CHICAGO — Is your apartment too cold? You aren't alone. In the last couple of days the Metropolitan Tenant Organization has seen a surge in calls for heat-related problems from Chicago renters.
The nonprofit, which aims to educate, organize and assist tenants on issues related to their housing rights, saw more than 2,000 visits to its website Thursday, a record for the group, said Phillip DeVon, community membership manager for the tenants' rights group.
"[Heat-related issues] are becoming more and more common," DeVon said. "It's becoming somewhat of a crisis because so many people are dealing with it."
He attributed the leap in the number of people seeking information about their rights as renters to two factors: "real cold temperatures and deteriorating housing stock."
"Some tenants struggle to find the right information or to exercise their rights as tenants. It can get overwhelming, and it can be life-threatening, especially for certain populations like children or senior citizens," DeVon said.
On Thursday, the organization filed an emergency motion against a landlord where there has been no heat or running water for the last two months, he said.
"That's dangerous. No one should be living without heat in such brutal winters," he said.
The organization urges tenants without heat or who have insufficient heat to call 311 and to notify their landlord in writing in order to address the problem quickly.
Department of Buildings Commissioner Felicia Davis said the city has responded to some 3,400 "no heat" complaints since Sept. 15. Davis said the department has filed 114 court cases involving 887 residential units for heat-related complaints.
From Sept. 15 through June 1, the temperature inside a rental residence is required to be at least 68 degrees from 8:30 a.m until 10:30 p.m., and at least 66 degrees from 10:30 p.m. until 8:30 a.m, Davis said. Landlords face up to a $500 fine for each day that they do not supply adequate heat, she said.
"The reason for lack of heat doesn't matter. Landlords must follow the law, and apartments must be heated," she said.
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