Chicago Residential Landlord & Tenant Ordinance
Section 5-12-101 Bed Bugs - Education
For any rental agreement for a dwelling unit entered into or renewed after the effective date of this 2013 amendatory ordinance, prior to entering into or renewing such agreement, the landlord or any person authorized to enter into such agreement on his behalf shall provide to such tenant the informational brochure on bed bug prevention and treatment prepared by the department of health pursuant to Section 7-28-860.
Commentary
This section of the RLTO requires landlords to provide tenants with written disclosures about bedbugs at the time a lease is renewed or entered into after December, 2013. However, despite a slew of new rules, and a pamphlet landlords are supposed to attach, no new remedy has been given to tenants in case of a violation by a landlord. Instead only the City of Chicago can enforce the law, and only the City of Chicago can collect compensation from the landlord for violations; not the tenant.
A tenant may be able to recover damages in a personal injury suit for injuries, scarring, or medical care related directly to a bedbug problem the landlord negligently failed to contain or exterminate.