Landlord is threatening to take us to court. No signed lease?

[jamilah38]

Hi,

We live in Illinois. Basically we took the spot of another person's place; she went to chicago for a few months, and in return, we moved into her room. We've been behind rent for this month though, and today, the landlord gave us an eviction notice.

She states in the notice that "we never had a signed lease." The notice is for June 30th.

She also says "You are a trespasser on this property. Never had a lease agreement with me. Also there seems to be a lot of traffic and I suspect drugs"

We never sold or did drugs.

She says "I suspect I will never get rent. We'll take you to court."

What legal actions do we have? What legal rights? Will she be able to take us to court?

I suspect yes, but what are the charges we could face?

Thank you,
Katie

[marlan43]

You are trespassing on another person's property and you want to know your legal rights?????

Get the heck out of there or the next knock will be the police. As you did not have a lease you might argue that you don't owe any money, but get your fanny out of there or you will be arguing it at your bail hearing.

Your friend, on the other hand, is in a boat load of trouble and the landlord can go after them for a whole host of issues. Right now you are facing criminal charges.

How did you ever expect this to work out positively? Pack up ow, apologize to the landlord, and run for the hills.

[dubh35]

Call the district attorneys office today, tell them what is going on and see if there is a way that you can delay the date until it can be worked out.
If you did not inform the landlord that you were taking over her room, or you didn't pay the rent and its over due ie 90 days she has cause to evict you.
But to blame you for things you have not done(like drugs) is libel and you can sue her.

[boyce]

Athena's correct in that you're essentially 'squatting' on the landlord's property, provided that there wasn't a subletting clause in the lease, which, it doesn't sound like there was.

Kind of interesting that you say you 'never sold or did drugs', but ignore the comment about a lot of traffic to and from the apartment, which speaks for its self.

As far as legal rights, the only rights you'd have, depending on how long you've been occupying the apartment, are the basic rights afforded to someone who's established tenancy. Basically, she can't kick you out without notice or change the locks. She has to go through the eviction process.

If you were to agree to leave voluntarily, it's possible she might let things stand at that, unless there is substantial damage to the unit and the leaseholder's damage deposit isn't sufficient to cover repairs.

If she has to take you through the JP/County/Circuit court to have you evicted, at the very least you're going to be liable for costs and attorneys fees (if any). The unpaid rent would be more difficult as you're not a lessee and as such, don't have a formal contractual obligation in place.

That's not to say that the friend/acquaintance whose apartment you're using would be off the hook or wouldn't turn around and come after you to recoup any penalties for breaching their lease agreement (unauthorized residents can be extremely expensive, btw as some properties can impose a daily penalty) and unpaid rent they had to take care of, but...that's down the road.

Bottom line is you have absolutely no recourse in remaining where you are unless you can convince the landlord to write a lease for you, though at this point that seems to be incredibly unlikely.