Depositlaw Judgment Example 1

In this case the renters rented an apartment in Chicago for more than 12 months. They started out under a 12-month written lease, and then continued on an unwritten "month-to-month" basis. Landlord didn't pay interest after the first 12 months. Tenants moved out without giving proper written notice to Landlord.

The Landlord, a licensed attorney, withheld Tenants' whole $1790 deposit and provided a written statement explaining its withholding was for damage and cleaning. Tenants disputed the charges. No paid receipts for the alleged work were ever provided by the Landlord. Tenants' real estate lawyer attempted to negotiate a recovery of the deposit from Landlord without success.

One year later Tenants hired DepositLaw. DepositLaw's attempts to negotiate a recovery of the security deposit also failed. So the suit was filed and the case went to trial.

Judge Wayne Rhine held that the Tenants owed the landlord one month's extra rent, or $895, because they did not give proper written notice to terminate their month-to-month tenancy. The judge was right. Tenants owed $895.

But then the judge awarded Tenants damages equal to two-times their security deposit ($3,580) under RLTO § 080(f). Besides finding violations of RLTO § 080(c)&(d), Judge Rhine held that Landlord failed to comply with RLTO § 080(a) by entering into a mortgage on the rental property that stated:

"ASSIGNMENT OF LEASES. Upon Lender's request after default, Borrower shall assign to Lender all leases of the Property and all security deposits made in connection with leases of the Property."

Judge Rhine ruled that Landlord's mortgage "encumbered" Tenants' security deposit, contrary to the commandment of RLTO § 080(a) that:

"A security deposit * * * shall not be subject to the claims of any creditor of the landlord"

Tenant was also awarded damages of $100 under RLTO § 170 because of Landlord's failure to give Tenants a summary of the RLTO attached to the lease. Landlord protested that he did attach it, and that he had a copy right there in his briefcase. He shuffled around in the briefcase for a while at the trial and didn't find it.

Finally, Tenants were awarded return of half of their security deposit back, or $895, because the Landlord never sent them paid receipts for the work he allegedly spent their deposit on, as required by RLTO § 080(d). Tenants' attorney was granted leave to file a petition for his reasonable attorney fees. Tenants' court costs were taxed against Landlord.