Oak Lawn IL Real Estate News

I received a phone call the other day from a landlord in Chicago Ridge in response to the two blog posts I made regarding Oak Lawn’s new Landlord Ordinance that you can read here and here. I was told that landlords received a letter in the mail last week telling them about the new rental property ordinance that was passed recently in Chicago Ridge.

The caller claimed it was more stringent and costly than Oak Lawn’s ordinance and was so upset that mention of a class action lawsuit was made. The caller stated that similar class action lawsuits were won in different states against unusually stringent and unfair practices under home rule. I am awaiting a return phone call from a real estate attorney to see if this is something that can be accomplished.

I checked the Internet and the Village of Chicago Ridge website and could not find any information regarding this ordinance. I was able to acquire a pdf of Oak Lawn’s ordinance but cannot even find a mention of this for Chicago Ridge.

So now we have two neighboring villages that have enacted these ordinances. I told the caller about the meeting at the village of Oak Lawn and how only a minority of attendees were against the ordinance, most likely real estate agents/brokers and landlords. Non-landlord residents prefer a strict ordinance for rental properties because they feel it will keep slum landlords and problem tenants under control. They don’t understand the economic crisis it could cause down the road.

As I mentioned in the Oak Lawn posts, they don’t think of the other impact this could have. What about landlords that want to sell their rental property? Single family sales won’t be affected as much as most people purchase to live in the property. But there are still investors of single family residences and whether they’re looking for homes or condos or apartment buildings, these future buyers might stay out of Oak Lawn and Chicago Ridge and purchase in a town that doesn’t have these heavy handed ordinances.

That could mean a tough market for sales of rental properties and some landlords might be forced to walk away from the building. That is not a good thing for the villages. Prices could very well fall for rental properties in Oak Lawn and Chicago Ridge. If there is something negative towards a property then price needs to be lowered to make the property desirable enough to purchase.

I just don’t see these kinds of ordinances to be beneficial to these southwest suburbs. They are too harsh and require more time and money spent on the landlord’s part. Add that to high taxes and ever growing maintenance fees and it’s difficult to justify owning rental properties in these areas.

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