Breaking A Lease in Illinois

As a Chicago landlord, are you wondering how to go about breaking a lease in this Illinois city?

A lease is a written agreement between you, the landlord and your Illinois tenants who rent your house or apartment. Under normal circumstances, neither party can end the tenancy or break the lease unless the other party consents to it. 

Now, lease breaking for an existing or new lease can be legally justified or not. When it's legally justified, your tenants may be able to terminate their rental lease without further responsibility except by providing lease termination notice requirements, requiring you to find a new tenant to rent your apartment or rental unit earlier than expected.

Examples of situations in which tenants may be able to legally break a lease include if they're active service members or victims of domestic violence. In those cases, even for a month to month lease, all landlords may require the tenant to do is provide you with a proper notice indicating the end of their tenancy. 

However, when a tenant doesn’t have a legally justified reason to end the lease, a landlord can hold them financially liable for any losses incurred. More specifically, as a landlord, you can require them to pay the total remaining rent, regardless of whether they continue living on the rental or not.

Examples of legally unjustified reasons when an existing or new tenant breaks a lease include:

• Moving to be closer to family
• Moving in with a partner or after they terminate a relationship
• Upgrading or downsizing
• Relocating to a new job or school
• Moving to the home they purchased

According to Illinois law, these reasons for a tenant to break a lease provide no legal protection against penalties for failing to honor leases. The importance of adhering to lease terms and the state landlord-tenant law is why many Chicago landlords enlist the help of an experienced property management company to handle lease agreements and send out notice to tenants on on their behalf.

Let's take a more in-depth look at a tenant and landlord's responsibility when lease agreements can be broken:

Renters Rights & Responsibilities when Signing a Lease Agreement in Illinois 

A lease typically binds both parties for a period of one year. Until the lease ends, the contract gives both the landlord and their tenants certain rights and responsibilities. 

Your Illinois tenant has a right, for instance, to live in their rented apartment for the entire life of the lease, assuming they abide by the lease agreement. Abiding by leases means that a tenant must pay rent on time and provide notice of maintenance issues on the premises.

On your part as the landlord, you have a right to evict the tenant for violating the lease agreement. A landlord can evict a tenant for reasons such as:

• Failing to make each month's rent payments, or repeatedly paying rent late. 
• Repeatedly throwing large, noisy events that disrupt other tenants or neighbors. 
• Causing excessive damage to the rental. 
• Failing to move after the lease expires which can result in an eviction case in court. 

With that being said, it is a landlord's duty to ensure their eviction process adheres to Illinois landlord tenant law.

Even if tenants aren't paying rent, it’s likely illegal for a landlord to evict a problem tenant through “self-help” eviction tactics. Such tactics include when you terminate utilities such as heat or electricity, remove the front door, or remove the tenant’s belongings.

The eviction process must begin with serving the tenant with a proper written notice. The landlord written notice must be relevant to the violation committed. If a landlord is evicting a tenant for unpaid rent, for instance, as the landlord, you must serve the tenant with a 5-Days’ Notice to Pay Rent or Leave which will force the tenant to either pay the rent owed or terminate their tenancy and vacate the rental unit. 

When Breaking a Lease Early in Illinois is Legally Justified

Normally, once a tenant signs a lease, according to Illinois law, they become contractually bound to pay rent for the entire lease term regardless of whether they wish to break the lease.

It's important to note that there is an exception to this blanket rule, however. If the reason for breaking the lease is legally justified, then your tenant will have no further obligation under the lease. 

Under the law, the following are justifiable reasons for renters to terminate a lease early in the state of Illinois. 

1. Your tenant is starting active military duty. 

Tenants entering active military service have a right to break their lease under federal law. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) protects members who have been deployed or received permanent change of station orders. 

The law only protects members of the “uniformed services.” They include:

• Activated National Guard
• Commissioned corps of the Public Health Service
• Commissioned corps of the national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
• Armed forces

To break a lease, a landlord may require the tenant to do the following:

One: show proof that the lease agreement was signed prior to joining active service.

Two: show proof that they are going to be on duty for the next ninety days.

And three: provide you a copy of the deployment letters in addition to notifying you of their intent to move out. 

2. The written lease contains an early termination clause. 

Does your lease have an early termination clause? If so, a tenant can use it to break the lease early. 

Normally, a landlord who allows a tenant to terminate a lease early usually requires them to pay a small penalty fee when they break the lease. The fee helps take care of some re-renting costs. For example, cost of advertising the vacant rental unit and screening a new tenant. 

The early termination fee is usually equivalent to the rent of two months. A landlord may also require existing renters to provide them with sufficient notice prior to ending the lease term so there is time to find a new tenant, as well. 

3. The unit is not habitable. 

Every state in the U.S. has sets minimum standards for health and safety codes for every rental unit, and Illinois isn’t an exception. 

As a landlord, you have a responsibility to maintain your unit. It must at all times meet state and local ordinances in regards to health, safety, and building codes. If you don’t, a tenant may have several options to consider. 

Your tenant may have the option to make the repairs and deduct the costs from the rent. The Residential Tenants’ Right to Repair Act defines the circumstances that must be met for a tenant to exercise that right. 

Your tenant can also choose to move out, as you may have failed in your responsibilities. 

4. The Landlord has Harassed Them or Violated Their Right to Privacy. 

When a landlord violates or harasses tenants, it may be enough justification for a tenant to terminate the lease. Examples of actions that may amount to landlord harassment include:

• Deliberate destruction of tenant’s unit. 
• Refusing to accept a rent payment.
• Exaggerating notices of improper conduct.
• Withholding amenities that were previously allowed. 
• Failing to make reasonable efforts to perform maintenance tasks and mitigate damages to the property in a timely and responsible manner and the landlord repeatedly violates the law in this way. 

Every tenant in the state of Illinois also has a right to privacy. The state, however, doesn’t have a statute on when a landlord must notify the tenant of their entering the rented premises. That said, to protect yourself against claims of landlord harassment, provide renters with some form of notice.

5. The tenant is a victim of domestic or sexual violence. 

Domestic violence victims also have a right under Illinois law (765 Ill. Comp. Stat. §750/15) to break their lease early. Besides domestic, the same applies to victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault. 

Summary: How to Break a Lease in Illinois

As a landlord, we hope this guide gives you a general understanding of how to break a lease in Illinois. You also understand the legal process and the responsibilities of both the landlord and tenant.

If you have any further questions about breaking a lease in Illinois, security deposit laws, Illinois landlord tenant law or need help managing or need to re rent your unit, MTD Property Management can assist you! We have more than 30 years of experience in the Chicago real estate market. 

Disclaimer: This blog on how to break your lease isn’t a substitute for professional legal advice from a qualified attorney. Laws change frequently, and this post might not be up-to-date at the time you read it. For help or edits, kindly get in touch with us.