Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

I'm asking this for a friend. Subject A (my friend) signed a year-long lease with Subject B (cousin of Subject A) in July of 2011 for an apartment in Illinois. Subject A moved out of the apartment in Febuary of 2012 without getting off of the lease. Subject A left due to the fact that Subject A and Subject B were not getting along and it wasn't working out. Subject B continued to live there and told Subject A that rent was being paid and there was nothing to worry about. Today, Subject A received a collections letter in the mail for approximately $3800. There is no mention of Subject B's name on the letter. Due to outside circumstance, Subject B is currently in jail with the earliest release being in December of 2012. Subject A had discussed the problem with the landlord and inquired if there was any way that just Subject A could be removed from the lease to which the landlord replied with something along the lines of, "No, you would both have to break the lease and move out, not just one of you."

Why is there no mention of Subject B on this collections letter? Why is Subject A seemingly taking all responsibility of this debt that they were unaware of due to the deceit of Subject B? Is there any way to redirect full responsibility of the debt (along with credit damage) to Subject B? Subject A opened the letter at a late hour just today and will not be able to contact the collection agency for any information until morning. Subject A will be visiting the landlord as well as contacting the collection agency for additional information.


Asked on 11/25/12, 10:56 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

Simple. When there are two or more tenants on a lease the probability is that the lease says they have "joint and several" liability and that is the way these things are treated even if the lease says nothing. "Joint and several" means both are liable for the entire obligation AND EACH IS LIABLE FOR THE ENTIRE OBLIGATION!! With B in jail the landlord is hoping A will be able to make the payments. Whether A has any defenses to such demands is something A should be talking to an attorney about.

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Answered on 11/26/12, 4:31 pm


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