Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB4715
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Full Text of HB4715  94th General Assembly

HB4715sam002 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Sen. Kwame Raoul

Filed: 4/5/2006

 

 


 

 


 
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1
AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4715

2     AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4715, AS AMENDED, by
3 replacing everything after the enacting clause with the
4 following:
 
5     "Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Safe
6 Homes Act.
 
7     Section 5. Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to promote
8 the State's interest in reducing domestic violence, dating
9 violence, sexual assault, and stalking by enabling victims of
10 domestic or sexual violence and their families to flee existing
11 dangerous housing in order to leave violent or abusive
12 situations, achieve safety, and minimize the physical and
13 emotional injuries from domestic or sexual violence, and to
14 reduce the devastating economic consequences thereof.
 
15     Section 10. Definitions. For purposes of this Act:
16     "Domestic violence" means "abuse" as defined in Section 103
17 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 by a "family or
18 household member" as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois
19 Domestic Violence Act of 1986.
20     "Landlord" means the owner of a building or the owner's
21 agent with regard to matters concerning landlord's leasing of a
22 dwelling.
23     "Sexual violence" means any act of sexual assault, sexual

 

 

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1 abuse, or stalking of an adult or minor child, including but
2 not limited to non-consensual sexual conduct or non-consensual
3 sexual penetration as defined in the Civil No Contact Order Act
4 and the offenses of stalking, aggravated stalking, criminal
5 sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, predatory
6 criminal sexual assault of a child, criminal sexual abuse, and
7 aggravated criminal sexual abuse as those offenses are
8 described in the Criminal Code of 1961.
9     "Tenant" means a person who has entered into an oral or
10 written lease with a landlord whereby the person is the lessee
11 under the lease.
 
12     Section 15. Affirmative defense.
13     (a) In any action brought by a landlord against a tenant to
14 recover rent for breach of lease, a tenant shall have an
15 affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period
16 after which a tenant vacates the premises owned by the
17 landlord, if by preponderance of the evidence, the court finds
18 that:
19         (1) at the time that the tenant vacated the premises,
20     the tenant or a member of tenant's household was under a
21     credible imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence at
22     the premises; and
23         (2) the tenant gave written notice to the landlord
24     prior to or within 3 days of vacating the premises that the
25     reason for vacating the premises was because of a credible
26     imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence against the
27     tenant or a member of the tenant's household.
28     (b) In any action brought by a landlord against a tenant to
29 recover rent for breach of lease, a tenant shall have an
30 affirmative defense and not be liable for rent for the period
31 after which the tenant vacates the premises owned by the
32 landlord, if by preponderance of the evidence, the court finds
33 that:

 

 

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1         (1) a tenant or a member of tenant's household was a
2     victim of sexual violence on the premises that is owned or
3     controlled by a landlord and the tenant has vacated the
4     premises as a result of the sexual violence; and
5         (2) the tenant gave written notice to the landlord
6     prior to or within 3 days of vacating the premises that the
7     reason for vacating the premises was because of the sexual
8     violence against the tenant or member of the tenant's
9     household, the date of the sexual violence, and that the
10     tenant provided at least one form of the following types of
11     evidence to the landlord supporting the claim of the sexual
12     violence: medical, court or police evidence of sexual
13     violence; or statement from an employee of a victim
14     services or rape crisis organization from which the tenant
15     or a member of the tenant's household sought services; and
16         (3) the sexual violence occurred not more than 60 days
17     prior to the date of giving the written notice to the
18     landlord, or if the circumstances are such that the tenant
19     cannot reasonably give notice because of reasons related to
20     the sexual violence, such as hospitalization or seeking
21     assistance for shelter or counseling, then as soon
22     thereafter as practicable. Nothing in this subsection (b)
23     shall be construed to be a defense against an action in
24     forcible entry and detainer for failure to pay rent before
25     the tenant provided notice and vacated the premises.
26     (c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to be a defense
27 against an action for rent for a period of time before the
28 tenant vacated the landlord's premises and gave notice to the
29 landlord as required in subsection (b).
 
30     Section 20. Change of locks.
31     (a) Upon written notice from all tenants who have signed as
32 lessees under a written lease, the tenants may request that a
33 landlord change the locks of the dwelling unit in which they

 

 

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1 live if one or more of the tenants reasonably believes that one
2 of the tenants or a member of tenant's household is under a
3 credible imminent threat of domestic or sexual violence at the
4 premises from a person who is not a lessee under the lease.
5 Notice to the landlord requesting a change of locks shall be
6 accompanied by at least one form of the following types of
7 evidence to support a claim of domestic or sexual violence:
8 medical, court or police evidence of domestic or sexual
9 violence; or a statement from an employee of a victim services,
10 domestic violence, or rape crisis organization from which the
11 tenant or a member of the tenant's household sought services.
12     (b) Once a landlord has received notice of a request for
13 change of locks and has received one form of evidence referred
14 to in Section (a) above, the landlord shall, within 48 hours,
15 change the locks or give the tenant the permission to change
16 the locks.
17         (1) The landlord may charge a fee for the expense of
18     changing the locks. That fee must not exceed the reasonable
19     price customarily charged for changing a lock.
20         (2) If a landlord fails to change the locks within 48
21     hours after being provided with the notice and evidence
22     referred to in (a) above, the tenant may change the locks
23     without the landlord's permission. If the tenant changes
24     the locks, the tenant shall give a key to the new locks to
25     the landlord within 48 hours of the locks being changed. In
26     the case where a tenant changes the locks without the
27     landlord's permission, the tenant shall do so in a
28     workmanlike manner with locks of similar or better quality
29     than the original lock.
30     (c) The landlord who changes locks or allows the change of
31 locks under this Act shall not be liable to any third party for
32 damages resulting from a person being unable to access the
33 dwelling.
 

 

 

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1     Section 25. Penalty for violation.
2     (a) If a landlord takes action to prevent the tenant who
3 has complied with Section 20 of this Act from changing his or
4 her locks, the tenant may seek a temporary restraining order,
5 preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction ordering the
6 landlord to refrain from preventing the tenant from changing
7 the locks. A tenant who successfully brings an action pursuant
8 to this Section may be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and
9 costs.
10     (b) A tenant who changes locks and does not provide a copy
11 of a key to the landlord within 48 hours of the tenant changing
12 the locks, shall be liable for any damages to the dwelling or
13 the building in which the dwelling is located that could have
14 been prevented had landlord been able to access the dwelling
15 unit in the event of an emergency.
16     (c) The remedies provided to landlord and tenant under this
17 Section 25 shall be sole and exclusive.
 
18     Section 30. Prohibition of waiver or modification. The
19 provisions of this Act may not be waived or modified in any
20 lease or separate agreement.
 
21     Section 35. Public housing excluded. This Act does not
22 apply to public housing, assisted under the United States
23 Housing Act of 1937, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq., and
24 its implementing regulations, with the exception of the
25 tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher program. Public housing
26 includes dwelling units in mixed-finance projects that are
27 assisted through a public housing authority's capital,
28 operating, or other funds.".