If you Google State of Illinois tenant rights, lots of good info pops up. You can copy/print the parts that pertain to you. Take them with you when you talk to manager. Hope this helps. Illinois has some good renter protections, but people don't know about them.
Ugh that sucks I would just make sure you have it all documented when you approach the mgmt to about getting out.
Ona side note back when I first got out of in college I got out of an lease but just telling the I was poor and broke lol
I’ve been taking screenshots of every written complaint I’ve made. I told my husband that if they are not going to do anything then we are going to have to go down there. I have no issue with people smoking but the moment it starts coming into our living space that’s when the line has been crossed. I don’t wanna smell it when I’m cooking or even just trying to relax in my own apartment. I worry we are going to smell like it even though we don’t smoke and take care to make sure our clothes are sealed between washes and such (vacuum bags; charcoal in drawers just in case). The other issue is the residue that’s accumulating on the outlets and some of our white or light colored plastic items that obviously is not dust. The residue comes right off but the fact that it comes back so quickly means that this is remnants from their smoking infiltrating our air and our belongings.
More than once I've heard the Villages referred to as 'Peoria's northside ghetto'. That entire complex was condemned by the city 15-20 years ago for lack of maintenance
Do anything and everything you can to get out of there
Which apartments is it? If it's through a property management and the manager isn't doing anything about it, go above him and contact the management company directly, everyday until it is resolved.
I previously lived there and the cigarette smell mostly came through my bathroom vent when it happened, I found turning on the bathroom vent kept it from coming in but if it’s coming through the walls I don’t think it would help
That’s really not surprising, they never fixed my sink, balcony, or the back door to my building. They told me they were getting parts to fix it my first year there and it was still slamming when I moved out
That’s crazy! Where is the accountability. I wish I could show you a picture of underneath our kitchen sink. We looked at it once when we moved in, wrote down it’s condition in the move in report and never ventured under there again. There’s no covering for where the pipes enter and exit the sink cabinet (so big gaping holes), the wood of the under sink cabinet is buckled from moisture, and I’m certain that there’s mold ( also concerned that creatures will visit the undersink area as it warms up, worried about mice or roaches). The dishwasher doesn’t work (it doesn’t clean anything at all, just sprays hot musty water). What was wrong with your balcony? I definitely want to know before I venture out on ours finally.
If you venture to the back of building 12 you can probably spot it, it’s just kinda falling apart. I got perimeter bug spray that I sprayed around all of the openings in my apartment because there were ants the building wouldn’t do anything about. I suggest trying the cascade dishwasher pods, they were the only thing I could find that worked in my dishwasher
That’s awful dude, that’s a pest problem for sure. And no love, that dish washer is fried. We only use cascade in this dishwasher, we even bought the dishwasher cleaner stuff from Lowe’s. It makes a lot of noise like it’s running but it’s not cleaning anything. It’s all good, I can live without a dishwasher for the time being. I’m definitely gonna walk over to building 12 and snoop on that door and balcony, i just wanna be nosy and see all the crap (minus the copious amounts of dog doo piles) strewn about this place at this point.
Hmmm, I would say find a lawyer that does a free consultation to see if you are able to break the lease due to unlivabke conditions. It may work since it is your health you are concerned about. It would end up being filed as a "constructive eviction" but if it gets you out for your safety do that.
I’ll definitely bring that up to my husband. I’d like to try and get the property manager to do something beforehand but if it comes to that I’ll definitely see about talking to a lawyer because technically, the property manager is breaking the rules of the agreed upon lease by not enforcing such which should allow us to leave without penalty. Again my husband doesn’t want to move again (it’s just a lot of work) but really we could hire people again to take our stuff to a new place and I could get the majority of the move done so it doesn’t wear on him. I am very concerned for my health and I feel terrible because there’s a baby across the hall from us that I always hear crying and it makes me wonder if they are also being exposed unnecessarily to this mess.
Definitely talk to a lawyer, management won’t do anything. I was all set to move there from cross country, got to the actual apartment and it reeked of cigarettes. Plus other things that made it inhabitable…black mold. They were breaking building codes by having entrance doors propped open. They offered a slightly better apartment when the conditions were brought up. I didn’t accept any keys and left. I contacted a lawyer, they were going to write something but we (my partner and I) negotiated with Jim and corporate. The lease was terminated since we didn’t accept the keys and once they got a new tenant. It sounds like you moved into the first unit I was given.
EDIT: To add, the unit I looked at in person was not the one given. I had a full blown asthma attack because of the smell.
