Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

I've lived in my apt for 3 years up until recently. There was never a lease and the only utilities are in her name. The apt was trashed by the previous tenants so my landlord said if I cleaned it up myself then I wouldn't have to pay a deposit so I cleaned the garbage and all the other stuff myself. Last year I was thinking of moving into a duplex and asked my landlord if I did move would it be okay to keep the keys a little longer without having to pay extra rent so I could clean and fix up the apt for her so she wouldn't have to. She said of course but I ended up not moving. 3 months ago I moved back into my mother's house. I still have the keys to the apt because I am once again trying to clean and fix the apt. She knows I'm no longer living in the apt as we discussed it months ago. However I believe she is denying that the conversation ever took place. She is now trying to say I owe her 3 months rent and saying if I do not pay she will take me to court. Through out the time I lived there they never came up to fix anything and during the winter I lived off a little plug in heater since the electric base board heater for the apt did not work correctly. She has been texting rude messages and threats to me and today she even showed up at my job and waited for me for awhile while I was trying to take care of my customers. She finally gave up and left my store only to wait next to my car for 10-15 minutes. Is that harassment? Can she legally take me to court over this? And is there anything I can do to protect myself?


Asked on 8/27/11, 9:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

What's your goal? Stay, or move. If you want to stay and talking to her is impossible, you might want to have an attorney intercede and suggest that your lease and related agreements be put in writing so both you and your landlord know what the "deal" is. At least that way the attorney can explain to her what you believe the deal is, in writing, and could include an offer of payment of what you think is due, so that if she refuses and then later sues you, at least you have a record of what you believe you were entitled to. If you just want to move, or if she refuses to respond, it would still probably be a good idea for the letter to go out and to give the landlord a specific period of time to respond, so that if she does refuse and sues you later you can show you made efforts to fix the situation and it could help a court see that it was she who was in breach.

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Answered on 9/09/11, 8:54 am


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