Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

Re: Brother

Like the previous attorney, I would say it depends on what the mistakes in the lease are. Legally, if your brother doesn't pay for the entire term of the lease, he is in breach of it.

Realistically though, if the landlord sues to enforce the lease, he's only likely to get a judgment for only a couple months' worth of rent. This is because the landlord (and any party to a contract) has to "mitigate damages". In other words, for example, if you're buying tomatoes and some of them are rotten, you can't throw away all of them and say the seller is responsible for all of them. You need to do what you can to minimize your loss.

In the landlord/tenant context, that means the landlord has to try to rent out the apartment; not let it sit empty for a year and then say the tenant has to pay the entire year. In theory, s/he should be able to rent it out within a couple of months and that's probably all your brother will be responsible for.

What your brother should do is approach the landlord (by regular and certified letter if possible) and offer to pay a couple of months' rent. If the landlord refuses and then sues your brother, your bro will look awfully good in court and maybe the landlord will end up with nothing (or maybe the two months' rent anyway). Good luck!

Re: Brother

It would depend on what those mistakes are. Your brother may well be obligated to fulfill the terms of the lease. Losing his job does not affect the lease in any way.

Re: Brother

Th lease needs to be reviewed to determine whether it can be enforced. Assuming that it can, there are defenses to any claim that the landlord may have. One, that strikes me immediately, is that the landlord has a duty to mitigate damages, and knowing that your brother intends to break the lease, he needs to try to lease it to someone else. If he fails to do so, your brother will be able to defend the suit in court.

I will also reinforce what one of the other attorneys stated. Your brother may want to offer to pay him two months rent right now if he is let out of the lease. The landlord, may then find himself getting a bonus if he can rent the premises to someone else during those two month. He would be receing double the rent. It is not a bad deal for him,