Did you know that landlords in Illinois may be held liable for criminal acts occurring on their premises? As Chicago has seen a rise in violent crime occurring throughout most parts of the city, including in apartment complexes, tenants may seek to hold landlords liable for failure to protect them from third-party criminal activity.
In Illinois, a landlord may be held liable for criminal activity that occurred on their premises if the crime that caused the tenant’s injury was connected to a condition on the premises. For example, if a landlord enters your apartment to make a repair but they carelessly leave your door unlocked or a window open, and a criminal actor uses that condition to enter your apartment and commit a crime, the landlord may be held liable.
Landlords may also be held liable if they voluntarily undertook a duty to provide security measures but performed the undertaking negligently. For example, an individual walks into your apartment complex, and security simply allows the individual to pass without checking their credentials. If the actor proceeds to commit a criminal act after security fails to perform their duties, the landlord may be held liable for negligent security.