Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

Tenant is leasing a single family home in Mclean County, Illinois. All utilities are in tenants name. The utility bills are designed to revert to landlord's name upon disconnect order from the tenants. Current tenant is 2 months behind on rent and has been served 10-day notice. Landlord has recently been notified by water and power company that the tenant has requested a water and power be turned off. Tenant refuses to inform landlord as to if she is moving or not. question is: Can landlord simply allow the utilities to be turned off since tenant initiated the turn off? Does landlord have to keep utilities on after the tenant requests a disconnect? The fear is the tenant is turning off utilities and squatting and forcing landlord to pay for utilities.


Asked on 2/08/15, 10:50 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

What does the lease say? Most say the tenant is supposed to put utilities in the tenant's name during the lease if the tenant is supposed to pay them. If the tenant doesn't or doesn't pay them, that is a breach of the lease. Landlord generally can't interfere with utilities - that is typically considered like an eviction.

Read more
Answered on 7/24/15, 11:18 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Landlord & Tenants questions and answers in Illinois