Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

Without seeing what kind of lease you had, it's really impossible to say. Assuming you had a "typical" standard lease of a home, however, it could be that you took it as-is, where-is, etc. and may have been liable for various repairs. And most of the form leases available limit the tenant's rights to suing the landlord and not withholding rent. Your community may have ordinances protecting you somewhat, however, and if you had an unwritten lease the local housing laws may by default make repairs on the landlord's nickel. So if you have a lease take it to an attorney. If you don't, or even if you do but are not sure how local laws may affect it, you can always try the local building department too. If all else fails, you may be stuck with a small claims case depending on how much you had to spend, and without a lease that talks about attorney fees or court costs, you may only get back court costs even if you do win...... If this was an apartment, or a condo, there may be other possibilities, but you are not specific so the answer could change ..... a lot.

Stephen Messutta

Stephen Messutta

7458 N. Harlem Avenue

Chicago, IL 60631

thank you sorry ill try to be more specific. yes it was a condo ,thhere is also a clause in the lease stating they provide all necccary repairs etc .. when we did cal lthem or tesxt them stating something was wrong (heat) etc.. no response at all basically absintee landlords they breached the lease yet we kept paying rent on time. gave them written notice stating that due to absanteeism of repairs we will be moving on 06/05th .. we cleaned the place uo no repairs verbally stated by them then all of a sudden they have a lawsuit with the owner of the bottom condo stating they had water damage and now the owner downstairs is taking them to court ,,this is the so called reason there withholding it . yet its heresay ..they without a court or judge stating its our fault ,.,using heresay and false accusations.. anything we can do?


Asked on 6/09/11, 2:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

We don't generally have access to the original questions, so your additional information doesn't tie in to the answer previously given. Take your lease to an attorney in your area for a proper review of the entire situation.

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Answered on 6/11/11, 9:58 am


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