A Day in the Life of a Landlord’s Leasing Agent

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I spent 10 years in the multifamily industry before starting RentConfident. For the first half of that time I was employed directly by the owner of roughly 50 Class C and Class D vintage walkup buildings scattered across the north side of Chicago. For the second half I was a licensed real estate agent focusing primarily on representing tenants in rental transactions across the city and suburbs of Chicago.

It has occurred to me that throughout the history of this blog I've spent a lot of time talking about what I learned during those years and in the time since I quit agency, but I haven't really talked about what I did while I was working there. So for the next two weeks I'll be doing "day in the life" articles, one from my time working for a landlord and the other from my time working for tenants. Continue reading A Day in the Life of a Landlord’s Leasing Agent

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Kay Cleaves

New Protections for Renters with Criminal Records in Illinois and Cook County

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Back in 2016, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a memo stating that criminal background checks should only be used by landlords with extreme caution, and that applicants with criminal histories should be considered on a case by case basis. This was issued in response to statistics showing that persons of color are disproportionately exposed to the criminal justice system across the nation.

In recent months, various Illinois legislative groups have taken steps to formalize protection of ex-cons in the housing market. Two new laws, one at the state level and one at the county level, will take effect between now and the start of 2020. Today we will review both of them and what they're likely to mean for renters. Continue reading New Protections for Renters with Criminal Records in Illinois and Cook County

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Kay Cleaves

The 6 Ws of Apartment Inspections

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The concept of regular apartment inspections by the landlord or property manager is a very old one that is seeing new popularity among property managers across the U.S. Some tenants are surprised the first time they encounter a landlord who wants to inspect their apartment on a regular basis. Some have been regularly inspected without knowing it. Others, especially those on government rent subsidies, are accustomed to it. Today we're going to go over the 6 W's (what, why, who, when, where and how to prepare/avoid) of the apartment inspection process so that renters can be ready to deal with these encounters and come out of them on top. Continue reading The 6 Ws of Apartment Inspections

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Kay Cleaves

The 10 Most Common Neighbor Complaints in Apartments

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For those of you wondering, I haven't given up on finding the data I needed to finish last week's article. It's in process but it is taking a while. There's hundreds of cases to sort through in two different courts and neither court system is particularly strong on the public documentation.

High density living can at times serve as a constant reminder of how we haven't quite yet achieved the American Dream. Every time you hear your neighbor walking around, watching TV or throwing a party you're reminded that you haven't yet earned your own plot of land. It chafes at some people more than others.

In my years working in an apartment property management office I took a lot of voicemails and angry emails from neighbors who were upset about the activities of their fellow tenants. I say voicemails deliberately as most of them came in during the middle of the night when the office was closed.

Not every building has the same problems. We didn't have a lot of issues with people stealing each others' wifi or cable but in other areas that might be more of a concern. However, not every landlord reacts the same to complaints. Some will tell you about them, some will silently put them in your file for future use against you, others will ignore them completely.

No matter the situation today I have compiled the most common ones that I encountered into a list for you, in case you want to avoid being "that guy." Continue reading The 10 Most Common Neighbor Complaints in Apartments

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Kay Cleaves

Tort Reform or Gross Injustice? HUD’s proposed changes to Disparate Impact Discrimination Cases

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So this week I was going to have a nice little 10 list for you guys about the reasons why renters file complaints against their neighbors in apartment buildings. But that's going to have to wait a couple of weeks because the US Department of Housing and Urban Development has decided to propose some changes the way they handle disparate impact cases. I really can't post a 10 list when this sort of thing is going on or the Twitterverse will eat me for lunch.

Longtime readers will know that I try to take a neutral stance on most hot-button issues in a sort of infuriating way. This time is no different. Most of the articles I've seen are decrying the changes as hostile to minorities, and yes, that is definitely a problem. But I have been calling for tort reform in the area of landlord-tenant litigation for 13 years now, and have done so no less than five times so far in this blog alone. Having gotten my wish, even if it's in a really icky area, I would be remiss to immediately take a stance either way without fully investigating the changes.

Now I know this may disappoint some of you, especially given the length of what I'm about to put out there, but I can't give you my full take on the changes today. It's too early in the process and there's some missing pieces of data that I need before I feel comfortable making a judgment call. So I'll have to follow this up with that information next week if I can find it. But I can give you some initial first impressions and an overview of the changes as I understand them. Continue reading Tort Reform or Gross Injustice? HUD’s proposed changes to Disparate Impact Discrimination Cases

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Kay Cleaves