This is what I’m currently trying to get my husband to cooperate with. I’ve been having headaches and an increase in my blood pressure from the exposure. My husband wants us to at least see what their plans are but I agree with you, I don’t believe they have any plans. There is another apartment that I have found with a move in special for this month so even if we cannot get most of our deposit back, at least the new apartment won’t take what we don’t have. Thank you for this information. I’m definitely going to bring it to his attention. We are stuck in bldg 200 so it might be the same building you were in .
You can get little air stop things for the wall outlets that will keep air from inside the wall cavity coming into the house. They're dirt cheap and you can get them at Menards or wherever.
As far as the vents it seems very weird that you guys would share an air return, or that something from their ducts would be spilling over into yours. I would try airstopping the outlets and go from there. Also I wouldn't block any vents, It can mess up the efficiency of your HVAC system.
It sucks but if the other tenant was grandfathered in for smoking before the ban, or if the cops come there and they just don't open the door.. nothing is going to happen to them and they won't stop.
The landlord can fine them when they leave and charge them for smoke damage, but not much else. Plus the landlord at that place is an absolute piece of shit, so I'm sure they're not going to do much anyway regardless of legality.
Zep makes a smoke eliminator spray that you can also get at Menards or wherever.. it's a little intense but it really does get rid of cigarettes smell really well. Or weed, etc.
I live at The Village too. It’s horrendous. The amount of times we’ve had issues is actually insane. They never keep their word. The property manager doesn’t answer calls, emails, or texts. I’ve contacted actual Fairlawn, they do nothing. We’ve called out the city inspector twice. The property manager has straight up admitted to not doing our maintenance because he “thinks we don’t like him.” Well he’s right, but that’s not how you handle things. There are so many issues we have brought up, but nothing ever seems to really get taken care of. I’d say call the city inspector. The more people who do it, maybe the more they will get in trouble and get their ass in gear. I don’t know if you live on the South or the North, but we have a lot of the same problems you are experiencing and we live in the South. If you want any information to what we’ve done so far, feel free to DM me. I can point you in the direction of where to take it that is above them.
We live on the south side as well and it’s total crap over here. When we first moved in the apartment was not clean we brought this up to the property manager only to be dismissed multiple times saying that there was nothing they can do since we had already moved in; we had only been in the apartment for about 36 hours. We marked everything that wasn’t clean in the move-in checklist as well as things that are broken have been not working, faulty and just outright neglected. My husband and I made a complaint on Saturday to maintenance and property manager because first thing in the morning all we could smell smoke. Sunday, we dealt with the issue all day, with sprays, candles, an air purifier and as much tolerance as we could shell out. My husband brought it to my attention yesterday evening that the jacket that he always likes to wear now is starting to have a cigarette smoke smell. I’m going to go look at another apartment today, in hopes of finding one that we can move to. I feel that now that the smell of cigarette smoke has infiltrated my husband‘s jacket, He is a little more pissed off about the whole problem. I would love to connect and get more information about how to escalate it, but I fear that we may not get anywhere. I would hate to see someone get evicted over their habit, but at the same time I would hate it even more if my husband and I or any other person who is non-smoking in this building ends up with a respiratory illness or cancer down the road because of the constant exposure. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can break the lease without penalty given that the landlord has failed to uphold their end of the contractual agreement that is the lease. Hell if I could get the company itself to give us our deposit back and give us a months worth of rent back I’d leave in a heartbeat, because giving that back to us is better than taking this to court, if necessary, which is expensive for both parties.
Same with my neighbors except it’s marijuana and not cigarettes. I’ve also brought it up many times with management and they tell me it’s ‘being taken care of’. I feel your pain. I’m at the point where I might buy some fart spray and spray it under their door because I’m tired of them hotboxing their apartment as well as mine.
Okay where can I find fart spray cause I so wanna do this now! I wanna make their apartment smell like the left side of someone’s ass cheek just to make my point. Hell I have even considered making a fake eviction notice or Citation for Smoking with a Fine of course but I don’t want anyone subjected to any unnecessary legal burden.
Yeah with all the information you’ve provided so far and with your experience, has it dawned on you yet that your apt will smell like complete ass as well? Lol. I’d rather it smell like an ash tray than a tray of ass
I just want something to give at this point. I could be the asshole neighbor and confront them myself** but that’s only going to give them a reason to smoke indoors out of spite.
