Can I get out of my lease?

November 13, 2007 10:21 AM

I am subleasing my apartment in Chicago. But can I get out of my lease?

My roomate bailed on me and so I had to sublease our 2 bedroom apartment and find a studio for myself. I found some new tenants on craigslist (or rather they found me) and they are ready to sign a sublease agreement. My landlord will not release me from the lease AND wants me to sign something new that stipulates that I will remain responsible for the rent for the remainder of my lease (5 more months). First, is there any way I get out of this responsibility for the rent if the new tenants don't pay? Second, what is this new thing they want me to sign, and do I have to sign it? It seems sketchy to me.

posted by AceRock to work & money (10 comments total)

Look up "Chicago's residentiall landlord and tenant ordinance". There should be a section on subleases. You should find several sites/organizations referencing it which may also contain other helpful information. It's also been attached/contained in all of my leases (larger management companies). Here is one example.
posted by ejaned8 at 10:50 AM on November 13, 2007

wait a second - your landlord wants you to sign something indicating you're good for the full rent when it wasn't in the contract? are both your roomie and you on the lease?

I call bullshit on that. if your roomie was on, then you promised to pay 50% and not a cent more. the landlord has beef with the roomie, not you.

do not sign any additional documents.
the landlord will suddenly be very happy to get rid of you.
posted by krautland at 11:30 AM on November 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

Your landlord can't make you sign anything. Don't do it! Is your roommate on the original lease or is it just you?
posted by letahl at 11:35 AM on November 13, 2007

It sounds almost like your Jerklord landlord is trying to get you to co-sign for the new tenants. Which is very weird.

I don't know if it is a legal requirement or not, but every place I have ever rented (in Chicago and elsewhere) allowed for the renter to end their lease early if they found a subletter.

Check on the tenet rights in Chicago (google it, or search for any of the previous askme's regarding Chicago renters.)

Ultimately you have to say to your landlord, "Look, my roommate bailed, and I can't pay this place on my own. Do you want to rent it to these new people or not?"

Was your roommate's name on the original lease? He/she may be liable for breakage.

Good luck. And DO NOT let your landlord try to screw you!
posted by wfrgms at 11:50 AM on November 13, 2007

IAAL, IANYL, TINLA.

Does your original lease say that you and your roommate are jointly and severally liable for the rent? It probably does. If that is the case, it doesn't matter whether or not you sign this new document, you're still on the hook for the full rent - whether or not your roommate was on the lease too. Jointly and severally means that each of you individually are liable for the rent - if they can't collect from your roommate (which it sounds like they can't) they will collect the full amount from you.

By definition, a sublettor is subleasing from you, the original leaseholder. Therefore, in order to have a sublease, you must still hold the original lease for the term of the sublease. Your landlord doesn't have to let you out of your lease if you are subletting to someone. The sublease is a deal between you and your tenants; that's separate from the deal between you and your landlord. In fact, depending on your agreement, termination of the original lease may terminate the sublease, since you no longer hold any interest in the property you're subletting.

I think what you want to do is to transfer the lease to those individuals. Ask your landlord if you can do that.

Also, it's hard to tell you what this new document is without looking at it.

You might want to do some research on subletting and leasing before you make a final decision.
posted by MeetMegan at 12:23 PM on November 13, 2007

You should probably ignore all the suggestions here except for ejaned8's. You should also contact whatever local tenants-rights organizations that provide free information, and ask them for whatever help they can give you.

Whatever anybody says about your liability for your roommates share of the rent notwithstanding, none of them have a copy of your lease. You might want to look and see if it states that you and your roommate were jointly and severally liable for the rent, before assuming that you are only jointly liable for the rent.

As for the second agreement you're being asked to sign, if the lease requires his permission before you sublet, he can certainly withhold that permission until you do sign it. That's not really forcing you to do anything - you have a choice to do what it takes to sublet or to find a way to pay your rent. So before you go tilting at windmills thinking it's sketchy, consider it from the landlord's perspective. You have a tenant. The tenant wants to form a separate relationship with some sublessees. If the sublessees flake out and the rent is unpaid, then you are out the money. Wouldn't you want to make sure you were receiving your rent no matter what? If the sublessees flake, why not have the tenant pay you and let him go after his sublessees to collect on his own?

