r/chicagoapartments

Roomate and I are looking for a 2b/2b (both full) with access to 2 parking spots to move in anytime from October-December. 12/mo lease, option to extend would be nice.

Would like to pay 1.8k pp.

Open to Lakeview, LP, Old Town, RN, West Loop, Greek Town. Last resorts would be Wrigley or South Loop.

If your rent significantly increases and you want to stay in your current unit, always try to negotiate a lower/more manageable rent increase before renewing or leaving.

Yes, you can do that. More often than not, it works.

I've been living at my current spot in Little Village/Pilsen since 2020 and it started at $1200 for a newly rennovated 2Bed/1Bath WITH IN UNIT, A Dishwasher, and HIGH CEILINGS(I'm 6' 1" and if I fully extend my arms, theres still like 2-3ft of clearance). Since moving in the rent has only JUST hit $1300. So my partner and I are paying only $650 a month living in our place.

Its a decent neighborhood but of course theres the standard things for living in an area like that like the shitty parking situation, occasional "rent stabilizing" gunshots in the distance(sometimes a bit too close to my place), maybe a tad bit of gang-affliated violence from the citizen app, but otherwise my spot is nice.

Recently my gf and I have been thinking of upgrading to a bigger place. Maybe a 2Bed/2bath or 3bed/1bath, but looking into upgrading has us demotivated each time because of the cost of living all over the city being so high EVERYWHERE.

Any tips on finding something else??

Should I take this up with building management or should I call the police directly? And is the police likely to help?

it's a 3 unit building. landlord just told me that the previous tenants brought roaches. he's saying they never had issues with roaches before, and that they've done several treatments of the apartment already.
is it naive to think that the roaches could be gone? i haven't signed a lease yet. it's probably the best apartment i could find rn, other than this issue.
he's offering a rent reduction if i do see roaches after moving in, and he told me about this up front before signing or paying anything

edit: ok i get it😭😭 tragic

Hi,

I recently moved into an apartment- I had not been able to tour it beforehand- and the room I took was supposed to be 80 sq. Ft. but is closer to 65- I would not have rented the room knowing this and I can barely fit into the room without tripping over my dresser or my cat’s stuff. I’m really now dreading living here for the next year. Is there anything I can do about this (rent reduction)?

I really hate that I’m even writing this because I was SO excited to move into Aston.
I moved from New Jersey to Chicago and specifically chose Aston over places like Optima Signature and One Chicago. I loved it when I toured and genuinely thought I was moving into a luxury building where I wouldn’t have to worry about basic stuff being taken care of.
We signed our lease July 30, the lease started August 4, and I specifically told leasing we weren’t actually arriving until August 14. So they knew exactly when we were coming and basically had 10 days before we physically moved in.
We showed up and the apartment honestly did not feel move-in ready at all.
The kitchen/living room floors were visibly dirty, the refrigerator water dispenser/filter area had gross buildup that looked like mold, the kitchen lights were flickering, an outlet was loose, one of the doorknobs barely opened without pulling/pushing/finessing it, and then the biggest issue — the AC wasn’t working properly.
It would get “fixed,” work for a few minutes, and then stop again. The apartment kept sitting around 74–75 even with the thermostat much lower. At one point their solution was literally industrial fans.
My girlfriend has POTS, so heat regulation is a legitimate issue for her. It got to the point where she had to stay with my parents instead of being able to comfortably stay in the apartment we literally just moved into. My parents had to change their hotel arrangements so there was enough room for her.
What really made the whole thing worse was how it was handled.
Emails to leasing were already difficult to get responses to before we even moved in, and I constantly felt like I had to call to get answers. We also basically got no move-in orientation. Nobody from leasing really showed us where trash/recycling was, how the mailroom worked, etc. Ironically, the front desk, mailroom staff, maintenance, and especially Ray from engineering were the people who actually took the time to help us.
Ray was honestly great. He apologized, communicated, took ownership, and genuinely seemed like he cared about fixing the problem.
Management was a completely different experience.
When I explained that I was embarrassed because friends from Optima and One Chicago helped us move and even they couldn’t believe what we walked into, the response was basically that those buildings cost more. When I questioned why I shouldn’t expect a similar level of service at Aston, that turned into an explanation about Aston having a smaller staff.
The weird part is I could have paid basically the same rent at the other buildings. Aston was just the one I WANTED.
When I asked what they could do for us if the AC still wasn’t fixed, I also kept being told to read up on renters’ law and that they had 24 hours to fix it. I explained we had been dealing with the same AC problem since Friday, but the response was basically that every time they “fixed” it and it broke again, it started a new 24-hour period.
It just felt incredibly defensive instead of, “Wow, you just moved in and this experience has been awful, how do we fix this?”
The AC and the other apartment issues are finally fixed now, which I’m obviously happy about. Management offered us a $150 rent credit, two nights in their guest suite, and about a $50 restaurant gift card. They also said they wouldn’t reimburse the additional hotel expense.
Maybe I expected too much, but after moving across the country, walking into an apartment with all of these issues, having my girlfriend unable to comfortably stay there, constantly calling/emailing, and then feeling dismissed when I tried to explain how disappointing the experience was… $150 just feels kind of insulting.
Mechanical problems happen. I understand that. That isn’t really why I’m upset.
It’s the fact that they knew exactly when we were moving in, the apartment clearly wasn’t properly checked beforehand, and then once things started going wrong I felt like everyone was more interested in explaining why it wasn’t their responsibility than just owning the situation.
I genuinely wanted to love this building. I was excited to tell people I chose Aston.
Now I’m sitting here wondering if I made a huge mistake choosing it over the other buildings I was considering.

