[mommab3]

I live Illinois and I have been living in my apartment for 2 years. My landlord made promises on certain repairs when I first moved in and he has done nothing yet. Some of my windows are painted shut as well as old. What can I do about this? If I call the building inspectors can I hold my rent till the repairs are made? Also, I my heat is included in with my rent. I heat has been off for 4 days now, and won't be back on till next week. How much of the rent am I allowed to hold back do to this. There is not heat, hot water, or cooking gas.

[rockinmommy]

The answers to your questions lie in your lease and the state landlord / tenant laws for IL. There's a link in a "sticky" at the top of the forum for each states laws. It will detail in there exactly what notices you need to give the landlord, what he must do, and then what your remedies are.

The KEY in these situations is that you need to document everything. You may have every verbal discussion and agreement in the world with your landlord, but until you make the necessary written request for repairs the "clock" doesn't start ticking as far as what a judge would look at (if it came to that.)

Typically, you request the necessary repairs in writing, the landlord has a specified amount of time to comply, some states require a 2nd notice to the landlord... it's just a process. Have you talked with other building residents? In cases like this banding together should DEFINITELY get more attention from the landlord.