When Jen’s girlfriend graduated college, the couple wasn’t sure how long they wanted to stay in Chicago or what their next step would be. Rather than sign a one-year lease, they decided to sublet, which started a roller coaster of highs, lows, and lots of moving.
Q: What was your first sublet like?
Jen: After moving out of a one-year lease in June 2005, Ana and I subletted a one-bedroom apartment in Regents Park, which was a weird and ultra-luxurious situation. Regents Park is a high-rise with lots of amenities, and we had a lake and city view from the 33rd floor. It was very different from the standard Hyde Park apartment we’d had before that. In October, the sublet ended, and we moved into another one-bedroom in a smaller, older building a few blocks away but only stayed for the month of November.
Q: Was it a one-month sublet?
Jen: No. It was a [four-month] sublet and a pretty nice one, new kitchen and bath, city view also, but a truly terrible situation. The renter had moved out of town and the management company was structured in such a way that the on-site managers were not communicating with either the actual tenant or the downtown management company. The original tenant was never notified we were paying rent and continued to pay. We were told they would notify her but they never did. The on-site managers didn’t tell their management company that we were there, possibly to collect the double rent payment. Of course, the tenant called to complain about getting an electric bill and that’s when the whole thing sort of blew up. In the middle of the night someone from upper management responded to her emergency call and came into our apartment and basically accused us of squatting. After that, we were out of there. It wasn’t something that we needed to stick around and try to figure things out for them.
Q: Did you move to another sublet after that or sign a lease for an apartment?
Jen: We signed a short-term lease from December to August. We called the K&G management company directly. After living in Hyde Park for a while, you just know these things. They drove us around to look at a bunch of different places that were available and we picked one that same day. We picked August since that’s usually a good turnover date. K&G was really flexbile and great about it after hearing our sob story.