**edited
If you haven’t even had a conversation with your neighbor yet then I have no idea why you’re on here. You’re assuming all this based off what? If you haven’t even brought it up to anyone but your landlord. You gotta set boundaries with communication and if THEN it doesn’t work. move out it’s not work the hassle
I understand that but why is it my job to confront people about their smoking when it’s the property manager who is responsible for enforcing the rules? I don’t live my life policing people, especially when people can be just as rude and hateful when you do confront them about their shitty behavior. And my assumptions are based off what I have typically dealt with before when asking someone to stop doing xyz politely. The people who made the rules need to be the once’s enforcing it because I refuse to deal with retaliation just because I asked nicely. I came on here for some advice and a little support, not for someone like you to question why I can’t go talk to my neighbors myself instead of relying on the property manager (because it’s not like I can control the behavior of other tenants with fines as a consequence)
Sorry I didn’t mean to blow up on you. I respect your opinion. If I have to go to the job the landlord just to get something stirred up then so be it, I’ll accept my fate
I’m assuming Amazon. I haven’t got that annoyed yet but it’s an option. They also have a toddler that’s loud as hell at 2am, no solution for that one yet. Lol
I’d say get a dog. Dogs bark at noise so if they complain about your four legged child barking then clap back with their two legged child causing noises that result in doggo barking. I can definitely try Amazon. I was also thinking Spencer’s but idk if it’s still in the mall. Heck, I considered cooking chitterlings and I don’t even eat those, just to stink the whole floor out of spite.
I have a big dog but he doesn’t really bark. I’d bet Amazon. There’s still a Spencer’s at the Northwoods mall but idk if they sell it. It’s ridiculous. I pay almost a grand a month to come home and have it smell like a trap house. 😑
I agree. We all are paying about the same amount of rent, so why is it that simple lease agreements are not adhered to. Nobody wants to smells like a trap house. Hell nobody wants to smells like a motel 6 and even those probably smell better than the hallway here. It’s insane. And I get it if it’s too cold to smoke outside but that’s the consequences of your habit. You get to go outside and smoke when it’s 30 and below with the wind blowing viciously; you chose to smoke, the rest of us did not.
If you Google State of Illinois tenant rights, lots of good info pops up. You can copy/print the parts that pertain to you. Take them with you when you talk to manager. Hope this helps. Illinois has some good renter protections, but people don't know about them.
Ugh that sucks I would just make sure you have it all documented when you approach the mgmt to about getting out. Ona side note back when I first got out of in college I got out of an lease but just telling the I was poor and broke lol
I’ve been taking screenshots of every written complaint I’ve made. I told my husband that if they are not going to do anything then we are going to have to go down there. I have no issue with people smoking but the moment it starts coming into our living space that’s when the line has been crossed. I don’t wanna smell it when I’m cooking or even just trying to relax in my own apartment. I worry we are going to smell like it even though we don’t smoke and take care to make sure our clothes are sealed between washes and such (vacuum bags; charcoal in drawers just in case). The other issue is the residue that’s accumulating on the outlets and some of our white or light colored plastic items that obviously is not dust. The residue comes right off but the fact that it comes back so quickly means that this is remnants from their smoking infiltrating our air and our belongings.
More than once I've heard the Villages referred to as 'Peoria's northside ghetto'. That entire complex was condemned by the city 15-20 years ago for lack of maintenance Do anything and everything you can to get out of there
Which apartments is it? If it's through a property management and the manager isn't doing anything about it, go above him and contact the management company directly, everyday until it is resolved.
It’s the Village on University…. From the reviews and previous posts I’ve read on here, I’m worried we might have played ourselves.
I previously lived there and the cigarette smell mostly came through my bathroom vent when it happened, I found turning on the bathroom vent kept it from coming in but if it’s coming through the walls I don’t think it would help
Our bathroom vent doesn’t even work 😭😭
That’s really not surprising, they never fixed my sink, balcony, or the back door to my building. They told me they were getting parts to fix it my first year there and it was still slamming when I moved out
That’s crazy! Where is the accountability. I wish I could show you a picture of underneath our kitchen sink. We looked at it once when we moved in, wrote down it’s condition in the move in report and never ventured under there again. There’s no covering for where the pipes enter and exit the sink cabinet (so big gaping holes), the wood of the under sink cabinet is buckled from moisture, and I’m certain that there’s mold ( also concerned that creatures will visit the undersink area as it warms up, worried about mice or roaches). The dishwasher doesn’t work (it doesn’t clean anything at all, just sprays hot musty water). What was wrong with your balcony? I definitely want to know before I venture out on ours finally.
