Tenant's Messiness is getting in the way of Renting out Unit

[Daniel F.]

Hi everyone,

I am having the unfortunate experience of dealing with an extremely messy tenant right now. Due to the conditions of the apartment, I am having difficulty getting it rented for June, a week away!

The clutter is intense in all of the rooms, the bathrooms are dirty, there is garbage in the hallways. This is clear violation of my lease and I have notified my tenant I'd like this to be resolved in a timely fashion. 

I have had no problem renting out the unit out by myself via Craigslist and Zillow in the past, but have even resorted to hire a real estate agent. Nonetheless, the agent is having trouble renting out the apartment as well.

Hypothetically speaking, in Illinois in a situation like this, would a landlord have any rights to the security deposit to remedy the potential vacancy of the apartment til July?

Thank you.

[Joe Bertolino]

Don't show it until the tenant is out and you have it ready to show. Vacancies are part of the game and you should have 10% built into your business model. Your expectation of the tenant to clean and help you rent the unit with no downtime is unrealistic.