Full Text of HB4715 94th General Assembly
HB4715sam001 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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Sen. Kwame Raoul
Filed: 3/23/2006
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| AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4715
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| AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4715 by deleting | 3 |
| everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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| "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, abuse, | 23 |
| or stalking of an adult or minor child, including but not |
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| limited to non-consensual conduct or non-consensual sexual | 2 |
| penetration as defined in the Civil No Contact Order Act and | 3 |
| the offenses of stalking, aggravated stalking, criminal sexual | 4 |
| assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatory | 5 |
| criminal sexual assault of a child, criminal sexual abuse, and | 6 |
| aggravated criminal sexual abuse as those offenses are | 7 |
| described in the Criminal Code of 1961. | 8 |
| "Tenant" means a person who has signed a written lease with | 9 |
| a landlord whereby the person is the lessee under the written | 10 |
| lease.
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| Section 15. Affirmative defense.
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| (a) In any action brought by a landlord against a tenant to | 13 |
| recover rent for breach of lease, a tenant shall have an | 14 |
| affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period | 15 |
| after which a tenant vacates the premises owned by the | 16 |
| landlord, if by preponderance of the evidence, the court finds | 17 |
| that: | 18 |
| (1) at the time that the tenant vacated the premises, | 19 |
| the tenant or a member of tenant's household was under a | 20 |
| credible imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence at | 21 |
| the premises; and | 22 |
| (2) the tenant gave notice to the landlord prior to or | 23 |
| within 3 days of vacating the premises that the reason for | 24 |
| vacating the premises was because of a credible imminent | 25 |
| threat of domestic or sexual violence against the tenant or | 26 |
| a member of the tenant's household.
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| (b) In any action brought by a landlord against a tenant to | 28 |
| recover rent for breach of lease, a tenant shall have an | 29 |
| affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period | 30 |
| after which the tenant vacates the premises owned by the | 31 |
| landlord, if by preponderance of the evidence, the court finds | 32 |
| that: | 33 |
| (1) a tenant or a member of tenant's household was a |
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| victim of sexual violence on the premises and the tenant | 2 |
| has vacated the premises as a result of the sexual | 3 |
| violence; and | 4 |
| (2) the tenant gave written notice to the landlord | 5 |
| prior to or within 3 days of vacating the premises that the | 6 |
| reason for vacating the premises was because of the sexual | 7 |
| violence against the tenant or member of the tenant's | 8 |
| household, the date of the sexual violence, and that the | 9 |
| tenant provided at least one form of the following types of | 10 |
| evidence to the landlord supporting the claim of the sexual | 11 |
| violence: medical, court or police evidence of sexual | 12 |
| violence; or statement from an employee of a victim | 13 |
| services or rape crisis organization from which the tenant | 14 |
| or a member of the tenant's household sought services; and | 15 |
| (3) the sexual violence occurred not more than 30 days | 16 |
| prior to the date of giving the written notice to the | 17 |
| landlord. | 18 |
| (c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to be a defense | 19 |
| against an action for rent for a period of time before the | 20 |
| tenant vacated the landlord's premises.
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| Section 20. Change of locks.
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| (a) Upon written notice from all tenants who have signed as | 23 |
| lessees under a written lease, the tenants may request that a | 24 |
| landlord change the locks of the dwelling unit in which they | 25 |
| live if one or more of the tenants reasonably believes that one | 26 |
| of the tenants or a member of tenant's household is under a | 27 |
| credible imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence at the | 28 |
| premises from a person who is not a lessee under the lease. | 29 |
| Notice to the landlord requesting a change of locks shall be | 30 |
| accompanied by at least one form of the following types of | 31 |
| evidence to support a claim of domestic or sexual violence: | 32 |
| medical, court or police evidence of domestic or sexual | 33 |
| violence; or a statement from an employee of a victim services, |
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| domestic violence, or rape crisis organization from which the | 2 |
| tenant or a member of the tenant's household sought services. | 3 |
| (b) Once a landlord has received notice of a request for | 4 |
| change of locks and has received one form of evidence referred | 5 |
| to in Section (a) above, the landlord shall, within 48 hours, | 6 |
| change the locks or give the tenant the permission to change | 7 |
| the locks. | 8 |
| (1) The landlord may charge a fee for the expense of | 9 |
| changing the locks. That fee must not exceed the reasonable | 10 |
| price customarily charged for changing a lock. | 11 |
| (2) If a landlord fails to change the locks within 48 | 12 |
| hours after being provided with the notice and evidence | 13 |
| referred to in (a) above, the tenant may change the locks | 14 |
| without the landlord's permission. If the tenant changes | 15 |
| the locks, the tenant shall give a key to the new locks to | 16 |
| the landlord within 48 hours of the locks being changed. In | 17 |
| the case where a tenant changes the locks without the | 18 |
| landlord's permission, the tenant shall do so in a | 19 |
| workmanlike manner with locks of similar or better quality | 20 |
| than the original lock. | 21 |
| (c) The landlord who changes locks or allows the change of | 22 |
| locks under this Act shall not be liable to any third party for | 23 |
| damages resulting from a person being unable to access the | 24 |
| dwelling.
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| Section 25. Penalty for violation.
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| (a) If a landlord takes action to prevent the tenant who | 27 |
| has complied with Section 20 of this Act from changing his or | 28 |
| her locks, the tenant may seek a temporary restraining order, | 29 |
| preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction ordering the | 30 |
| landlord to refrain from preventing the tenant from changing | 31 |
| the locks. | 32 |
| (b) A tenant who changes locks and does not provide a copy | 33 |
| of a key to the landlord within 48 hours of the tenant changing |
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| the locks, shall be liable for any damages to the dwelling or | 2 |
| the building in which the dwelling is located that could have | 3 |
| been prevented had landlord been able to access the dwelling | 4 |
| unit in the event of an emergency. | 5 |
| (c) The remedies provided to landlord and tenant under this | 6 |
| Section 25 shall be sole and exclusive.
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| Section 30. Prohibition of waiver or modification. The | 8 |
| provisions of this Act may not be waived or modified in any | 9 |
| lease or separate agreement.
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| Section 35. Public housing excluded. This Act does not | 11 |
| apply to housing managed, operated, financed, or regulated, in | 12 |
| whole or part, pursuant to the United States Housing Act of | 13 |
| 1937, as amended, 42 USC 1437 et seq., and its implementing | 14 |
| regulations.".
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