Rental Property and Heating?

I live in Illinois and as part of my lease, the landlord controlled the heat. From the months of November 2007 through the end of January 2008, my apartment did NOT have heat. The property manager was well aware of this. I did not have heat for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the New Year. Last month, the property manager served me an eviction notice. I informed him that I was not able to stay in my apartment without heat. He said I'm just the messenger, call the landlord in the morning. I called 3 times a day for 4 consecutive days, the landlord was in a meeting, out of the office, did not answer the phone, and eventually was out of town.
I guess my question is, do I have to pay rent if I did not have heat? I cannot get any answers from the city they just directed me to legal aid. Any help or direction, would be greatly appreciated.

You may have a claim for this. You are required to pay rent yes, however since having heat was out of your control and assuming you took the necessary steps to try correct the problem you should have the right to find a suitable place to live. If it says in your lease that he is to provide the heating by not doing so he broke your agreement. I would see if you can work it out with him first before jumping to legal means but I do think the courts would be on your side if it came to it.

Yes, you still have to pay rent. However, your landlord was required to provide you with heat.

Did you notify the landlord in writing back in November that you did not have heat? Did you notify the landlord in writing at ANY time before the eviction notice that you did not have heat?

If you plan to go to court, you will have to be able to demonstrate that you attempted to notify the landlord of the heating problem prior to receiving the eviction notice. It will also help your case if you continued to pay rent during this time. That will show the judge that you were holding up your end of the deal, and that it was the landlord who was negligent.

Call legal aid, explain all of the facts, and get their advice.

Yes, you have to pay the rent.
you can't stop pay your rent when something is not working in your apartment, what you need to do is put a work order in writing and keep a copy for your heating to be fixed, then if the heating is not fixed you can take your landlord to the court or just leave, depends on your stated law.

CALL A LAWYER