Q-I live in an apartment building in Chicago. My landlord says he’ll install a carbon monoxide detector in my apartment, but he’s requiring that I pay an additional $50 security deposit just on the detector. Can he do this?
A-Probably not. Effective Oct. 1, Chicago’s municipal code required landlords to have carbon monoxide detectors installed in their buildings. No conditions are attached to this requirement, and landlords are not allowed to attach conditions. The ordinance is absolute and the burden is on the landlord.
If you refused to pay the additional security deposit, your landlord would not be relieved of his responsibility to install the detectors. You could not be held responsible for breaching your lease.
Since you refer to the $50 as additional security deposit, I assume you already have paid a security deposit to the landlord. That deposit would cover the detector as well as any other improvement or installation the landlord made in the apartment after you signed the lease. If you damaged or removed the detector, of course the landlord would have the right to deduct the cost of a replacement detector from your deposit.
The landlord cannot charge extra for his costs to comply with the carbon monoxide ordinance any more than he can charge to meet with the requirements of other city ordinances. By attempting to do so, he appears to be attempting to change the terms of your lease. While he can raise the required security deposit when it is time to renew your lease, he does not have the right to amend the terms of your current lease and change the amount of security deposit you must pay.
Q-My roommate and I aren’t getting along at all and I’ve been looking to move out of our apartment for several months. I have found my dream apartment and am ready to move.
The problem is that I have six months left on the lease for the current apartment. Because my roommate will be remaining there, it seems to me that she will be responsible for the balance of the rent. Should I sign the new lease?
A-You probably shouldn’t sign it unless and until you and your current roommate can reach an agreement whereby she will be fully responsible for the rent on your current apartment for the balance of the lease.
Under the law, if both of you have signed a lease, unless otherwise stated in the lease, you both are responsible for its obligations. This “joint and several” liability allows the landlord to pursue either or both of you for the full rent on the apartment. Thus, if your roommate pays only a portion of the rent, the landlord can pursue either or both of you to collect the rent balance due.
The fact that your roommate will have the full use of the apartment is irrelevant, because you also will have the right to live there, even though you will have elected not to.
You also could face legal action by your roommate. Even if you don’t have a written agreement with her, the fact is that you have an oral agreement to split the obligations for the apartment. If she pays the full rent in order to protect her right to remain in the apartment, she would have the right to pursue you, under your oral agreement, to recover the portion of rent and expenses you had agreed to pay.
If you sign the lease for your “dream apartment,” you must be prepared to continue paying your share of rent and expenses for the old apartment at the same time you pay rent for your new apartment. You would not have the right to void the lease on the new apartment simply because you found you were unable to work out an agreement with your old roommate.
If you want to move into the new apartment, you will need to come to an agreement with your current roommate or find her a replacement roommate. Because you signed the lease, you would remain responsible for its obligations if the replacement roommate did not fulfill them.
If you come to an agreement with your current roommate, be sure to put it in writing so there can be no misunderstanding in case of a lease default.
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Robert A. Boron, a Chicago attorney who specializes in leasing matters, writes about landlord and tenant issues for the Tribune. Questions to him can be addressed to Rental Q&A, Your Place section, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. Sorry, but he cannot make personal replies.
