Joan Marie Fenstermaker

After speaking with multiple lawyers who made me feel unintelligent and hopeless about my case, Joan swooped in and finally gave me confidence in my situation. Especially because this was my first experience hiring a lawyer, I had a lot of questions! Joan was patient, communicative and extremely know...ledgeable. I would recommend her for anyone who is searching for guidance in tenant/landlord disputes. She knows her stuff!

Long story short, we quickly found out that our landlord and his daughter were real jerks after moving into a new apartment. They had no respect for our legal boundries and privacy. We found ourselves victim to retaliatory acts and harrasment after merely asking the landlord fulfill their legal oblig...ations under the lease. Joan was able to find faults in our lease in combination with the landlord’s legal violations that we had documented. We got out quickly and eventually they agreed to settle. It took almost a year for the settlement but that’s how these things go. We think it just took that long for the landlord to get past their denial and realize that they had inevitably f***** themselves. If your landlord is in the wrong and you need help, Joan will make them pay!

Ms. Fenstermaker was extremely understanding, knowledgeable, & straight forward with our case. The landlord who was very greedy, refused to return our security deposit. Due to his inexperience of being a landlord, codes were violated. We did get our deposit back & more. Excellent representation fr...om Ms. Fenstermaker! She is most definitely highly recommended, a person who knows the rental laws. Can't say enough of excellent things about her. Thank you for all your help!

Joan represented my boyfriend, his roommate, and I in a rent deposit dispute. The apartment was left in perfect shape yet our landlord refused to return our deposit. We contacted them NUMEROUS times and their response was always the same "we don't have your address on file". We gave them the address ...at least 100 times. It was obviously an excuse because they thought they could take advantage of a bunch of young, new professionals. Joan went in there and did not play. Thank you so much!

Moved from the East Coast to Chicago and found a place with less due diligence than we should have given the process. Issues with the apartment: - Security door malfunctioned - Callbox wasn't operational - Mailbox didn't lock - Common spaces weren't maintained (much less cleaned, occasionally) -... Neighbors informed that heating issues occurred the prior winter - Among others Joan was responsive and incorporated our input and documentation into a letter citing violations of the Chicago RLTO and related historical precedents. This resulted in the termination of the lease, with no ultimate cost to us, due to our settlement conditions. I hope I don't have to give Joan a call again any time soon, but if and when I do, I know she has the experience and know-how to ensure my rights as a Chicago tenant as protected.