Full Text of HB4715 94th General Assembly
HB4715enr 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
|
|
|
HB4715 Enrolled |
|
LRB094 15382 AJO 50573 b |
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
HB4715 Enrolled |
- 2 - |
LRB094 15382 AJO 50573 b |
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
HB4715 Enrolled |
- 3 - |
LRB094 15382 AJO 50573 b |
|
| 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 |
|
|
|
HB4715 Enrolled |
- 4 - |
LRB094 15382 AJO 50573 b |
|
| 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. |
|
|
|
HB4715 Enrolled |
- 5 - |
LRB094 15382 AJO 50573 b |
|
| 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.
|
|