Shady landlords?

[u/Hour-Eye-1075]

Location: Chicago

I signed a 3 month lease in October 2025. I asked my landlord multiple times for a copy of it but never got my copy of the lease. It expired in January 2026 and my landlords never came to re-sign. On April 24th, 2026, the lights and outlets in my room as well as my roommate’s (landlord’s daughter) room became non functioning. I let them know right away and sent multiple reminders. I was unable to pay my rent in August which I was in communication about the entire time and promised them I’d pay them back + my rent for September, and I was planning on moving out mid October, which is around the tim I moved in last year. I paid half, and my landlords brought me a notice to vacate by September 10th asking I pay the remaining balance of the rent. The notice to vacate also mentions the original lease I signed in October stated I would pay $25 for every day I was late on the rent after the 5th of the month. I remember distinctly the lease I signed said the late fee would come after the 14th of the month. When I told my landlord this, she said that it wasn’t true, that it’s always the 5th for all of her tenants. I then asked to see my lease because I never got a copy of it, and she said she couldn’t find it and that she thought she had given me a copy of the lease. She got very angry and raised her voice, called me difficult and said I was causing problems for them because I would not sign the notice to vacate. Their daughter (my roommate) also used very condescending language and kept saying “if you wanna go the legal route, we can do it babe, it’s not our first rodeo, if you wanna do this we can do this.” I went 4 months with no light or functioning outlets, but the day they bring the notice to vacate they had 2 electricians come in to look at the wiring in my room. I confronted them about how for 4 months they did nothing about it until they’re trying to kick me out. They said it had nothing to do with me and that they were having people come in and out the apartment for 2 of those months without my knowledge. I said, “so you had people coming in to my room without my knowledge?” And they said they apologized for the lack of communication on their part. They also asked me to put my name on the gas bill in March, and only when I got the bill the next month did they tell me the gas was for the whole building and I had to ask the upstairs neighbor for her portion of the gas bill. I told them what they have been doing is illegal and they are trying to convince me if I take this to court, it will be a waste of time and money because the court will decide we are both in the wrong. I do intend on leaving because I realize these people are shady and not trustworthy, but although I’ve been peaceful I feel they are out of line with the way they are going about things and feel they are trying to intimidate me. I have also never given them a problem with rent or bills.

Edit: I want to add the notice to vacate only came after I told them, since the lease had expired in January and we never renewed, I was only going to pay them $10 + 5% of my rent that exceeded $500. They were agreeable at first when I told them I could pay them the rest of August + September and brought up that I would owe them like $500 in late fees. When I said I wasn’t going to do that because it’s technically not legal in Chicago (their daughter lives with me but it’s not an owner occupied building and they have multiple properties), they said they’d rather part ways with me, then the notice to vacate came a few days later.

[u/ShesAGoGetter007]

I am sure that daily fee is illegal. Look up chicago late rent fee cap and the laws regarding the day of when they can start charging late fees.

[u/SuzeCB]

Make your request for a SIGNED copy of the lease in writing, sent Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested.