of saving up while I'm being a nuisance so that I could move out and hopefully get my security deposit and stuff back while he's trying to go through with a formal eviction. I already called 311 and complained about him trying to turn on the gas illegally and we don't have two exits (furnace in bedroom and stove near only exit) and this apartment is probably illegal the plumbing under the sinks looks so bad and I know nothing about plumbing I think he forcefully made this apartment not following any codes.

And I don't have the money for an attorney reenzz and linicz or else I would have already -__-, and I have been afraid of all this reenzz, I think I was just so mad that we didn't have anything for so long and he didn't care that I was too bitter to even care about that at the time. Now I feel like it's too late to even go back, but he's evil so I don't care he doesn't deserve anything. After living like that I realized I was barely living.... I don't have money to eat out all the time I was shopping at Dollar Tree for groceries because I didn't have

[linicx]

In this situation you might have been better off to buy at Goodwill or garage sale an electric skillet and a crockpot. Or a double unit electric burner. It is a lot like camping, but it is amazing what you can do with these units when you need 'em.

When yer mad, don't get even; improvise!

[canneverfindagoodlandlord]

I did end up doing this a lot later! lol I had an electric skillet for a while, I will never forget those cold showers tho lol

[emathias]

I'll state the obvious: if you weren't paying him rent for the dates you didn't have gas service, why do you not have the money to move?

I feel for your situation, but if you spent the rent instead of saving it for a move, it's hard to be completely sympathetic.

At any rate, you need to move regardless of cost, you just have to find a way to make it happen. And once you're moved, even though I rarely advise this, in this case I recommend you call the city inspector and the landlord will get fined up the, well, you know what, if half of the violations you describe are as bad as you describe them, so the next tenant, if there is one, will at least have a safe place to live. But call after you move - if you call before, you could get evicted by the City for safety reasons very quickly with no recourse.

[ToriaT]

And the next time, check your apartment carefully. Some things you can't tell but obviously having two exits is something you can easily see.

[vb808]

I feel your pain. I rented from an awful landlord in Wicker Park years ago, but my situation was not as bad as yours. You have the upper hand as a tenant.

The Top 10 Rights Chicago Tenants Don't Know They Have - Curbed University - Curbed Chicago