The Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) applies to all non-owner occupied residential rental buildings as well as to owner-occupied buildings of more than six units. RLTO has helpful definitions of when a tenant can be considered to have abandoned his or her apartment. The first situation is simple, where the tenant has given actual notice to the landlord of the tenant’s intention not to return to the unit.

The second definition of abandonment requires three things:
a) That in the case of a tenancy with rental periods of one month or more, all persons entitled to occupy the apartment have been absent for a period of two (2) days or in the case of rental period of less than a month, that all persons have been absent for one rental period;
b) All persons entitled to occupy the unit have removed their personal property from the premises; and
c) Rent for the period is unpaid.

The third situation is which the landlord may conclude there has been abandonment is where all persons entitled to occupy the apartment have been absent for a period of thirty two (32) days and rent for the period is unpaid.

Feel free to contact an experienced Illinois landlord attorney at Logan Law, LLC if you have questions about RLTO or any other area of the laws governing landlords and tenants.

Illinois has long had a law which permitted the transfer of up to $100,000 in personal property at a person’s death without the need for probate. The law permitted the transfer by the completion and execution of what is called a small estate affidavit. Since a probate estate can take seven months to a year or more to complete and can involve attorney fees and costs of $2,000 or more, this alternative to probate can be very useful in the right circumstances.

Until the beginning of 2015, the small estate affidavit had a characteristic which severely limited the usefulness of the procedure, in that the affidavit could only be used where the estate had no debts other than funeral expenses. This changed through a law passed in 2014. Now a small estate affidavit may be used in estates which have non-funeral debts, provided all debts of the decedent are listed in the affidavit.

The person who signs the small estate affidavit becomes responsible for paying the debts. In addition, the signer becomes responsible for distributing the estate to its rightful recipients, who are also to be listed in the affidavit.

The small estate affidavit allows banks and other third parties who have possession of the decedent’s assets to transfer them in accordance with the affidavit. Further, the small estate affidavit may used to gain access to a safety deposit box of the decedent.

Feel free to contact an Illinois estate administration attorney experienced in the use of small estate affidavits at Logan Law, LLC if you have questions about the use of a small estate affidavit to avoid probate or any other area of the laws governing Illinois estate planning or Illinois probate or estate administration.

The legal definition of real property is land and anything growing on it or affixed to it or built upon it. That is, man made buildings are real property as are crops. Real property can be characterized as property that is stationary or it doesn’t move. It can also be classified as real property if it is attached to the land. Real estate is the same as real property and both terms can be used in the same sense. Real estate or real property also includes anything that might be under the property. This might include oil or gases or even minerals that can be found under ground.

Real property, as well as personal property, can be transferred. All sales involving real estate or real property need to be in writing. That way there is a record of the transfer. Real property cannot be moved, so there is a symbolic transfer that needs to occur before the transfer is recognized. In most situations, this is done by a deed transfer.

Private property is property that is commonly owned by an individual or in some cases a group of people. Public property is real property that is owned by a city, county, state or federal government. There are different laws governing private property and public property.

If you have any questions or concerns with property conflicts, you might want to hire an attorney.  We are Logan Law, LLC and we understand real estate law and stand prepared to represent you. We pride ourselves in providing Chicago residents with expertise and sophistication without the hassle some other firms have.