Take it a step further - if you default on your rent, can the landlord tell the bank that he's going to be a little short that month on the mortgage payment, but it's ok, because it's not his fault? It sucks, and I'm not saying the guy isn't being a jackass, but his position is also completely understandable. I find it hard to believe, in any event, that your current lease wouldn't hold you responsible for the rent should you sublet and your tenants miss the rent payment. If that's the case, maybe your landlord is being above board by making sure you know about that fact, reinforced by a second agreement.

Or maybe not. Maybe you signed a terrible, incomplete lease that the landlord drafted on his own, and he's trying to bully you into covering the rent regardless. Point being, if you can't swing a lawyer, then think about what you would do if you were in his shoes, read the lease and the second agreement very closely, and get all the information and help you can get from free local resources. Do not rely on the above - people are providing bad (well-intentioned, I'm sure) advice thus far.
posted by averyoldworld at 12:28 PM on November 13, 2007

Damn. Should have previewed. MeetMegan is giving you good advice (but not the "legal advice" sort).
posted by averyoldworld at 12:31 PM on November 13, 2007

Can you and your original roommate get out of your lease? You already asked the landlord, and the landlord said no.

However, the landlord is nice enough to let you sublease the apartment, so long as there's a contract that makes you alone responsible for assuring that the sublet is successful -- not the roommate who succeeded in bailing out on you, not the new tenants. That's the "something new" s/he wants you to sign. And what's unreasonable about that? Who else should be responsible?

Are you getting screwed? Yes, by the roommate who "bailed" on you despite signing, next to your signature, for joint and several responsibility for upholding the original lease.

Why aren't you insisting that s/he sign the sublet agreement along with you?

[Yes, all this is based on pure educated guesswork as to what your lease and sublease contracts actually say -- same as the rest of us. Plus what MeetMegan and averyoldworld said.]
posted by gum at 3:09 PM on November 13, 2007

Your landlord is just plain lazy and stupid. He should let you off the hook and sign a new agreement with the new renters (assuming they pass the credit checks, etc.). There is no way in hell you should agree to give up the apt. and be responsible for these people to the landlord. You have all the responsibility and none of the rights. You are risking your deposits and also additional damages not to mention 5 months worth of rent. Your ex-roommate is equally responsible for the entirety of the rent--you both are, it doesn't matter who is left holding the bag. Your landlord will go after whoever is easiest to go after and you will have to sue your ex-roommate in turn. Anyway-- it is in the best interest of the landlord to just sign a new lease. He has lost nothing in vacancy loss (rent not paid) and no turn over fees and he can't expect better than that. He is a flaming idiot not to see that. I worked in property management for many years and we would never do a deal like what you are getting asked to do--we would sign a new agreement with the new people and the old person breaking the lease would be responsible for any costs (lost rent, cleaning, advertising) before the new tenants took over, but after that, it was a contract with the landlord and the new people.
posted by 45moore45 at 3:15 PM on November 13, 2007

From the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance
(pdf):

If the tenant terminates the rental agreement prior to its expiration date, except for
cause authorized by this chapter, the landlord shall make a good faith effort to re-rent the tenant’s dwelling unit at a fair rental, which shall be the rent charged for
comparable dwelling units in the premises or in the same neighborhood. The landlord shall accept a reasonable sublease proposed by the tenant without an assessment of additional fees or charges.

If the landlord succeeds in re-renting the dwelling unit at a fair rental, the tenant shall be liable for the amount by which the rent due from the date of premature termination to the termination of the initial rental agreement EXCEEDS the fair rental subsequently received by the landlord from the date of premature termination to the termination of the initial rental agreement.

If the landlord makes a good faith effort to re-rent the dwelling unit at a fair rental and is unsuccessful, the tenant shall be liable for the rent due for the period of the rental agreement. The tenant shall also be liable for the reasonable advertising costs incurred by the landlord in seeking to re-rent the dwelling unit.

Is it fair to say that the landlord is required to let me off the hook since I found him a new tenant and they are going to pay same amount in rent? Anyone know what happens to my security deposit?
posted by AceRock at 10:44 AM on November 14, 2007