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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    1

    Default Verbal Sublease - Changing Rent

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Illinois.

    I was planning on subleasing a furnished apartment in Chicago for three months this summer. There was an ad on Craigslist advertising the apartment for $1100 negotiable, with utilities and cable and internet ($170 monthly) to be paid for by the sublessor if leased for the whole 3 month period. I saw the apartment, and liked it. I decided I would offer $1000 a month. The sublessor said that if I paid only $1000 a month, he would not cover the expenses for $130 a month, and that if I paid his asking rent of $1100, he would cover the expenses. Obviously I chose to pay the $1100. This was all discussed over the phone, and was not put into writing. Soon thereafter I started the process with the management office to become approved to sublease. I had to submit a $50 fee for a credit check. In addition, the sublessor requested that i send him a $700 check for a deposit, which is the same amount he had to pay with the building, and once he received it he would tell all the other people inquiring that the apartment was taken. I told him, via email, that i would only send the $700 if he agreed to return it within 7 days of the sublease expiring, assuming all of his furniture was in good condition. He agreed with the stipulation that if I back out of the deal at this point, he gets to keep the $700 since he turn away so many other people. Confident that i would not walk away from the deal, i agreed. This all transpired via email. After a few days, I emailed the sublessor to keep him updated on the process with management. He emailed me back that it recently came to his attention that furnished apartments sublease for higher than asking rent in the building (which for his unit is $1140 base rent). He therefore now wants me to pay his whole base rent of $1140 PLUS all of the utilities. This is an additional $170 a month! I could not afford that increase, and I called him as soon as I read the email and left him a rather confused, and perhaps slightly angry voicemail. Again I got an email from him saying that he would call me the next day to discuss the details. That was 3 days ago. I have tried to call him phone multiple times with no answer. I am obviously scared that he may have stolen my deposit. Also to note, he is a student at a well known and prestigious university here in Chicago, and he is foreign and most likely here on a student visa. What are my rights here?!?!? Let's say i do finally get ahold of him. Does he have any right to keep my deposit, given my agreement that if i back out he gets to keep it? Doesn't his acceptance of my deposit (the check cleared two weeks ago) mean he accepted the terms as they were verbally agreed to? Does he have any right to change the terms of the agreement? I am looking for an archived version of his ad in craigslist showing the $1100 asking rent, in hopes that may strengthen a case, if need be. Please advise!

    Kristin

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: Verbal Sublease - Changing Rent

    Also to note, he is a student at a well known and prestigious university here in Chicago, and he is foreign and most likely here on a student visa.
    Irrelevant, except insofar as that may be why you can't reach him right now - he may have gone home to visit.


    Doesn't his acceptance of my deposit (the check cleared two weeks ago) mean he accepted the terms as they were verbally agreed to?
    Yes.

    Does he have any right to change the terms of the agreement?
    No.

    Get a lawyer.

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