Reda | Ciprian | Magnone, LLC serves the public and other Illinois attorneys by providing timely, accessible information about Illinois law, specifically, estate planning, probate, entity formation, corporate, landlord-tenant, real estate & other areas of the law. Our firm has assisted clients as far away as France and India in their Illinois legal matters.

MAJOR AMENDMENT TO CRLTO SECTION ON SECURITY DEPOSITS
The City Council has amended the CRLTO section 5-12-080.  See the amended ordinance. This provision will go into effect August 28, 2010.

VISIT OUR NEW TWITTER FEED!
We have established a presence on Twitter.  You can follow us there for tips and news on many areas of Illinois law.  Check it out here.

NEW 2010 SECURITY DEPOSIT RATES
The security deposit interest rates for the State of Illinois and City of Chicago for 2010 have been released.  Click here for the new rates.

EVICTION NOTICE DRAFTING SERVICE
For our new page on drafting eviction notices, Click here.

COOK COUNTY SHERIFF OVERWHELMED DURING WINTER
In order to reduce a backlog of service of process and eviction requests in the forcible entry and detainer division, the Sheriff of Cook County has instituted a number of new policies and procedures to streamline the system and get long wait times back on track.  When enforcing an Order for Possession, the Sheriff will no longer actually move the tenant's possessions (instead leaving this task to the landlord).  In accord with that decision, the Sheriff has reduced the fee to place a possession order fnrom $250 to $60.  Further, Illinois Public Act 096-0060, effective July 23, 2009, amended the forcible entry and detainer statute to extend the enforcement time of an order for posseession from 90 days to 120 days because so many eviction orders were going stale, as the Sheriff could not evict the tenants on time.

ANNOUNCING SECURITYDEPOSITRECOVERY.COM!
We are pleased to announce that our sister site securitydepositrecovery.com is now up and running.  We created a more targeted site to help both landlords and tenants understand their rights and duties under the CRLTO.  Please feel free to take a look!

REAL ESTATE CASE: ATTORNEY APPROVAL
The Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court clarified Illinois law relating to attorney approval clauses in residential real estate transactions.  In the case PATEL v. MCGRATH (2-06-0472) the court ruled that unless an attorney specifically proposes a modification (rather than a suggestion for better or different terms), that proposal is not a counter-offer (as was thought to be the case based on prior rulings) but instead, the then "current" contract remains in full force and effect.  The new Multi-Board Real Estate Contract 5.0 has adopted an attorney modification paragraph in conformity with this case.

LANDLORD TENANT CASE: ATTORNEY'S FEES IN CHICAGO EVICTIONS
The Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court in the case VG Marina Management Corp. v. Wiener (2-05-0610) affirmed a landlord's right to obtain a judment for attorneys fees pursuant to the Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance.  The case came up a second time on remand from the Illinois Supreme Court and the court decided that the landlord was not entitled to attorney's fees because the landlord did not plead in any portion of the CRLTO. Stay tuned, as we may be seeing more on this case in the future.

RESIDENTIAL TENANT'S RIGHT TO REPAIR AND DEDUCT ACT
On January 1, 2005, a law went into effect allowing certain tenants, in certain situations to make repairs to a rental unit and deduct the cost of repairs from monthly rent. Click here to see the law.

WEBSITE RECOGNITION
This site was recognized as a main source for Landlord Tenant Law on the Internet in "Landlords' Rights & Duties in Illinois", a self-help law book by Mark Warda and Diana Brodman Summers.

This site was recognized in the Red Street Consulting list of the top 100 "solo & small law firm" websites.