Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

I moved into my apartment about six months ago. Two weeks after we moved in we started seeing roaches- week after week, more an more showed up. At this point- I can honestly claim we are infested. We have told our landlord and he claims he hired someone to "bomb" the place. He would tell us to leave the apartment for 2-3 hours and we can come home.... As a former Manger at Home depot - I immediately saw the paste in all the cabinets and the cheap bombs you can buy at home depot. Same day of the "bombing" there were roaches everywhere. He bombedthe place once again about a month later... same scenario...ROACHES EVERYWHERE. My fiancé and I have a almost two year old daughter who has had asthma and we have notoiced her eocughin more and more at night... the doctor confirmed it was due to the roaches. We (my finace and I ) also have had diarrhea because of the roaches touching the food. On top of it all, Our landlord and us- we never signed the lease. We gave a 1000 dollar security deposit with first months rent. Is there any chance we can get our deposit back- with the proof of illness and no lease?


Asked on 8/05/17, 11:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Roaches and other vermin are pretty smart - you 'bomb' in your unit and they just move to the next one, and then back.... So this takes a coordinated effort. If the landlord isn't addressing it properly, or is blaming anyone (like you, for instance) for the infestation, that's a problem. As to whether or not you have a 'lease' if you gave the money after receiving the lease form if I was the landlord I'd say you accepted the place on the basis of the lease so there is one unless the lease itself says it is not effective until both sign off on it or there is other language that may help you - so take the lease, with your information, and talk to an attorney - among other things you may have to give notice of "constructive eviction" and may expose yourself to a claim for rent that would have to defend on the basis of lack of habitability. And depending on other factors you may just have a month-to-month tenancy but this also would need to be addressed and terminated. The lease may also attempt to limit damages (medical costs for the resulting illnesses) and this may be an insurance issue. Again an attorney can help you sort through this, but don't wait because the longer you live there and don't take action, it can 'hurt your case'.

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Answered on 8/10/17, 9:00 am


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