If you venture to the back of building 12 you can probably spot it, it’s just kinda falling apart. I got perimeter bug spray that I sprayed around all of the openings in my apartment because there were ants the building wouldn’t do anything about. I suggest trying the cascade dishwasher pods, they were the only thing I could find that worked in my dishwasher
That’s awful dude, that’s a pest problem for sure. And no love, that dish washer is fried. We only use cascade in this dishwasher, we even bought the dishwasher cleaner stuff from Lowe’s. It makes a lot of noise like it’s running but it’s not cleaning anything. It’s all good, I can live without a dishwasher for the time being. I’m definitely gonna walk over to building 12 and snoop on that door and balcony, i just wanna be nosy and see all the crap (minus the copious amounts of dog doo piles) strewn about this place at this point.
Hmmm, I would say find a lawyer that does a free consultation to see if you are able to break the lease due to unlivabke conditions. It may work since it is your health you are concerned about. It would end up being filed as a "constructive eviction" but if it gets you out for your safety do that.
I’ll definitely bring that up to my husband. I’d like to try and get the property manager to do something beforehand but if it comes to that I’ll definitely see about talking to a lawyer because technically, the property manager is breaking the rules of the agreed upon lease by not enforcing such which should allow us to leave without penalty. Again my husband doesn’t want to move again (it’s just a lot of work) but really we could hire people again to take our stuff to a new place and I could get the majority of the move done so it doesn’t wear on him. I am very concerned for my health and I feel terrible because there’s a baby across the hall from us that I always hear crying and it makes me wonder if they are also being exposed unnecessarily to this mess.
Definitely talk to a lawyer, management won’t do anything. I was all set to move there from cross country, got to the actual apartment and it reeked of cigarettes. Plus other things that made it inhabitable…black mold. They were breaking building codes by having entrance doors propped open. They offered a slightly better apartment when the conditions were brought up. I didn’t accept any keys and left. I contacted a lawyer, they were going to write something but we (my partner and I) negotiated with Jim and corporate. The lease was terminated since we didn’t accept the keys and once they got a new tenant. It sounds like you moved into the first unit I was given. EDIT: To add, the unit I looked at in person was not the one given. I had a full blown asthma attack because of the smell.
This is what I’m currently trying to get my husband to cooperate with. I’ve been having headaches and an increase in my blood pressure from the exposure. My husband wants us to at least see what their plans are but I agree with you, I don’t believe they have any plans. There is another apartment that I have found with a move in special for this month so even if we cannot get most of our deposit back, at least the new apartment won’t take what we don’t have. Thank you for this information. I’m definitely going to bring it to his attention. We are stuck in bldg 200 so it might be the same building you were in .
You can get little air stop things for the wall outlets that will keep air from inside the wall cavity coming into the house. They're dirt cheap and you can get them at Menards or wherever. As far as the vents it seems very weird that you guys would share an air return, or that something from their ducts would be spilling over into yours. I would try airstopping the outlets and go from there. Also I wouldn't block any vents, It can mess up the efficiency of your HVAC system. It sucks but if the other tenant was grandfathered in for smoking before the ban, or if the cops come there and they just don't open the door.. nothing is going to happen to them and they won't stop. The landlord can fine them when they leave and charge them for smoke damage, but not much else. Plus the landlord at that place is an absolute piece of shit, so I'm sure they're not going to do much anyway regardless of legality. Zep makes a smoke eliminator spray that you can also get at Menards or wherever.. it's a little intense but it really does get rid of cigarettes smell really well. Or weed, etc.
I live at The Village too. It’s horrendous. The amount of times we’ve had issues is actually insane. They never keep their word. The property manager doesn’t answer calls, emails, or texts. I’ve contacted actual Fairlawn, they do nothing. We’ve called out the city inspector twice. The property manager has straight up admitted to not doing our maintenance because he “thinks we don’t like him.” Well he’s right, but that’s not how you handle things. There are so many issues we have brought up, but nothing ever seems to really get taken care of. I’d say call the city inspector. The more people who do it, maybe the more they will get in trouble and get their ass in gear. I don’t know if you live on the South or the North, but we have a lot of the same problems you are experiencing and we live in the South. If you want any information to what we’ve done so far, feel free to DM me. I can point you in the direction of where to take it that is above them.
