Stuck In A Lease That Owners Agreed To Transfer To A New Tenant But Didnt

Hi, would appreciate any advice at all. I began a lease under only my name in may of last year. For nearly the whole year i found that the rental agency that owned the building kept ignoring my maintenance requests. From a leak in my ceiling to mold in the bathroom to water temperature issues.

I decided i wanted to leave the lease due to their inability to communicate and fix anything in the apartment for months at a time. All those issues are still unfixed. They refused to let me out of the lease even though i had justified reason to want to leave, being the (what i considered to be) unlivable conditions. They only agreed to a sublet, so i found a friend that was accepting of the apartment as it was.

He applied to their portal, paid a $60 application fee, got a cosigner to meet the requirements and had them do the same. They were in communication with him for a while about gathering his information and then stopped communicating entirely.

During this whole process we got notifications that the rental agency was trying to sell the building. I guess they found a buyer and completely lost interest in transferring the lease. They stopped replying for months. The new tenant moved-in in November and we got no response so just continued paying the rent as usual and sending emails about transferring the lease- to bo avail . In late January the new tenant decided to move out due to no communication. The new owner took ownership in the end of january as well. i reached out to the new owner and told him the situation.

The new owner is now insisting that i owe february rent since my name is on the lease. He said he is willing to allow me not to pay may rent due to wanting to move in to the apartment in late february. I think that due to the continued state of the apartment, him wanting to move in, and my tireless attempt to transfer the lease previously— that i shouldnt have to pay any portion of the rent since i havent lived there since november and i did my due diligence of finding a sublet which they approved. I told him that i would find a sublet for the month but he refused to allow that due to the mold in the apartment being a liability. I suggested this bc even if i did want to pay it— i wouldnt be able to afford it. I am struggling and would appreciate any advice on what to do.

TLDR: bad landlords didnt transfer the lease to the new tenant i found which they agreed to. New owner says im responsible after the new tenant left unexpectedly.

location: chicago, illinois