Another Chicago Horror Story - 72 Hour Rule

[Stewart McMillan]

So I made a huge mistake with my ComEd bill and the power was shut off on my tenants.

I tried my best to restore power after the tenants notified me on a Friday morning, but it was an exceptionally busy and important work day for me, hold times were forever with ComEd, and long story short I played phone tag with ComEd all day but was unable to connect with them to turn the power back on. 

The next day, my tenants send me a notice of intent to vacate. They can't do that, but we'll set that aside for now. Eventually on Monday, ComEd finally turns the power back on (they wouldn't set up an account over the weekend). Throughout the ordeal I apologized repeatedly and let my tenants know I would reimburse them for any damages, hotel, food gone bad, etc.

But then things just go completely sideways. Even though the power is back on these tenants are just going berserk and they're making stuff up saying I owe them money because of X and I need to reimburse them for Y. I let them know if they want to move out I am willing to let them do that, but they need to continue paying rent until they move out and they can't use their security deposit for rent.

I could go in so many directions with this post because it's just been a non-stop barrage of irrationalities from my tenants, but I'll limit myself to one simple question that Google hasn't been able to answer:

Do the 72 hours that landlords have to resolve issues related to essential services like water, heat, etc. include weekends? Does the clock stop ticking Friday night and resume on Monday morning?

If so then this slow simmering misery and self-hatred I've been feeling the past 2 weeks dealing with these tenants might just transmogrify into landlord rage the likes of which Chicago's South Loop has never seen.

I'm speaking with an attorney tomorrow, but I just had to vent, and thought the answer might help a few other Chicago people out in the future. Thanks for any help!

[Brie Schmidt]

It is 72 hours, not business hours.  If my power went out on a Friday and I was "too busy" to get it turned on the same day and knew it would have to wait till Monday, I would have immediately put them up in a hotel until I could get power back on.  

Once my tenant's fridge broke and I couldn't get a new one delivered for 48 hours and they had just bought groceries, so I went and took everything to my house to put in my fridge and brought it back two days later when the fridge was delivered and still gave them a $150 grocery credit.