Signing a one-year rental lease
In the normal run of things, it is people who are over-excited about an activity they are about to engage in or a relationship they are about to enter into, who do not soberly reflect on what they are about to get involved in; they are the people who do not look before they leap.
Georgina Wood CJ. Continental Plastics Engineering Co Ltd. v. IMC Industries-Technik GMBH [2009] SCGLR 308.
The quote from Georgina Wood CJ, 12th Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, above was exactly my disposition in March 2023 when I signed a one-year rental lease for a room in an apartment in the United States (U.S.) as an international student from Ghana, West Africa. At the time I signed the lease, I was in Ghana and had not seen the apartment. The apartment was recommended to me by a friend who had stayed at the apartment building about 3 years ago.
Meeting an uninhabitable condition
I came to the U.S. in July 2023 to settle into campus before the fall semester begin. Upon arrival on campus, I was shown the apartment building and the room I did not look at before I leaped. I had only seen beautiful pictures of the building and rooms on their website. When I was shown the building and my room, I was terribly disappointed and very unhappy with the conditions at the place. The hygienic conditions in the building and my room were not to my satisfaction and I raised this immediately.
Three days after being given the room and after several verbal complains, I sent an email to the manager of the building, copied the official email of the company that owns the property, to formally communicate my concerns and requested for an immediate change of apartment. I raised the issue of the potential impact on my health. I was moved to a different apartment in the same building the following day. The new apartment’s condition was no better than the one I was in before.
The decision to break the lease
At this point it dawned on me that I had to break my residential lease and move to a property with better conditions. A lot of people in the U.S. would tell you that it is almost impossible to break a residential lease and here I was with a residential lease with no termination clause.
As a lawyer with about 5 years working experience, I began a little research into U.S. tenancy laws and to find a way to break my lease. I found among other things that, in the state of Illinois, there is an implied warranty of habitability in respect of all residential lease agreements whether oral or written. Jack Spring, Inc. v. Little (1972) 50 Ill 2d 351, 280 NE2d 208. A tenant who does not find a residential property habitable must notify the landlord in writing. The landlord after being notified has 14 days to make the repairs and apartment habitable under the Residential Tenants’ Right to Repair Act. 765 ILCS 742/5 (2022).
Establishing grounds to break my residential lease
I took pictures of the uninhabitable conditions in my room and apartment and attached them in an email to the manager of the building, copied to the official email of the company that owns the property. The building in my view was suffering from serious failure to carry out routine maintenance. The uninhabitable conditions I saw in my judgement would require considerable renovations to fix. In my email to them, I indicated that I do not find the building and apartment acceptable and would like to commence processes to find an alternative property.
The manager responded to my email the following day and indicated that the owner of the property has agreed to terminate my lease. They wanted me to move out at the end of the month, which was a few days away. I requested more time to look for a new place, and they responded by indicating I could only take a full-month tenancy extension. I took that option and looked for a new apartment to move into.
Learn about best practices for taking a residential lease
Could all of this have been avoided? You can say Yes, or No. One can never be certain but looking before you leap could save you a lot of trouble, discomfort and money.
You can learn more about renting a property in the U.S.:
Disclaimer: This article does not consitute legal advice. Please seek legal counsel for any decisions related to your individual situation. Student legal services may be able to assist you or answer questions specific to your individual situation:
