Intro to Right to Quiet Enjoyment

When you rent a place to live, like an apartment or house, you get a special right called the "right to quiet enjoyment." Think of this right as your pass to a calm place where you can chill, study, or have some quiet time without constantly being interrupted. It's like having a guarantee of privacy and calmness in your own space.

• The right to quiet enjoyment isn't new; it's been around for a long time. It's based on laws that have been around for ages, ensuring that people who rent homes can live without many disturbances.
• But here's the thing: having the right to quiet enjoyment doesn’t mean it has to be dead silent all the time. Living in a community means sometimes you'll hear regular noises from your neighbors or the area around you, and that's fine. But if those noises become too loud, happen all the time, or break the specific rules about noise set by your landlord or in your rental agreement, then your right to quiet enjoyment becomes essential.

If the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance protects you, the landlord should enforce Section 5-12-040(g). Under this provision, a landlord must conduct himself and require other persons on the premises, with his consent, to conduct themselves in a manner that will not disturb his neighbors' peaceful enjoyment of the premises.

To explore the right to quiet enjoyment in specific circumstances, see below: 

• Secondhand smoke
• Noisy neighbors
• Safety concerns because of neighbors, their guests, or individuals who aren’t tenants 
• Construction
• Landlord’s restrictions on guests 
• Landlord entering without notice
• New tenant moves into my home