Advise on troublesome tenant please.

[Jay P.]

Hello all, 

State of IL 

I have a tenant who moved in on July 2015 since we could not sell the house we gave him a 2 year lease. 

He stated he wanted a contract sale and we declined since we do not want to deal with that headache. We also told him we would be listing the home again as we get closer to the end of the lease. 

The home has an indoor pool which we stated in the lease agreement is not to be used in the Winter for various reasons. 

Turns out he used it and it caused a lot of mold in the pool room and its bathroom. We suspect he is not using the ventilation either but this cannot be proven. We ended up spencing a few thousand to get mold remediation. 

He also changed the hardwood flooring in my house without permission and painted various rooms. 

Now in Jan 2017 we told him we intend on listing it for sale. He says we want to buy it but cannot afford it. 

Now in Feb 2017 - he paid just over half of the rent and says he will not be paying the full amount  unless we agree to extend the lease until Next year March 2018. (He usually pays via direct deposit)  - isnt this almost blackmail??

He also threatened to sue us over the mold which we got cleaned as soon as we found out. 

But the strange thing is - this guy wont move out - even now he is claiming the mold is airbourne - which we do not believe. 

The current lease expires in July 2017 but I want him gone sooner. I do not think he will pay the rent anymore (in full at least). 

He is calling us dishonorable since we told him we would sell the house to him and he basically thinks the rent is a downpayment. He doesn't understand that rent is not a downpayment and we did not agree to any sales regardless. To us renting is renting - the end. He cannot afford it but wants more time to be able to afford it. 

There are other issues with him - such as he cannot pay his water bill in full or sewer bill (not sure about other utilities) and we are being threatened with liens on the property. 

Also he has broken several local by laws and has been fined (hasn't paid the fines though) for having trailers on the property when they are not allowed. 

Can we evict this guy or get him gone somehow considering he is breaking the lease agreement by not paying the full amount and then on top of this the mold concerns in the pool room. 

Thank you