city guideline for including balcony in square footage of apartments ? (Chicago: leasing, how much)

[swissmonsieur]

Hello,

I just rented an apartment in a Gold Coast area high rise (from building management, not private owner), based on their info about square footage.

I just found out that the liveable area is 20 percent smaller than presumed, because the advertised square footage included the whole balcony.

I've been trying to find info on how the balcony area is supposed to be counted in Chicago, but have not found city guidelines, and an apartment rental company did not know. It is as if no one had ever encountered this situation.

Is it accepted practice in Chicago to count the balcony as part of square footage?
Is it ok for a building management to present it as if it was liveable indoor space, in Chicago?
Is it normal if a square footage is given, and not disclosed how much liveable space a renter has?

For all who suggest to just "measure the rooms" before signing a lease, this was not possible, because the floorplan contains many angles. I relied on the information from the leasing office, until I had a specialist measure it.

Thanks to everyone who can contribute some info. Before possibly approaching the leasing office about this, I would like to have the facts first.

Thank you.

[Drover]

It's a stretch to consider a balcony "living space." This is why some agencies won't even disclose square footage and why it's just plain prohibited in some jurisdictions.

My guess is there was a disclaimer somewhere that said "square footage is approximate, lessee is responsible for verifying, blah blah blah" which takes a whole bunch of steam out of the legal legitimacy that you "relied" on their representation. Even if there is no such disclaimer, the fact that you conducted even a mere visual inspection and then signed the lease implies that you were satisfied with what you saw. Not sure you have much of a case here. Maybe a licensed attorney would disagree.

[Avengerfire]

If anything ask them to knock a few bucks off of the rent.

[long101]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

If anything ask them to knock a few bucks off of the rent.

x2

You obviously saw the place before you rented it but who in the world would bust out a tape measure. Speaking of that I just signed a lease and my place was suppose to be over 1300 sq ft and I was bored the other day and its under 1200 sq ft. Worst case you learned a life lesson

[swissmonsieur]

Originally Posted by long101

x2

You obviously saw the place before you rented it but who in the world would bust out a tape measure.

Well, thanks everybody for chiming in, also to the other posters.
I pointed out when I asked the question, this place has a triangular shape with many angled walls. I had it measured by someone who has a special architectural software. It is not possible to measure it with a tape, rooms do not have rectanglular shapes.

In Europe, one fourth of the balcony area is added to the apartment size, which is fair enough. This is the law over there.

I can hardly believe that the balcony question is not regulated, somehow, somewhere.

[swissmonsieur]

Originally Posted by Drover

It's a stretch to consider a balcony "living space." This is why some agencies won't even disclose square footage and why it's just plain prohibited in some jurisdictions.

When trying to find some info on this, I noticed that some similar buildings do not publish anything about square footage, but only floorplans, maybe with room size.
Some apartment rental companies (e.g. Urban Lux) do not publish the size of the apartments that they advertise.

I remember when I was looking, on a couple of places I was given a square footage that I hardly could believe, as they felt much smaller.
In a highrise, a lot of space is taken up by the walls, some of which are almost 2 ft thick. These are part of the liveable area, no question - you'd be surprised to how much that adds up.