Need Legal Help? Legal Information Judicial Information Civics Education

• Site Search
  
  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some point throughout their lives most people will be included with the leasing of property, either as landlord or tenant. Laws that affect property owners and occupants can differ considerably from city to city. This handout provides general information about being a tenant in Illinois. You must talk to an attorney or your town or county as they might provide you with higher protection under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between landlord and tenant arises from an agreement, written or oral, by which one party inhabits the realty of another with the owner's consent in return for the payment of certain amount as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies remain in writing and are called a lease. No particular words are required to produce a lease, however usually the terms of a lease consist of a description of the realty, the length of the contract, the amount of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your arrangement in composing to avoid future misunderstandings.
  
  Provisions in a lease contract that protect a property owner from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property brought on by the neglect of the property manager are seen as protesting public law and are therefore unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other limitations and restriction on certain lease terms, so you must seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy arrangement is not in writing, the term of the contract will, normally, be considered a month-to-month occupancy. The duration is normally identified by the frequency of the rental payments. For instance: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the regards to an oral lease may be hard to determine, a celebration may be bound to the regards to an oral contract just as much as a composed one.
  
  Termination of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement
  
  If a lease is not for a specific term, it might be terminated by either celebration with appropriate notice.
  
  - For year-to-year tenancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either party may terminate the lease by offering 60 days of composed notice at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
• A week-to-week occupancy might be terminated by either party by giving 7 days of written notice to the other celebration.
• Farm leases usually run for one year. Customarily, they begin and end in March of each year. Notice to end need to be provided at least 4 months before the end of the term.
• In all other lease contracts for a period of less than one year, a party must give one month of written notification. Any notification provided should call for termination on the last day of that rental duration.
• The lease might likewise have stated requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In certain municipalities and counties, property managers are needed to give more than the above specified notice duration for termination. You ought to seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  If the lease does state a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notification is required. Be aware that your lease might likewise require notice of termination in a specific type or a higher notification duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords should keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, you may be needed to provide more than the notice duration stated in the lease for termination and in composing. You should speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month occupancy usually just requires one month of notice by occupant and a proprietor is required to serve a composed notification of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service on Demand area below). In certain towns and counties, property owners are required to give more than 30 days of notice, so you must talk to speak with an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases
  
  Generally, a lease may be renewed at any time by oral or written arrangement of the parties. If a lease term ends and the property manager accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately becomes month-to-month based upon the very same terms set forth in the lease.
  
  The lease might require a specific notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You need to evaluate your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and tenants ought to note that no matter what the lease needs or specifies, property managers may also have limitations on how early they can need renewal of a lease by an occupant and are required to put such in composing. You must talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Month-to-month tenancies immediately restore from month to month till ended by either property owner or renter.
  
  Unless there is a composed lease, a property owner can raise the rent by any amount by offering the tenant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week occupancy, thirty days of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In particular towns and counties, proprietors are required to give more than 7 or 30 days of notification of a rental increase, so you ought to talk to consult with an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a proprietor does not have a right to self-help and should submit an eviction to get rid of a renter or resident from the premises.
  iteslj.org
  Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the proprietor should serve a five-day notification upon the overdue tenant unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the landlord might commence expulsion procedures against the renter. If, nevertheless, the tenant pays the full amount of lease required in the five-day notice within those 5 days, the proprietor may not proceed with an eviction. The property owner is not needed, however, to accept lease that is less than the precise amount due. If the landlord accepts a tender of a lower amount of lease, it may impact the rights to continue under the notification.
  iteslj.org
  10-Day Notice. If a property manager wishes to terminate a lease due to the fact that of an offense of the lease contract by the tenant, other than for non-payment of rent, he or she need to serve 10 days of composed notification upon the renter before expulsion proceedings can start, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of lease after such notice is a waiver by the property manager of the right to end the lease unless the breach suffered is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If a tenant remains beyond the lease expiration date, normally, a property owner may file an eviction without needing to very first serve a notice on the tenant. However, the regards to the lease or in specific municipalities or counties, a landlord is required to provide a notification of non-renewal to the tenant, so you ought to talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Service on Demand Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notices might be served upon renter by delivering a written or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the party's house, or sending a copy of the notification to the celebration by accredited or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one is in the actual possession of the premises, then posting notice on the facilities suffices.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, written leases prohibit the occupant from subletting the premises without the written consent of the proprietor. Such permission can not be unreasonably withheld, however the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then an occupant might sublease or designate their lease to another. In such cases, however, the occupant will remain accountable to the landlord unless the proprietor launches the original occupant. A breach of the sublease will not alter the initial relationship between the property owner and renter.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the property owner has breached the lease by stopping working to satisfy their responsibilities under the lease, certain treatments occur in favor of the renter:
  
