Signing a lease a month before moving in (Chicago, Lincoln: sublet, 2015)

[NIUGrad]

Hey all,

I'm in a bit of a bind, was wondering if anyone would be able to help.

Basically, I live in the suburbs now, but my roommate is moving out so we're breaking our lease, we're out at the end of October. I'm looking to move to the city (north side) in a cheaper studio (around $700, looked at places like Edgewater, Ravenswood, Lincoln Square). I've got some places I like that I'm going to look at, but I'm assuming they'll want me to move in immediately.

Any chance I'd be able to just sign a lease and be able to move in at the beginning of November? What I don't want to happen is get some places picked out, but risk the chance they won't be there next month.

I've never lived in Chicago before, so any advice or help would be appreciated.

[Mirinjobra]

How do you break a lease? Last time I tried that I had to pay up for the remainder of the months.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by Mirinjobra

How do you break a lease? Last time I tried that I had to pay up for the remainder of the months.

I think if your unit is covered by the CRLTO (landlord-tenant ordinance) you landlord must accept a suitable sublettor. I managed to sublet an apartment w/o paying any extra and our sublettor didn't miss any payments or destroy the apartment so we were off the hook

[eevee]

Originally Posted by NIUGrad

Hey all,

I'm in a bit of a bind, was wondering if anyone would be able to help.

Basically, I live in the suburbs now, but my roommate is moving out so we're breaking our lease, we're out at the end of October. I'm looking to move to the city (north side) in a cheaper studio (around $700, looked at places like Edgewater, Ravenswood, Lincoln Square). I've got some places I like that I'm going to look at, but I'm assuming they'll want me to move in immediately.

Any chance I'd be able to just sign a lease and be able to move in at the beginning of November? What I don't want to happen is get some places picked out, but risk the chance they won't be there next month.

I've never lived in Chicago before, so any advice or help would be appreciated.

I would assume that it would be fine so long as you paid October's rent.

Signing a lease a month in advance AND not wanting to pay for the in-between month might be trickier since I can see a landlord not wanting to lose any money for October if they can get someone in there asap.

However, I would caution to never assume anything. Maybe a landlord will use the in between time to do some maintenance work or something may happen w/ thecurrent tenant where they aren't out as quickly so they may be okay with the gap.

[NIUGrad]

We just had to pay an extra fee which actually wasn't too bad. Our place offers shorter-term leases, so basically we paid the extra cost of what it would have been to get one of those.

[knitgirl]

It's the end of September, you might be able to find a landlord to split the difference and charge you for 1/2 of October, though probably not til after this weekend.

[Freefall18]

Originally Posted by NIUGrad

I've got some places I like that I'm going to look at, but I'm assuming they'll want me to move in immediately.

Any chance I'd be able to just sign a lease and be able to move in at the beginning of November? What I don't want to happen is get some places picked out, but risk the chance they won't be there next month.

That's not a correct assumption. Most places you can sign a lease up to 2 months prior to moving in. This is because they're currently occupied and won't be vacant until a certain date (usually the first of the month). Just look for an apartment that won't be available until November 1st. They'll be a little more difficult to find since landlords don't like their leases to end after October, but you can definitely find one. Just search on Domu and find one that says date available: 11/01/2015.

[ToriaT]

Its usually the case that the lease is signed a month before the landlord wants to rent it out. Sometimes not. It takes time to get a lease signed, and background checks and money exchanged. Its very common.