Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

If the unit is in Chicago and subject to the RLTO, none. However, if you are actually breaking the lease and the landlord is charging you a fee for that, the answer might be different. There is a distinction between subleasing and early termination. Here is the section of the RLTO related to subleases:

5-12-120 Subleases.

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.

(Prior code � 193.1-12; Added Coun. J. 9-8-86, p. 33771; Amend Coun. J. 11-6-91, p. 7196)