Lease Termination and Evictions



Home \| Home Sales Lease Termination and Evictions Getting Out of Your Lease If you want to end the legal agreement between you and your landlord, you must use the same care as when you made the agreement in the first place. If you have a written lease for a specific period of time, read it carefully to determine if and how you can break it before it ends. If you follow the requirements of the lease, you will not have any legal obligation to pay rent after you move. If your lease does not give you the option to break it before it ends, you may try talking to your landlord to see if she or he will agree to your moving out early. You should get any agreement in writing. A simple statement signed by your landlord will do. Keep in mind that your landlord may want something in return for her or his agreement. If your landlord will not agree and you move out anyway, your landlord must take steps to minimize the impact from you moving out early. She or he cannot simply let your apartment sit vacant until your lease ends and demand all of the rent from you. Reasonable efforts must be made to re-let the apartment. Example: If the landlord can re-let the apartment right away at a much higher rent than you were paying, you may not owe him any money even though you broke your lease. If you rent month-to-month without a written lease, you must give your landlord a full 30 days notice in writing that you intend to move out. You must give the notice at least 30 days before the next rental period starts. If you do not give proper notice, you may be liable for rent after you move. Example: If you pay rent on the first of the month, you must give notice no later than August 31 that you will be terminating the tenancy as of September 30. Eviction Notices Your landlord must give you a written notice before trying to evict you. The most common notice is the so-called Five-Day Notice. If you do not pay your rent on time, a landlord can terminate your tenancy by giving you this notice. A Five-Day Notice must state the amount of rent you owe and give you at least 5 days to pay the full amount. If you pay within the 5 days, you have a good defense if your landlord tries to evict you. If you do not pay within the 5 days, your landlord can declare your lease over and start an eviction lawsuit. ADVOCACY TIP The following are some important legal facts about Five-Day Notices of which many people are unaware. Things to Know About Five-Day Notices: If the fifth day of the Five-Day Notice falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, you have until the following business day to pay. The copy of the Five-Day Notice your landlord gives you does not have to be notarized. The original your landlord files with the eviction court must be notarized. Even if the Five-Day Notice has the wrong amount of rent, you should pay what you owe within the 5 days. If you are able to pay the rent that you owe, you should pay it and obtain a receipt. Take someone who is not related to you and who does not live with you when you go to pay your rent. This person can serve as a witness if you try to pay your rent but your landlord will not accept it. A Five-Day Notice cannot demand that you pay charges other than rent, such as late fees or utility charges, unless your lease says that these other charges are also to be considered rent. A Five-Day Notice is a very serious matter. Call Prairie State Legal Services, Inc. or another lawyer for advice as soon as you get the notice. Do not wait until your time is up. The other type of notice commonly seen is the so-called Ten-Day Notice. If you have violated the terms of your lease agreement, your landlord can terminate your tenancy by giving you a Ten-Day Notice. Example: If your lease says no pets are allowed, and you get a dog, your landlord can give you a Ten-Day Notice stating that you have violated your lease by getting a dog. After the 10 days are up, your landlord can start an eviction lawsuit against you. Landlords do not usually use a Ten-Day Notice for rent, but if they do, you can avoid eviction by paying the rent due. If you have a lease that ends on a specific day and you stay in your apartment past that day, your landlord does not have to give you any notice before starting an eviction lawsuit against you. You may also be liable for double the rent to your landlord for each month you stay beyond the end of your lease. Eviction Lawsuits If your landlord gives you an eviction notice, you have the legal right to fight the eviction in court. In order to evict you, your landlord must file an eviction lawsuit against you. These lawsuits go by the name forcible entry and detainer. Do not be confused by this term. It simply means "eviction." When a landlord files an eviction lawsuit against you, you must be served with copies of the court papers by the county sheriff or a private process server. Those papers will tell you where and when you must go to court. When you go to court, you have the right to demand a trial, even a trial by jury, to present your evidence and legal defenses to the eviction. There are many possible defenses to an eviction lawsuit. Call Prairie State Legal Services, Inc. or another lawyer to advise you. ADVOCACY TIP Even if your landlord will not accept your rent during an eviction lawsuit, you must save it. If you win your case, you may have to pay all of your back rent right away after the case is over. If you lose the trial, you still have the right to appeal to the Appellate Court of Illinois, and possibly the Supreme Court of Illinois. Even if you do not want to appeal, you can still ask the judge for time to move after the trial. If you are still in your apartment after the time the judge gives you to move, your landlord will ask the county sheriff to evict you. The sheriff will order you to leave your apartment and your landlord will then place your belongings on the sidewalk and change the locks. Illegal Evictions - "Lockouts" If your landlord wants to evict you, he or she must follow the proper legal procedures. Your landlord must give you a proper notice, if one is required, and file an eviction lawsuit so that you have the opportunity to defend yourself in court. There are no exceptions to this rule. The sheriff cannot come to evict you until a judge has granted your landlord an order for possession of your apartment. Sometimes, landlords decide not to follow this rule and will try to evict you illegally. There are a number of ways that landlords might try an illegal eviction. Examples: A landlord might change your locks, shutoff your utilities, remove your possessions or threaten to have you arrested for being a "trespasser." If you are aware that this is happening, it may be a good idea to call the police or the county sheriff. Show the officer your lease or a rent receipt. This should be enough for the officer to tell your landlord that he or she must follow the proper legal procedures. If you have been "locked out," and the police or the sheriff will not help you, call Prairie State Legal Services or another lawyer right away. There is a good chance that you will be able to file a lawsuit against your landlord and get a court order requiring your landlord to let you back into your apartment. If your landlord does not obey the court order, he or she can be held in contempt of court and put in jail. You may also be able to get compensation (and in some cases, punitive damages) against the landlord for the harm caused you by the illegal lockout. Distress of Property for Rent Sometimes, when a tenant does not pay the rent, the landlord takes the tenant's property, such as household furnishings. Such an action by a landlord is almost always unlawful, unless the landlord follows the requirements of a specific legal procedure called distress for rent. Landlords rarely use this procedure. If your landlord takes your property and claims that he or she has a legal right to do so, call Prairie State Legal Services or another lawyer for advice on whether your landlord has acted unlawfully and to determine your remedies. Retaliatory Eviction Your landlord cannot terminate your lease or evict you just because you complained to your local government that your building does not meet local building codes. This law in Illinois is called the "Retaliatory Eviction Act," and it may be available as a defense in an eviction suit brought against you. In that case, you will have to prove to the judge that you complained to your local government and that this is the reason your landlord is trying to evict you. You have the right to serve a subpoena on the inspector who came to your building. This will require her or him to come to court to testify on your behalf before the judge or jury. Published by: Illinois Legal Aid	Authors: Sign Up for a free account Member Login Visitors: Link Exch Contact Us Terms of Use Legal Forms Online Download legal forms for all US states. Uncontested Divorce Forms Legal Name Change Forms Living Will Form Power of Attorney Form Auto Bill of Sale Form Residential Lease Agreement Partnership Agreement Promissory Note Form Last Will and Testament Forms Prenuptial Agreement Personal Bankruptcy Forms