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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

Eventually throughout their lives the majority of people will be involved with the rental of realty, either as property manager or renter. Laws that impact property managers and occupants can vary significantly from city to city. This handout provides general details about being a tenant in Illinois. You must talk to an attorney or your municipality or county as they may supply you with greater security under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship in between property owner and renter occurs from a contract, composed or oral, by which one party occupies the realty of another with the owner's permission in return for the payment of certain quantity as lease.

Written Agreement: Most occupancies are in writing and are called a lease. No specific words are necessary to develop a lease, however usually the terms of a lease consist of a description of the realty, the length of the agreement, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your agreement in composing to avoid future misunderstandings.

Provisions in a lease arrangement that secure a landlord from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property triggered by the neglect of the proprietor are considered as protesting public law and are therefore unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other limitations and restriction on specific lease terms, so you should seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy contract is not in writing, the term of the arrangement will, generally, be considered a month-to-month tenancy. The period is usually identified by the frequency of the rental payments. For example: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the regards to an oral lease might be difficult to identify, a party might be bound to the regards to an oral contract simply as much as a composed one.

Termination of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement

If a lease is not for a particular term, it might be terminated by either celebration with correct notification.

- For year-to-year occupancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either celebration may terminate the lease by providing 60 days of written notice at any time within the four months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
- A week-to-week tenancy may be terminated by either party by providing 7 days of written notice to the other celebration.
- Farm leases generally run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end must be given at least four months before completion of the term.
- In all other lease arrangements for a duration of less than one year, a party needs to provide one month of written notice. Any notification given need to require termination on the last day of that rental duration.
- The lease might likewise have specified requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
- In specific towns and counties, property managers are required to offer more than the above stated notice duration for termination. You need to seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.

If the lease does state a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notification is needed. Know that your lease may also require notice of termination in a specific type or a higher notice duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, you may be required to give more than the notice duration mentioned in the lease for termination and in composing. You ought to talk to an attorney or your town or county.

Termination of a month-to-month tenancy generally only needs one month of notice by occupant and a proprietor is required to serve a written notification of termination of occupancy on the renter (see Service as needed area listed below). In particular municipalities and counties, property managers are required to give more than 30 days of notification, so you ought to consult with seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.

Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases

Generally, a lease might be restored at any time by oral or written contract of the celebrations. If a lease term expires and the proprietor accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately becomes month-to-month based upon the same terms stated in the lease.

The lease may need a specific notification and timeframe for renewing the lease. You must review your lease to confirm such requirements. Landlords and occupants must keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, landlords might likewise have limitations on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a tenant and are needed to put such in writing. You need to consult with a lawyer or your town or county.

Month-to-month tenancies automatically restore from month to month till ended by either proprietor or tenant.

Unless there is a written lease, a landlord can raise the rent by any quantity by providing the tenant notification: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week occupancy, 1 month of notice for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In specific towns and counties, landlords are needed to provide more than seven or thirty days of notification of a rental increase, so you should consult with talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a landlord does not have a right to self-help and should submit an expulsion to get rid of a tenant or occupant from the facilities.

Five-Day Notice. The most typical breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the proprietor should serve a five-day notification upon the delinquent occupant unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notice. Five days after such notice is served, the property manager may begin eviction procedures versus the renter. If, nevertheless, the renter pays the complete quantity of lease required in the five-day notification within those five days, the proprietor may not continue with an eviction. The proprietor is not needed, nevertheless, to accept lease that is less than the specific amount due. If the property manager accepts a tender of a lesser amount of rent, it may impact the rights to continue under the notification.

10-Day Notice. If a proprietor wishes to end a lease due to the fact that of an infraction of the lease agreement by the renter, aside from for non-payment of rent, he or she should serve 10 days of composed notice upon the occupant before expulsion proceedings can begin, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of rent after such notification is a waiver by the landlord of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach experienced is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a tenant stays beyond the lease expiration date, typically, a property owner might submit an eviction without having to first serve a notification on the occupant. However, the regards to the lease or in certain municipalities or counties, a proprietor is needed to offer a notification of non-renewal to the renter, so you ought to seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.

