If she is supposed to take care of the grass, when the lawn gets high again, call the city health department. Most cities stipulate that grass can be no taller than 6 or 8 inches, and 24 inches is waaay too high. Chicago might be way too busy to deal with citing a LL for a health hazard related to tall grass, but it is worth the try. Most cities will cite the owner for a violation, allow a certain amount of time to correct it, and if it isn't done then city personnel will mow the lawn and send the owner the bill. That shifts the problem from a dispute between you & the LL, to one between the city & the LL.
Your LL sounds like a cheapskate who only wants your cash while improperly maintaining her property.
What does your lease say? Unless it says YOU take care of the yard, then it's her responsibility.
BUT…
1. You do not just get to decide who gets hired and make her pay for it. You owe full rent, and she can charge you a late fee or evict you if you don't. Anybody you hired was your choice and your responsibility to pay for.
2. She only needs to keep it up to minimum local standards. Basically, unless the city comes by and tells her to cut it, she doesn't have to.
Unfortunately, it sounds like you have a LL who is uninterested in keeping the place nice. Your only real option is to move. By in large, rentals are a free market type things. So long as she has people paying rent, she'll do the least possible.
Unfortunately you did handle it incorrectly so she is correct in that you cannot deduct the amount from your rent. As far as I can tell there is a lawn maintenance ordinance in Chicago and if she refused to abide by it, the most you should have done was report her to the city. They'd have served her notices to correct the situation at her cost. You chose to have it done without her consent, so you took the cost of that into your own hands.
It's probably time to consider moving as soon as your lease is up. I suppose she might just pay for monthly lawn service and it just got out of hand between mowings due to the season. Did you ask her about it or just wait to see if she was going to have it done? If she doesn't drive by the property routinely she might not have known it got that bad. But once you pointed it out, she should have realized she was in violation of the ordinance and needed it to get done ASAP.
You can't cut the grass and subtract form rent without prior authorization. Doesn't work that way.
She is right, you rent the inside only.
Your lease should be specific as to lawn care. If it isn't then it's not your responsibility and the landlord isn't obligated to reimburse you.
Hello! I am having problems with my landlord in Chicago and am not entirely sure of my rights and if I am in the wrong....here's the story....
We have had a lot of problems with our apartment, from bed bugs, mice, roaches, a shower handle breaking 3 times and being fixed improperly, and most recently our lawn was out of control.
So my problem I am having now is that our lawn had gotten so out of control that I had to hire a landscaper to take care of it. It was nearly 2 feet high with weeds growing in every direction. I had put off my BBQ for 3 weeks because I was waiting for the lawn to get cut. Well the day came for my BBQ and it still wansn't done so I hired someone.
When she came to collect rent (which we have been paying in CASH for 3 years because that's how she likes it), I subtracted to total of the lawn care services from rent and provided her with the receipt. She told me that I have to pay full rent and they will not reimburse me for the services. She says that I only rent the 3rd floor, not the back yard, and that I really shouldn't even be using
Should I pay for the lawn care and full rent? What are my rights??
