Breaking a lease in Illinois

[Tiffany J.]

Hello! Here's a scenario for you. Tenant signed a 12-month lease in Chicago at end of March 2021. 

Tenant needs to move out now on May 22nd because tenant bought a house out of state. The landlord requested that the tenant pay rent for May, June, and July right now and landlord will cancel the lease.

Is this the best course of action for the landlord? What would you do if you were the landlord? What would you do if you were the tenant?

[Mark Ainley]

@Tiffany J. I think anything this particular Landlord can get from this tenant they should get and walk away.  If the tenant bought a house they should have better credit then average and/or care about there credit so there is leverage there to negotiate that exit plan for the Landlord.  For us when it comes up, we want to get enough penalty to cover any vacancy period, turnover costs, lease up costs, and a little extra on top for the aggravation of having to do this all.