  - The tenant may take legal action against the property manager for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
• If a proprietor stops working to keep a leased house in a habitable condition, the occupant might be able to abandon the facilities and end the lease under the theory of "positive expulsion."
• The failure of a landlord to keep a leased home in a habitable condition or comply significantly with regional housing codes may be a breach of the proprietor's "indicated guarantee of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral promises), which the tenant might assert as a defense to an eviction based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for reduction in the rental worth of the facilities. However, breach by proprietor does not immediately entitle a tenant to withhold lease or a decrease in the rental value. The responsibility to pay rent continues as long as the occupant stays in the rented facilities and to assert this defense effectively, the occupant will need to show that their damages resulting from property owner's breach of this "implied guarantee" equal or go beyond the rent claimed due.
  
  A landlord's breach and renter's damages may be tough to prove. Because of the restricted and technical nature of these rules, tenants ought to be extremely mindful in withholding lease and should most likely do so only after seeking advice from a lawyer.
  
  Please note that particular towns or counties offer certain responsibilities and requirements that the property manager should perform. If a proprietor fails to adhere to such responsibilities or requirements, the tenant might have additional treatments for such failure. You need to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for particular breaches by renter, a property manager also has the following remedies:
  
  If rent is not paid, the proprietor may: (1) take legal action against for the rent due or to become due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any past rent due. Under certain scenarios in case of non-payment of lease the property owner might hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the occupant till past rent is paid by the tenant.
  
  If a renter fails to vacate the rented facility at the end of the lease term, the tenant might become liable for double lease for the period of holdover if the holdover is considered to be willful. The tenant can also be kicked out.
  
  If the tenant harms the premises, the property owner may demand the repair of such damages.
  
  Please note that certain towns or counties provide for specific commitments and requirements that the occupant must meet. If a renter stops working to adhere to such commitments or requirements, the proprietor may have extra remedies for such failure. You must seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is illegal for a property owner to discriminate in the leasing of a home home, flat, or apartment or condo versus potential occupants who have children under the age of 14. It is likewise illegal for a proprietor to discriminate against a tenant on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, income source, sexual origination, gender identity, or disability.
  
  Security Deposits, Move-in Fee
  
  Down payment. An occupant can be required to deposit with the property owner a sum of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is generally described as a down payment. This cash is considered to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of rent. The down payment does not eliminate the occupant of the task to pay the last month's lease or for damage caused to the properties. It needs to be returned to the occupant upon abandoning the premises if no damage has been done beyond typical wear and tear and the rent is completely paid.
  
  If a property manager stops working to return the down payment promptly, the tenant can take legal action against to recover the portion of the down payment to which the tenant is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and particular scenarios under state law, when a property owner wrongfully withholds an occupant's security deposit the renter may have the ability to recover additional damages and attorneys' fees. You ought to seek advice from with a legal representative.
  
  Generally, a proprietor who gets a down payment might not keep any part of that deposit as compensation for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within 30 days of the date the tenant leaves, a declaration of damage apparently triggered by the renter and the approximated or actual expense of repairing or replacing each item on that declaration. If no such declaration is furnished within thirty days, the property manager should return the security deposit in complete within 45 days of the date the renter left.
  
  If a building contains 25 or more property systems, the property manager must also pay interest on the deposit from the date it was paid, if held more than 67 months. Interest is determined at the rate paid by the biggest bank in Illinois, as figured out by overall properties, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations concerning security deposits are based upon state law. However, some towns or counties might enforce additional obligations. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a proprietor need to comply with when taking security deposits and provide steep penalties when a landlord fails to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a down payment, a property manager may charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no particular restrictions on the quantity of a move-in cost, nevertheless, certain municipalities or counties do offer restrictions. TIP: A move-in charge ought to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be deemed to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and renter matters can become complex. Both property owner and occupant need to speak with a lawyer for help with particular issues. For more details about your rights and obligations as a renter, consisting of specific landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, contact your local bar association, or visit the Illinois Tenants Union at www.tenant.org.
  
  Additional Resources
  
  - Illinois Lawyer Finder: isba.org/public/illinoislawyerfinder
• Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO): illinoislegalaid.org
• Illinois Standardized Court Forms: illinoiscourts.gov/ approved-forms.
• Illinois Court Help: ilcourthelp.gov.
• Illinois Free Legal Answers: il.freelegalanswers.org
  
  Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section (2024 )
  
  This handout is ready and released by the Illinois State as a public service. Every effort has been made to offer accurate info at the time of publication.