Students who live in an apartment may notice some changes regarding repairs made to their residence in the future.

Due to a recently passed state law, tenants now will be able to deduct repair costs from their rent – with some restrictions.

The Residential Tenant’s Right to Repair Act provides that tenants must now submit written requests for repair to their landlord through certified mail. The landlord then has 14 days to respond to the request and make all necessary repairs.

If the landlord fails to do so in that time, tenants can then deduct the expenses – up to $500 or half of one month’s rent – whichever is less. However, the law is not meant to include major structural repairs, but would cover things like leaky faucets and ripped screens.

The law does not cover public housing, so residence hall residents will not be affected.

Julie Hamos, state representative for the 18th District, was one of the sponsors of the new law.

“This law is important because now tenant-landlord relationships will be improved,” Hamos said. “Landlords can now put less on their priority list.”

The law, which has existed in the Urbana-Champaign area since the 1970s, was passed to include all of Illinois on Aug. 9 and will be effective Jan. 1, 2005.

“This was the first year that it was introduced and passed,” Hamos said. “It really is a self-help law. People need to know their rights.”

Local landlords have mixed reactions about the new law.

Barry Cone, owner of 129 College Ave., was unaware of the law’s passage.

“It’s not unreasonable,” he said. “But I’d like to be able to choose what to fix and what not to.”

Kathy Laing of Laing Management, 701 Lucinda Ave., which owns numerous apartments in the DeKalb and Sycamore areas, said she didn’t think it would be too much of an issue.

“It won’t affect us the majority of the year because we have full-time maintenance personnel,” she said. “I just hope there are guidelines. It will probably end up being more of a burden on tenants because they will have to submit requests in writing now.”

Andrew Strom, a post-graduate math education major who lives in an apartment, thinks the law is a good idea.

“I wouldn’t want to fix anything myself, though,” Strom said. “I’m not handy.”