Lawyers In La Grange Building Dispute Make Cases

LA GRANGE, IL — The deadline passed last week for the owners of the building at 715 W. Hillgrove Ave. in downtown La Grange to correct maintenance issues.

On Nov. 18, the village notified owners Cecilia and Michael Heiges that it would go to Cook County Circuit Court with citations if the owners failed to correct the problems by last Friday. The building houses an optometrist's office on the first floor and two apartments on the second.

According to the village, the issues, including moldy surfaces, involve the basement and one of the upstairs apartments. The village has been dealing with the situation for more than a year and a half.

Through a public records requests, Patch on Wednesday obtained emails from lawyers for the owners and a tenant.

In a Nov. 15 email to the village, attorney Lauren Rozich, who represents one of the tenants, urged the village to sue the owners immediately.

Rozich said a worker for the owners came to one of the apartments a week earlier and determined the shower needed to be ripped out and replaced. The worker, the lawyer said, indicated the shower was the source of a leak in the office below and yet no repairs had been made.

Rozich said her client pays rent every month on time, yet goes without a functioning shower.

"This has been going on for months," Rozich said. "Please initiate legal action against the Heigeses and let them explain to a judge why they continue to collect rent and to increase the rent, but refuse to provide (the tenant) with a safe and habitable place to live."

In a Nov. 5 email, the owners' attorney, Bernard Martin, told the village that his clients have had disagreements with the tenant in the upstairs apartment about obtaining access for themselves and a contractor to make repairs.

"I notice from the communications that have passed between the parties and the Village, that the list of required repairs continues to change and grow," said Martin, whose office is in La Grange. "I would appreciate it if you can provide me with the current 'final' list, so that I can assist my clients in their good faith efforts to settle any concerns the Village may have."

In an interview Wednesday, Martin said his clients have been cooperating with the village from the beginning.

"We have a tenant who has been reluctant or stopped us from access to that particular unit," Martin said. "That problem is being worked on between us and the tenant and the village."

He said the village inspector files his report about a property's violations, but apparently is not required to indicate when an owner is cooperating and making repairs.

According to the village, the building's issues include:

• Moldy surfaces behind shower enclosure wall.
• Splintered wood on hallway flooring.
• An unsecured metal plate in the pavement near the east exit.
• A damaged window well.
• Moisture in an interior basement wall.
• Peeling paint on a radiator.
• Cracks in walls in corners.
• Windows that fail to close property.

Patch's first story about the building was published Nov. 16.