TDLR: Avoid Aston apartment run away and pick a different place!!!!

Hello! I am planning on moving to Chicago in the new year. How far in advance do you need to start looking to secure an apartment?

Moving from NYC where I would look ~1 month prior.

Also any platforms people recommend to use?

Hi! I am considering moving to Evanston next year and I want to get ahead and start making some calls to different apartments but the thing is I have a Rottweiler. I have her trained and she has her certificate for graduating (idk if that could help me when calling, but I just thought I would throw that in there). Does anyone have any tips or know anywhere that allows bully breeds?

Thank you!

I moved into my new place 2 weeks ago. Yes, its an old building (prewar). I arrived and the landlord hadn’t inspected the place. Floors were as dirty as frat floors. Was told to put in maintenance requests for anything that doesn’t meet standard, which included: holes in the floors due to missing pieces of planks or rotted wood (covered by carpet during the tour), not a single functioning/not broken blind, almost every fixture in the bathroom was broken, including a not draining tub, etc. The only reason why I suspect he was timely in fixing things up is because I caught him lying about having actually inspected the place.

I hadn’t been in the kitchen much aside from making coffee in the morning and organizing things. But I started cooking more 4 days ago. Yesterday night I go in to get some water and I find two german cockroaches chilling on the stove. I looked around over the next two hours and found a few more around the kitchen in all stages of life. I had swept up a lone adult one a few days prior but I had assumed it was a one off cause it was dead. I have never dealt with cockroaches before, having lived in the suburbs. I am scared at the sudden appearance of so many, that I have some sort of infestation. Also, the management company’s response to my request for an exterminator was that the building has a regularly scheduled one visiting on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. So technically day after tomorrow.

Roaches are more concerning to me because I have a pet who eats fruit and veggie based foods, and needs access to when I am not home working my 9-5.
I really don’t want to stress about a roach infestation in a totally new state and new job. I am already looking for a new place, since a few other things about this place wasn’t going well and I am scared the landlord is gonna screw me over for any big issue down the line (lots of bad reviews online). I still need to clarify if the exterminator will be specifically looking at my concerns during the visit or just spray something and leave. I don’t want to have to relet and let some poor person suffer. But I also don’t want to be liable for months rent. Can anything be done??

Hello,

My partner and I have been living in Chicago for 2 years we stay in a property in south loop that’s pretty nice and are considered luxury but it has no amenities besides a gym and one rooftop grill. We’re not really happy here but we’re willing to renew because of space and comfortability. They recently raised the rent and it’s going from $3078 a month for a 2 bedroom to $4000 which would makes our monthly expenses $5000, we can’t afford that. We were already looking to downsize. We’ve had some issues with management charging us pet fees after confirming and accepting our esa letter. Recently when applying for apartments we have been denied because after trying to verify with our current property if we have a balance and our tenant records and they continue to lie and say there’s an unpaid balance. This in addition to my credit being 504 and having an eviction from 2 years ago. We have been upfront with all properties about this, most won’t accept with the eviction and credit, but one did accept us and after verifying with our current landlord has since denied us. Honestly It’s been a nightmare. Our lease is up 9/29. We are looking to a 1 bedroom with washer/dryer in unit, a balcony is preferred, a parking space and hopefully a building with amenities. All the private land lords we found have been walk ups, we’re not opposed to it but being that my partner works from home and I work hybrid, it’s nice to have other places in the building to work and places to go to relax after work. Our budget is $3000 per month, we both have incomes and make approve $7k a month and her dad would be an additional roommate or guarantor, his credit is 700+ and he has already made $150k ytd 2026. We are in DESPERATE needs and don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any pointers, companies or advice for our situation? Her dad is willing to pay a few months or rent up for us, or do w/e he can to get us approved, the eviction and my credit is really holding us back. I appreciate any help. Thank you in advance

also, we’re in south loop, I work on the south side, 60620 area, so we’re trying to stay local but also have been open to uptown area