Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB4715
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Full Text of HB4715  94th General Assembly

HB4715enr 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY



 


 
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1     AN ACT concerning housing.
 
2     Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
 
4     Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Safe
5 Homes Act.
 
6     Section 5. Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to promote
7 the State's interest in reducing domestic violence, dating
8 violence, sexual assault, and stalking by enabling victims of
9 domestic or sexual violence and their families to flee existing
10 dangerous housing in order to leave violent or abusive
11 situations, achieve safety, and minimize the physical and
12 emotional injuries from domestic or sexual violence, and to
13 reduce the devastating economic consequences thereof.
 
14     Section 10. Definitions. For purposes of this Act:
15     "Domestic violence" means "abuse" as defined in Section 103
16 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 by a "family or
17 household member" as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois
18 Domestic Violence Act of 1986.
19     "Landlord" means the owner of a building or the owner's
20 agent with regard to matters concerning landlord's leasing of a
21 dwelling.
22     "Sexual violence" means any act of sexual assault, sexual
23 abuse, or stalking of an adult or minor child, including but
24 not limited to non-consensual sexual conduct or non-consensual
25 sexual penetration as defined in the Civil No Contact Order Act
26 and the offenses of stalking, aggravated stalking, criminal
27 sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatory
28 criminal sexual assault of a child, criminal sexual abuse, and
29 aggravated criminal sexual abuse as those offenses are
30 described in the Criminal Code of 1961.
31     "Tenant" means a person who has entered into an oral or

 

 

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1 written lease with a landlord whereby the person is the lessee
2 under the lease.
 
3     Section 15. Affirmative defense.
4     (a) In any action brought by a landlord against a tenant to
5 recover rent for breach of lease, a tenant shall have an
6 affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period
7 after which a tenant vacates the premises owned by the
8 landlord, if by preponderance of the evidence, the court finds
9 that:
10         (1) at the time that the tenant vacated the premises,
11     the tenant or a member of tenant's household was under a
12     credible imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence at
13     the premises; and
14         (2) the tenant gave written notice to the landlord
15     prior to or within 3 days of vacating the premises that the
16     reason for vacating the premises was because of a credible
17     imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence against the
18     tenant or a member of the tenant's household.
19     (b) In any action brought by a landlord against a tenant to
20 recover rent for breach of lease, a tenant shall have an
21 affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period
22 after which the tenant vacates the premises owned by the
23 landlord, if by preponderance of the evidence, the court finds
24 that:
25         (1) a tenant or a member of tenant's household was a
26     victim of sexual violence on the premises that is owned or
27     controlled by a landlord and the tenant has vacated the
28     premises as a result of the sexual violence; and
29         (2) the tenant gave written notice to the landlord
30     prior to or within 3 days of vacating the premises that the
31     reason for vacating the premises was because of the sexual
32     violence against the tenant or member of the tenant's
33     household, the date of the sexual violence, and that the
34     tenant provided at least one form of the following types of
35     evidence to the landlord supporting the claim of the sexual

 

 

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1     violence: medical, court or police evidence of sexual
2     violence; or statement from an employee of a victim
3     services or rape crisis organization from which the tenant
4     or a member of the tenant's household sought services; and
5         (3) the sexual violence occurred not more than 60 days
6     prior to the date of giving the written notice to the
7     landlord, or if the circumstances are such that the tenant
8     cannot reasonably give notice because of reasons related to
9     the sexual violence, such as hospitalization or seeking
10     assistance for shelter or counseling, then as soon
11     thereafter as practicable. Nothing in this subsection (b)
12     shall be construed to be a defense against an action in
13     forcible entry and detainer for failure to pay rent before
14     the tenant provided notice and vacated the premises.
15     (c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to be a defense
16 against an action for rent for a period of time before the
17 tenant vacated the landlord's premises and gave notice to the
18 landlord as required in subsection (b).
 
19     Section 20. Change of locks.
20     (a) Upon written notice from all tenants who have signed as
21 lessees under a written lease, the tenants may request that a
22 landlord change the locks of the dwelling unit in which they
23 live if one or more of the tenants reasonably believes that one
24 of the tenants or a member of tenant's household is under a
25 credible imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence at the
26 premises from a person who is not a lessee under the lease.
27 Notice to the landlord requesting a change of locks shall be
28 accompanied by at least one form of the following types of
29 evidence to support a claim of domestic or sexual violence:
30 medical, court or police evidence of domestic or sexual
31 violence; or a statement from an employee of a victim services,
32 domestic violence, or rape crisis organization from which the
33 tenant or a member of the tenant's household sought services.
34     (b) Once a landlord has received notice of a request for
35 change of locks and has received one form of evidence referred

 

 

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1 to in Section (a) above, the landlord shall, within 48 hours,
2 change the locks or give the tenant the permission to change
3 the locks.
4         (1) The landlord may charge a fee for the expense of
5     changing the locks. That fee must not exceed the reasonable
6     price customarily charged for changing a lock.
7         (2) If a landlord fails to change the locks within 48
8     hours after being provided with the notice and evidence
9     referred to in (a) above, the tenant may change the locks
10     without the landlord's permission. If the tenant changes
11     the locks, the tenant shall give a key to the new locks to
12     the landlord within 48 hours of the locks being changed. In
13     the case where a tenant changes the locks without the
14     landlord's permission, the tenant shall do so in a
15     workmanlike manner with locks of similar or better quality
16     than the original lock.
17     (c) The landlord who changes locks or allows the change of
18 locks under this Act shall not be liable to any third party for
19 damages resulting from a person being unable to access the
20 dwelling.
 
21     Section 25. Penalty for violation.
22     (a) If a landlord takes action to prevent the tenant who
23 has complied with Section 20 of this Act from changing his or
24 her locks, the tenant may seek a temporary restraining order,
25 preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction ordering the
26 landlord to refrain from preventing the tenant from changing
27 the locks. A tenant who successfully brings an action pursuant
28 to this Section may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and
29 costs.
30     (b) A tenant who changes locks and does not provide a copy
31 of a key to the landlord within 48 hours of the tenant changing
32 the locks, shall be liable for any damages to the dwelling or
33 the building in which the dwelling is located that could have
34 been prevented had landlord been able to access the dwelling
35 unit in the event of an emergency.

 

 

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1     (c) The remedies provided to landlord and tenant under this
2 Section 25 shall be sole and exclusive.
 
3     Section 30. Prohibition of waiver or modification. The
4 provisions of this Act may not be waived or modified in any
5 lease or separate agreement.
 
6     Section 35. Public housing excluded. This Act does not
7 apply to public housing, assisted under the United States
8 Housing Act of 1937, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq., and
9 its implementing regulations, with the exception of the
10 tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher program. Public housing
11 includes dwelling units in mixed-finance projects that are
12 assisted through a public housing authority's capital,
13 operating, or other funds.