A tenant agreed to a six-month lease but never signed it. Which of the following is correct?

In Illinois, the law allows for oral agreements to be enforceable for lease terms that are less than one year. Therefore, if a tenant and landlord have reached an agreement on the terms of a lease, like a six-month lease, that agreement can be considered valid even if it wasn't signed in writing.

The rationale for this flexibility is tied to the statute of frauds, which typically requires certain contracts to be in writing to be enforceable. However, for rental agreements or leases under one year, verbal contracts can still hold up in court, given that there may be sufficient evidence of the agreement, such as payment of rent or communications between the parties.

In contrast, lease agreements for a duration of one year or more do need to be in writing to be enforceable due to the statute of frauds. Options discussing the need for all contracts to be in writing, or stating that all agreements must be at least one year, do not accurately reflect the laws governing leasing agreements in Illinois. Additionally, stating that contracts for up to 12 months can be verbal aligns with the principle that only those over a year must be formalized in writing, making it a correct perspective under the circumstances.