Renters in bad apartments – or any rented housing for that matter – always have the option to break their lease and move out. However, if you have a fixed term lease (e.g., not month-to-month) you're usually required to either find a subletter or pay a reletting fee to your landlord. If you just up and leave in the middle of the night without notice or finding a replacement, your landlord can come after you for unpaid rent and lease break fees.
However, in Chicago there are six situations where you can actually break a lease without worrying about being penalized or fined by your landlord. They are very specific and require you to follow precise methods in order to legally take advantage of them. In this article we will cover each situation.
Note that this article deals only with Chicago, and should not be interpreted as legal advice in Chicago or anywhere else.
1. You've got proof that you have been assaulted, stalked or threatened in your apartment.
If you live in private rental housing or have a Section 8 voucher, you are covered by the Illinois Safe Homes Act. Residents in public housing projects are not covered.
Victims of domestic violence including dating violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and stalking are allowed to break their lease with 3 days notice before or after they move out.
There must be a credible imminent threat that you will be harmed in your apartment building. Alternately, you must be able to provide evidence of previous violence, such as a police report, medical records or a court order.
You must provide written notice within three days before or after your move date if you break your lease for this reason. Landlords cannot disclose to others that you invoked the Safe Homes Act in order to leave. They cannot penalize you or fine you for breaking your lease.
2. You've been called up for active military deployment of at least 90 days.
This one is thanks to federal law, so it applies nationwide. If you are called up for active military service that will take you away from home for at least 3 months, you can break your lease without penalty.
You must provide written notice to your landlord at least one rent period before you leave. This notice must include copies of your orders or, if they haven't yet been issued, a letter from your commanding officer explaining the orders will suffice.
3. Your apartment has been condemned or rendered uninhabitable.
If the court has issued an injunction against occupancy for your building, you can leave. In fact, you will have no option but to leave immediately.
Note that if there is no court ordered injunction but your apartment is unsafe, you can and should choose to leave for your own safety. However, you may have to deal with a court case to prove that you had reasonable grounds to do so. Make sure that you take proper steps to register your complaints with the city department of buildings by reporting the problems to 311 and having a city inspector come to investigate the problem.
4. You signed the lease when you were under 18 years old.
Runaways and emancipated minors can sign leases if a landlord will have them. Housing is considered to be a “necessity” by the state of Illinois and therefore an apartment lease signed by a minor is valid even though other contracts are not.
However, very few landlords will take on the risks associated with renting to teenagers. This means that teens looking to escape abusive or harmful situations must choose any apartment that will accept them, regardless of quality. Leases signed by minors are considered voidable once the minor turns 18.
If you signed a lease as a minor, it won't automatically end on your 18th birthday. However, you have the option to break it without penalty while you're still a minor or within a reasonable amount of time – usually 6 months - after your 18th birthday. You still need to provide your landlord with adequate written notice before you leave.
5. You were under the influence of drugs or alcohol or otherwise mentally incapable when you signed the lease.
This one is somewhat tricky to prove and you will probably have to get a lawyer involved to get out of your lease cleanly.
If you were mentally ill in a way that affected your judgment or under the influence of drugs that impaired your judgment at the time you signed your lease, you can cancel it without penalty within a reasonable amount of time after you get better or sober up. If a court declares you to be insane, any contracts you have signed are void by default.
6. You're moving out but at least one of your roommates is staying.
Leases in Chicago are usually “joint and separate,” meaning that you're each responsible for the lease regardless of what your roommates do. If you leave but at least one of your other roommates stays, the actual lease itself isn't broken. Your roommates might come after you, but as long as the rent still gets paid you will not see any penalty from the landlord.
If you're leaving your roommates behind you should make a point to contact your landlord and have your name removed from the lease.
If you choose to break your lease for any of the reasons I described above, you should definitely consult with an attorney before doing so. I am not an attorney. Nobody at RentConfident is an attorney. Here are some providers of low cost legal help in Chicago. Note: Inclusion in the list below is not an endorsement.
- Chicago Volunteer Legal Services
- Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
- Cabrini Green Legal Aid Clinic
- CARPLS
- Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing
- Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
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