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CHAPTER 5-16 - DISCLOSURE OF HEATING COSTS TO TENANTS
5-16-010 Disclosure required –
Acknowledgment.
5-16-020 Applicability.
5-16-030 Utility to provide
information.
5-16-040 Newly converted units
– Estimates to be provided.
5-16-050 Sale or transfer –
Disclosure required – Exception.
5-16-060 Administration.
5-16-070 Penalties.
5-16-080 Severability.
5-16-010
Disclosure required – Acknowledgment.
A building or
dwelling unit owner, or agent thereof, shall not execute an
oral or written lease, contract to lease, or accept any
money or other valuable consideration in an application for
an oral or written lease for a dwelling unit which is
primarily heated by natural gas or electricity and in which
the heating costs are the responsibility of the tenant
without disclosing to the tenant or applicant in written
form:
(1) That the
cost of heating shall be the responsibility of the tenant;
and
(2) The
projected average monthly cost of utility service from the
utility providing the primary source of heat based on energy
consumption during the most recent annual period of
continuous occupancy by one or more prior occupants, current
or expected rates and normalized weather by the method
approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission.
Further, subject
to the penalties provided in Section 5-16-070 herein, no
building or dwelling unit owner, or agent thereof, shall
execute a written lease for such a dwelling unit without
making such disclosures within such written lease.
The tenant or
applicant shall be required to execute a receipt
acknowledging that the written disclosure has been made.
(Prior code § 193.2-1;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
5-16-020
Applicability.
(a) The
provisions of Section 5-16-010 shall apply to rental
dwelling units which are heated primarily by natural gas or
electricity and in which utility service for heat is
individually metered to each dwelling unit and tenants are
directly responsible to the utility company for paying the
cost of energy to supply heat.
(b) The
provisions of Section 5-16-010 shall not apply to oral or
written leases for rental dwelling units in which the
contracting tenant continues his previous occupancy
providing that the tenant, during that previous term, had
the obligation to directly pay the utility company for the
utility service used for heating.
(Prior code § 193.2-2;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
5-16-030
Utility to provide information.
Except as
provided in Section 5-16-040, the information required in
Section 5-16-010 and Section 5-16-050(a) shall be provided,
at no direct cost to the requestor or intended recipient by
the utility company which supplies energy for the primary
heating source to the dwelling unit upon the written request
of the building or dwelling unit owner or his agent. Every
such written request shall contain an affirmative statement
that the person or entity making the request possesses title
or, in the case of trust, is the owner of the power of
direction to the property in which the dwelling unit is
located or is the agent of such person or entity. The
utility company receiving such written request shall be
entitled to rely on the affirmative representation of such
owner or agent and shall not be obligated to do anything
further to ascertain or confirm the identity of the owner
and/or agent of the property.
The utility
company shall devise forms to be used for requesting and
providing this information. The city shall undertake a
program to educate the public and shall make request forms
available throughout the city. Under no circumstances shall
the information provided to building or dwelling unit
owners, tenants or prospective tenants under this process
disclose payment records of or the name to whom the account
was formerly billed. The utility company shall provide such
information within two weeks of its receipt of a properly
executed written request.
Once received by
the owner or agent, the information provided by the utility
shall be considered valid for the disclosure purposes of
this chapter for six months from the date of issuance.
The information
required in Section 5-16-010 and provided by the utility
company providing the primary source of heat shall not be
construed as an offer or guarantee by the utility company to
provide energy for the projected average monthly cost
contained in the information or estimate, and the utility
company shall not be liable for any difference between the
projected average monthly cost and the actual cost incurred
by the tenant or owner to whom the information or estimate
is disclosed. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as
relieving any person of the responsibility of paying the
amounts billed them for utility service by a utility
company.
(Prior code § 193.2-3;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
5-16-040
Newly converted units – Estimates to be provided.
For any dwelling
unit which has been newly converted to a natural gas or
electric individually metered heating system or for new
construction of a property primarily heated by natural gas
or electricity which does not have any energy consumption
history for the individually metered system, the owner or
his agent shall provide estimates of the unit’s energy
consumption for the utility service used for primary heating
to the lessee, prospective tenant, purchaser or prospective
purchaser. Such estimates may be analyses supplied by a
utility company, a registered professional engineer or
architect and shall be performed by the “degree day method”
prescribed in the most recent Handbook of the American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning
Engineers (A.S.H.R.A.E.).
(Prior code § 193.2-4;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
5-16-050
Sale or transfer – Disclosure required – Exception.
(a) All
owners of residential dwelling units and buildings (and
their agents) shall, at the time of any offering for sale of
said residential dwelling units and buildings, or in the
case where improved real property is held under trust the
sale of real property which forms the corpus of the trust or
the transfer of the beneficial interest in such property,
including contract sale, be required to provide to the
purchaser or prospective purchaser copies of all bills or
all receipts, or all cancelled checks or one utility budget
plan bill for heating utility or fuel costs for the dwelling
unit or building for the previous 12 months during which the
dwelling unit or building was continuously occupied. In the
alternative, the disclosure requirement shall be satisfied
by the provision of information supplied from the utility
providing the primary source of heat as in Section 5-16-30
or, if appropriate, as in Section 5-16-040.
Further, subject
to the penalties provided in Section 5-16-070 herein, no
building or dwelling unit owner, or agent thereof, shall
execute a written contract for such a sale or transfer for
such residential dwelling unit or building without making
such disclosures within such written contract for sale or
transfer. Such disclosure of information shall include:
(1) For
sales or transfers of single-family dwellings and
individually metered dwelling units in multifamily
buildings:
The
monthly and total annual consumption and cost for the
primary heating energy or fuel (natural gas, electricity, or
fuel oil);
(2) For
sales or transfers of entire
multifamily buildings
regardless of whether heating service is centrally or
individually metered and billed:
This
monthly and total cost and consumption of the primary
heating energy or fuel (natural gas, electricity or fuel
oil) for such entire building and the amounts directly
billed to each particular dwelling unit by any utility or
fuel supplier.
(b) The
provisions of this Section (5-16-050) shall not apply to
sales or transfers in which the purchaser is currently a
tenant of the dwelling unit who has the obligation to
directly pay the utility company for the utility service
used for heating.
(Prior code § 193.2-5;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
5-16-060
Administration.
The commissioner
of consumer services shall administer Chapter 5-16 and may
adopt rules and regulations for the effective administration
of Chapter 5-16.
(Prior code § 193.2-6;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
5-16-070
Penalties.
(1) (a)
Any building or dwelling unit owner, or agent thereof, who
fails to provide or who falsifies information required to be
provided by Chapter 5-16 commits an offense and shall be
subject to a fine not exceeding $500.00 for each offense.
(b) It
shall be an affirmative defense to any prosecution for a
failure to disclose information required by this chapter
that the utility company failed to timely comply with a
properly executed written request.
Any person who
falsely claims or misrepresents himself to be an owner or
agent in any disclosure or request for information made with
regard to Chapter 5-16 commits an offense and shall be
subject to a fine not exceeding $500.00 for each offense.
(Prior code § 193.2-7;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
5-16-080
Severability.
If any section of
this chapter is held invalid or unconstitutional by any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not
affect the validity of the remaining portions hereof.
(Prior code § 193.2-8;
Added Coun. J. 10-15-87, p. 5196)
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