Service as needed Notice

The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notifications may be served upon tenant by providing a written or printed copy to the tenant, leaving the same with some individual above the age of 13 years who lives at the celebration's residence, or sending a copy of the notification to the party by licensed or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody is in the actual belongings of the facilities, then posting notification on the premises is sufficient.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, composed leases restrict the renter from subletting the properties without the composed consent of the property manager. Such approval can not be unreasonably withheld, however the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a renter might sublease or designate their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the renter will stay responsible to the property manager unless the property manager launches the original renter. A breach of the sublease will not change the initial relationship between the property manager and occupant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the landlord has breached the lease by failing to meet their tasks under the lease, specific remedies develop in favor of the occupant:

- The occupant may sue the proprietor for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
- If a proprietor stops working to preserve a rented home in a livable condition, the tenant may have the ability to abandon the facilities and terminate the lease under the theory of "constructive expulsion."
- The failure of a landlord to preserve a rented residence in a habitable condition or comply significantly with regional housing codes might be a breach of the property owner's "suggested warranty of habitability" (independent of any written lease arrangements or oral pledges), which the renter might assert as a defense to an expulsion based upon the non-payment of lease or a claim for reduction in the rental value of the properties. However, breach by landlord does not automatically entitle an occupant to keep lease or a decrease in the rental worth. The responsibility to pay rent continues as long as the occupant remains in the leased premises and to assert this defense successfully, the occupant will need to reveal that their damages arising from proprietor's breach of this "implied service warranty" equal or exceed the lease claimed due.

A property owner's breach and renter's damages may be tough to show. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these rules, tenants ought to be exceptionally careful in withholding lease and should most likely do so only after seeking advice from a lawyer.

Please note that specific towns or counties supply for specific responsibilities and requirements that the property manager must perform. If a property manager stops working to comply with such commitments or requirements, the occupant may have additional treatments for such failure. You must speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

In addition to termination for certain breaches by occupant, a landlord also has the following treatments:

If rent is not paid, the property owner may: (1) take legal action against for the rent due or to end up being due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and collect any previous rent due. Under certain circumstances in case of non-payment of lease the property owner may hold the furnishings and personal residential or commercial property of the tenant up until past lease is paid by the occupant.

If an occupant stops working to abandon the rented facility at the end of the lease term, the tenant might become accountable for double rent for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The tenant can likewise be forced out.

If the occupant harms the properties, the landlord might sue for the repair of such damages.

Please note that certain towns or counties offer for certain obligations and requirements that the occupant should satisfy. If a renter stops working to abide by such obligations or requirements, the proprietor might have additional remedies for such failure. You should seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.

Discrimination

Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is illegal for a property manager to discriminate in the leasing of a home home, flat, or house against prospective tenants who have kids under the age of 14. It is also unlawful for a property owner to discriminate versus a tenant on the basis of race, religion, sex, nationwide origin, income, sexual origination, gender identity, or special needs.

Security Deposits, Move-in Fee

Down payment. A renter can be required to deposit with the proprietor a sum of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is generally referred to as a security deposit. This cash is considered to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of lease. The security deposit does not alleviate the occupant of the duty to pay the last month's lease or for damage triggered to the facilities. It should be gone back to the occupant upon vacating the properties if no damage has been done beyond regular wear and tear and the rent is totally paid.

If a proprietor fails to return the down payment promptly, the occupant can take legal action against to recuperate the part of the security deposit to which the occupant is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and specific scenarios under state law, when a property owner wrongfully keeps a tenant's security deposit the occupant might have the ability to recuperate extra damages and attorneys' charges. You should seek advice from a lawyer.

Generally, a property manager who gets a security deposit might not withhold any part of that deposit as compensation for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the occupant, within 30 days of the date the renter leaves, a declaration of damage presumably triggered by the tenant and the approximated or real expense of repairing or changing each product on that statement. If no such statement is furnished within 1 month, the landlord should return the security deposit in full within 45 days of the date the renter vacated.

If a structure consists of 25 or more residential units, the property owner should also pay interest on the deposit from the date it was paid, if held more than 67 months. Interest is calculated at the rate paid by the largest bank in Illinois, as determined by overall assets, on a passbook security account.

The above statements regarding down payment are based on state law. However, some towns or counties may impose extra commitments. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a property owner should comply with when taking security deposits and supply steep penalties when a property owner stops working to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a security deposit, a proprietor might charge a move-in charge. Generally, there are no specific restrictions on the quantity of a move-in cost, nevertheless, particular municipalities or counties do supply constraints. TIP: A move-in charge should be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be considered to be a security deposit.

Landlord and renter matters can become complex. Both property owner and tenant must seek advice from a lawyer for support with particular issues. For additional information about your rights and duties as a tenant, including specific landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, contact your regional bar association, or check out 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 Bar Association as a public service. Every effort has been made to provide accurate information at the time of publication.