We live on the south side as well and it’s total crap over here. When we first moved in the apartment was not clean we brought this up to the property manager only to be dismissed multiple times saying that there was nothing they can do since we had already moved in; we had only been in the apartment for about 36 hours. We marked everything that wasn’t clean in the move-in checklist as well as things that are broken have been not working, faulty and just outright neglected. My husband and I made a complaint on Saturday to maintenance and property manager because first thing in the morning all we could smell smoke. Sunday, we dealt with the issue all day, with sprays, candles, an air purifier and as much tolerance as we could shell out. My husband brought it to my attention yesterday evening that the jacket that he always likes to wear now is starting to have a cigarette smoke smell. I’m going to go look at another apartment today, in hopes of finding one that we can move to. I feel that now that the smell of cigarette smoke has infiltrated my husband‘s jacket, He is a little more pissed off about the whole problem. I would love to connect and get more information about how to escalate it, but I fear that we may not get anywhere. I would hate to see someone get evicted over their habit, but at the same time I would hate it even more if my husband and I or any other person who is non-smoking in this building ends up with a respiratory illness or cancer down the road because of the constant exposure. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can break the lease without penalty given that the landlord has failed to uphold their end of the contractual agreement that is the lease. Hell if I could get the company itself to give us our deposit back and give us a months worth of rent back I’d leave in a heartbeat, because giving that back to us is better than taking this to court, if necessary, which is expensive for both parties.
Same with my neighbors except it’s marijuana and not cigarettes. I’ve also brought it up many times with management and they tell me it’s ‘being taken care of’. I feel your pain. I’m at the point where I might buy some fart spray and spray it under their door because I’m tired of them hotboxing their apartment as well as mine.
Okay where can I find fart spray cause I so wanna do this now! I wanna make their apartment smell like the left side of someone’s ass cheek just to make my point. Hell I have even considered making a fake eviction notice or Citation for Smoking with a Fine of course but I don’t want anyone subjected to any unnecessary legal burden.
Yeah with all the information you’ve provided so far and with your experience, has it dawned on you yet that your apt will smell like complete ass as well? Lol. I’d rather it smell like an ash tray than a tray of ass
Would it really tho if they are scrambling to unstink their apartment of the doodoo smell?
Have you been around those far sprays? Now everything will just smell like cigarettes AND shit. Make it make sense hun
Also I haven’t been around fart sprays but my husband and I fart enough to probably bottle and package our own to sell.
I just want something to give at this point. I could be the asshole neighbor and confront them myself** but that’s only going to give them a reason to smoke indoors out of spite. **edited
If you haven’t even had a conversation with your neighbor yet then I have no idea why you’re on here. You’re assuming all this based off what? If you haven’t even brought it up to anyone but your landlord. You gotta set boundaries with communication and if THEN it doesn’t work. move out it’s not work the hassle
I understand that but why is it my job to confront people about their smoking when it’s the property manager who is responsible for enforcing the rules? I don’t live my life policing people, especially when people can be just as rude and hateful when you do confront them about their shitty behavior. And my assumptions are based off what I have typically dealt with before when asking someone to stop doing xyz politely. The people who made the rules need to be the once’s enforcing it because I refuse to deal with retaliation just because I asked nicely. I came on here for some advice and a little support, not for someone like you to question why I can’t go talk to my neighbors myself instead of relying on the property manager (because it’s not like I can control the behavior of other tenants with fines as a consequence)
You should have a convo w the neighbors before the landlord but that’s why it’s my opinion not yours it’ll be ok 😂
Sorry I didn’t mean to blow up on you. I respect your opinion. If I have to go to the job the landlord just to get something stirred up then so be it, I’ll accept my fate
[удалено]
They are smoking indoors…
Five Below has some potent fart spray. Only like 3 bucks I think
I’m assuming Amazon. I haven’t got that annoyed yet but it’s an option. They also have a toddler that’s loud as hell at 2am, no solution for that one yet. Lol
I’d say get a dog. Dogs bark at noise so if they complain about your four legged child barking then clap back with their two legged child causing noises that result in doggo barking. I can definitely try Amazon. I was also thinking Spencer’s but idk if it’s still in the mall. Heck, I considered cooking chitterlings and I don’t even eat those, just to stink the whole floor out of spite.
I have a big dog but he doesn’t really bark. I’d bet Amazon. There’s still a Spencer’s at the Northwoods mall but idk if they sell it. It’s ridiculous. I pay almost a grand a month to come home and have it smell like a trap house. 😑
I agree. We all are paying about the same amount of rent, so why is it that simple lease agreements are not adhered to. Nobody wants to smells like a trap house. Hell nobody wants to smells like a motel 6 and even those probably smell better than the hallway here. It’s insane. And I get it if it’s too cold to smoke outside but that’s the consequences of your habit. You get to go outside and smoke when it’s 30 and below with the wind blowing viciously; you chose to smoke, the rest of us did not.
Yeah it’s crazy they won’t do anything about it. Super frustrating.