Legal Question in Consumer Law in Illinois

I hired a real estate agent to find and screen a tenant for my apartment. I paid a fee of the first months rent. $1550.00. She found me five tenants, (some related) to rent the apartment, (it was five bedrooms). Apparently she only screened one tenant, because four of them had evictions and one was a former felon. She did not disclose this to me, and I rented to them. Subsequently they did not pay rent, and I am in the process of evicting them. They have destroyed my apartment. The downstairs tenant who was section 8 and had three kids had to move because section 8 found out there was a former felon living upstairs, so I was also out the rent during the time that that unit was vacant. The real estate agent did not disclose this background information. I would not have rented to them if I had known. I have experienced financial loss, legal fees and extreme distress because of her not doing or disclosing the background of these people. Can I sue her and her firm?


Asked on 11/04/13, 2:22 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

You may have a right to sue the agent if material information was withheld and you made the lease without that information and would NOT have made the lease if you had been given the information. If you were given that information and made the lease anyhow then not. The problem will be proving a "negative" - proving you were never given the information. Depending on how much is at stake I would definitely take everything to an attorney in your area, sit down and go over all of the information you have to see if you can put together a case. You can also contact the Illinois Department of Professional Registration, because there is a fund for situations where a client has been damaged by a licensed broker's misdeeds, which can also result in the broker's possibly losing his or her license.

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Answered on 11/05/13, 1:44 pm


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