Landlords know how important security deposits are in residential leases. The threat of losing their security deposit can keep tenants honest. Good landlords don’t want to hold back the security deposit after the tenant leaves; they would much rather have their home or apartment back in good shape. Tenants, too, look forward to the return of their security deposit when they move out. Illinois has two laws governing security deposits, and it is easy to run afoul of them: 1. The Security Deposit Interest Act: This law requires all landlords who have 25 or more units in one building or complex to pay interest on security deposits to their tenants, so long as the landlord hold the security deposit for more than 6 months. The interest rate is calculated based on the savings account interest rate payable by the state’s largest bank at the end of the year preceding the… read more →
As if the real estate market hasn’t had it bad enough this year, Cook County’s real estate tax bills will be coming out soon and will be due on November 3, 2008, and unfortunately, the taxes are going up. While home prices are plummeting, real estate taxes are not. In fact, Cook County’s north and northwest suburban homes were reassessed last year. The second installment tax bill that homeowners will soon receive will include these increased assessments. Unfortunately, the increased assessments are valued as of January 1, 2007, before the housing market crashed. Therefore homeowners will be paying taxes based on home values inflated beyond where they are today. The City of Chicago will not be reassessed until 2009. In the meantime, their property taxes are still based on home values as on January 1, 2006, when the housing market was peaking. Some Chicago homeowners will thus see large increases… read more →
What happens if you own real estate jointly with someone (i.e as joint tenants with right of survivorship or as tenants by the entirety) and the other property owner dies? Who gets his or her half of the property? Did they want you to have it? How do you get it? Don’t worry, if the joint tenant dies, the property is yours. That is the purpose of joint tenancy — if one owner dies the other owner(s) automatically get the ptoperty. But when it comes time to sell the real estate, the title company will be looking for proof that the joint owner has passed on, and a death certificate is not enough. Fortunately, the process of removing a deceased joint tenant from title is simple. A form called a Deceased Joint Tenant Affidavit needs to be prepared by someone with knowledge of the facts (typically the surviving joint tenant),… read more →
Many buyers think that a professional inspection for a newly constructed home is unnecessary. After all, it’s a new house — everything is brand new and absolutely perfect, right? Wrong. I strongly urge all of my clients to obtain a professional inspection of any home they are purchasing, even it’s just been built. In the course of my work, I see inspection reports on homes that have been previously lived in, as well as new construction homes. The lists of defects, however, are pretty much the same in length regardless of the age of construction. In fact, new construction homes sometimes have a longer list of defects because there is no one living there to have found and fixed those defects yet. For example, a switch that is supposed to be wired to an outlet may not be working properly, or a shower diverter may leak. While the builder probably… read more →