Tenant Never Signed Amendment to Extend Lease

An owner sent the tenant a letter offering to extend its lease for an additional three years. The tenant rejected the offer but said it might be interested in leasing the space for an additional year. The tenant and owner orally agreed to extend the lease for a year. The owner then sent a lease amendment with this agreement to the tenant, but the tenant never signed it. At the end of the original lease term, the tenant moved out. The owner then sued the tenant, arguing that it had failed to honor its agreement to extend the lease for a year.

A federal court in Illinois dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the oral agreement to extend the lease was unenforceable against the tenant. The court said that, to be enforceable, any lease agreement for a year or more must be in writing and “signed by the party against whom it is to be enforced.” Since the tenant had never signed the amendment, the agreement was unenforceable, the court said [Diehl Road LLC v. Arch Chemicals, Inc.].