What is the name of your state? IL
I've done some reading on the landlord tenant laws in IL but I am still unclear on how to proceed, so hopefully someone here can direct me.
We live in a small town where everyone knows everyone else... so 8.5 years ago when a friend told me of an old house near her that was available to rent out but would need some work first, I thought that sounded like a good opportunity. It did need a lot of work but thankfully, my husband is in construction so he got most of the supplies free, even semi-new windows from a house that was going to be torn down to replace with condos. Anyway, there was only a verbal agreement to pay monthly rent, no actual leases signed. We are responsible for the utility bills in addition to the rent.
We never spoke about repairs specifically but when the first bigger issue occured, our water heater went out, we replaced it and they deducted it from our rent. No problems. We also had siding that we were planning on putting up. They instead hired a guy to do it for us, I'm now guessing it was to get higher insurance amounts on the house, using our materials and supplies and then put a new roof on it - they increased our rent a bit. I thought that was WRONG of them but considering the rent is cheap I let it go. The problem is they did not tear off the old roof and instead, had this loser "contractor" put it on over 4 layers of existing roofing - which I believe is not by building code. I was afraid with a good snow, it would cave in and we do have leaking in certain areas that's starting to show recently.
Over the years, we've always had electrical problems causing circuits to fry in the box, bills exceeding 200 regularly on a 1000 +/- sq ft living area, our electric going out entirely and the breakers on the pole at the main box completely shorting out at least twice a year. My husband knows enough to fix things but it has cost us a decent amount between new fuses and breakers and the electric company coming out to either shut off the power or tell us the reason it's out is not their problem. I've always had that fear in the back of my mind about an electrical fire but my husband has done a decent job fixing it until now. A note: the wires from the pole to the barn were in bad shape and fell during a windy day in April this year, killing my dog... not even an apology nor have they had someone completely fix and replace them - only bare wires hanging there thanks to the kind Ameren guy who felt bad for me. This time when it went out, we could tell that the box was shorted out and needed to be replaced. It needs to be replaced/reparied by an electrician who is certified and knows building codes and we told the landlords that - 2 weeks ago. They have since said they won't credit as much rent as originally they agreed to (that also included the well pump that we replaced and my husband lost two days of wages since they would not do it ($350)) and now want all these receipts which I am not sure we have at this point. They also still have not sent out the electrician and with it being 20 degrees, without heat my family cannot stay there and our pipes will freeze.
Also, our furnace was oil and went out. They claim no one can fix them because it is so old so we are resigned to using electric heaters which cost us a fortune AND scare me about fire hazards... We have no central air or heat and our pipes freeze and the foundation has major cracks and now they won't repair anything and are reluctant to credit us for these issues and repairs.
What recourse do we have? I always let it go being the rent is so cheap but they are trying to screw us at this point. We can't even get renters insurance on it because of the outdated electrical boxes so if something does happen, we are out everything we own.
HELP!
I've done some reading on the landlord tenant laws in IL but I am still unclear on how to proceed, so hopefully someone here can direct me.
We live in a small town where everyone knows everyone else... so 8.5 years ago when a friend told me of an old house near her that was available to rent out but would need some work first, I thought that sounded like a good opportunity. It did need a lot of work but thankfully, my husband is in construction so he got most of the supplies free, even semi-new windows from a house that was going to be torn down to replace with condos. Anyway, there was only a verbal agreement to pay monthly rent, no actual leases signed. We are responsible for the utility bills in addition to the rent.
We never spoke about repairs specifically but when the first bigger issue occured, our water heater went out, we replaced it and they deducted it from our rent. No problems. We also had siding that we were planning on putting up. They instead hired a guy to do it for us, I'm now guessing it was to get higher insurance amounts on the house, using our materials and supplies and then put a new roof on it - they increased our rent a bit. I thought that was WRONG of them but considering the rent is cheap I let it go. The problem is they did not tear off the old roof and instead, had this loser "contractor" put it on over 4 layers of existing roofing - which I believe is not by building code. I was afraid with a good snow, it would cave in and we do have leaking in certain areas that's starting to show recently.
Over the years, we've always had electrical problems causing circuits to fry in the box, bills exceeding 200 regularly on a 1000 +/- sq ft living area, our electric going out entirely and the breakers on the pole at the main box completely shorting out at least twice a year. My husband knows enough to fix things but it has cost us a decent amount between new fuses and breakers and the electric company coming out to either shut off the power or tell us the reason it's out is not their problem. I've always had that fear in the back of my mind about an electrical fire but my husband has done a decent job fixing it until now. A note: the wires from the pole to the barn were in bad shape and fell during a windy day in April this year, killing my dog... not even an apology nor have they had someone completely fix and replace them - only bare wires hanging there thanks to the kind Ameren guy who felt bad for me. This time when it went out, we could tell that the box was shorted out and needed to be replaced. It needs to be replaced/reparied by an electrician who is certified and knows building codes and we told the landlords that - 2 weeks ago. They have since said they won't credit as much rent as originally they agreed to (that also included the well pump that we replaced and my husband lost two days of wages since they would not do it ($350)) and now want all these receipts which I am not sure we have at this point. They also still have not sent out the electrician and with it being 20 degrees, without heat my family cannot stay there and our pipes will freeze.
Also, our furnace was oil and went out. They claim no one can fix them because it is so old so we are resigned to using electric heaters which cost us a fortune AND scare me about fire hazards... We have no central air or heat and our pipes freeze and the foundation has major cracks and now they won't repair anything and are reluctant to credit us for these issues and repairs.
What recourse do we have? I always let it go being the rent is so cheap but they are trying to screw us at this point. We can't even get renters insurance on it because of the outdated electrical boxes so if something does happen, we are out everything we own.
HELP!