Chicago Landlord

My experience with tenants is they don't always give reliable information when it comes to repairs in their apartments. I have gotten several calls about no power or water and it turns out the whole neighborhood is down. I ask lots of questions of my tenants. Like, did you look outside first, are there street lights on, have you paid your bill? My other favorite is breakers. Anything that is electric or has some electric power can be affected by breakers. One of my clients went without AC for two weeks last summer before I suggested she try her breakers. That solved the problem. It is surprising but many modern day conveniences like central air and dishwashers have a switch, like a light switch, that provide the power. I had another client last summer who did not have AC because someone accidentally turned off a switch in her ceiling that happened to power the AC, that took a month to figure out. Who knew?
The best thing to do when dealing with a tenant repair is ask all the question you can think of and rule out the simplest solutions first. I also recommend try to check on the problem yourself first, before you call out a professional. Unfortunately most professional repair people have no problem charging $75 to flip a switch or a breaker.