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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some point during their lives many people will be involved with the leasing of real estate, either as landlord or occupant. Laws that affect property owners and renters can vary considerably from city to city. This pamphlet supplies general details about being a renter in Illinois. You need to seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county as they might provide you with higher security under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between landlord and renter develops from a contract, composed or oral, by which one celebration occupies the property of another with the owner's consent in return for the payment of specific amount as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies are in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are needed to produce a lease, but generally the terms of a lease include a description of the realty, the length of the arrangement, the amount of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your contract in writing to prevent future misconceptions.
  
  Provisions in a lease agreement that safeguard a landlord from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property triggered by the negligence of the proprietor are seen as being versus public policy and are therefore unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other limitations and restriction on certain lease terms, so you need to seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If an occupancy agreement is not in writing, the term of the agreement will, normally, be thought about a month-to-month tenancy. The period is generally 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 difficult to determine, a celebration may be bound to the terms of an oral arrangement 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 ended by either party with proper notice.
  
  - For year-to-year occupancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either celebration might terminate the lease by giving 60 days of composed notice at any time within the four months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
• A week-to-week occupancy may be terminated by either party by giving 7 days of written notice to the other celebration.
• Farm leases typically run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end must be provided a minimum of four months before the end of the term.
• In all other lease arrangements for a period of less than one year, a celebration must offer 30 days of composed notice. Any notification provided need to call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
• The lease might likewise have actually mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In certain towns and counties, property owners are needed to offer more than the above specified notice duration for termination. You ought to seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  If the lease does specify a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notification is necessary. Be aware that your lease may likewise need notice of termination in a specific type or a greater notice period than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords ought to note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, you may be needed to offer more than the notice period specified in the lease for termination and in writing. You need to talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month tenancy typically just requires 1 month of notification by occupant and a property owner is needed to serve a written notice of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service as needed section listed below). In certain municipalities and counties, property managers are needed to offer more than 30 days of notice, so you must seek advice from talk to a lawyer 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 contract of the celebrations. If a lease term ends and the property manager accepts rent following the expiration of the term, the lease term automatically ends up being month-to-month based on the very same terms stated in the lease.
  
  The lease might require a specific notice and timeframe for restoring the lease. You need to examine your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and renters need to note that no matter what the lease needs or states, proprietors might likewise have constraints on how early they can require renewal of a lease by an occupant and are required to put such in writing. You must talk to an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies instantly renew from month to month up until terminated by either property owner or occupant.
  
  Unless there is a composed lease, a property manager can raise the lease by any amount by providing the renter notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week occupancy, one month of notification for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In certain municipalities and counties, property owners are needed to provide more than seven or 1 month of notification of a rental increase, so you need to talk to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a property owner does not have a right to self-help and need to file an eviction to get rid of a tenant or occupant from the properties.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most typical breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the property manager should serve a five-day notice upon the delinquent occupant unless the lease needs more than five days of notice. Five days after such notice is served, the proprietor may begin eviction proceedings versus the renter. If, nevertheless, the renter pays the total of rent demanded in the five-day notice within those 5 days, the property owner might not continue with an expulsion. The property owner is not needed, however, to accept rent that is less than the precise amount due. If the property manager accepts a tender of a lesser quantity of lease, it might affect the rights to continue under the notice.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a property owner wishes to end a lease due to the fact that of a violation of the lease arrangement by the renter, besides for non-payment of lease, he or she need to serve 10 days of written notification upon the renter before expulsion procedures can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of lease after such notice is a waiver by the property owner of the right to end the lease unless the breach suffered is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If a renter remains beyond the lease expiration date, usually, a landlord might submit an expulsion without having to very first serve a notice on the renter. However, the terms of the lease or in certain municipalities or counties, a landlord is required to provide a notification of non-renewal to the renter, so you must talk to an attorney 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 composed or printed copy to the tenant, leaving the exact same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the celebration's residence, or sending a copy of the notice to the party by accredited or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody remains in the actual ownership of the properties, then publishing notice on the properties is adequate.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, written leases prohibit the tenant from subletting the facilities without the written approval of the property manager. Such consent can not be unreasonably withheld, but the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then an occupant might sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, however, the occupant will stay accountable to the property manager unless the landlord releases the original tenant. A breach of the sublease will not change the preliminary relationship between the property manager and renter.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the property manager has actually breached the lease by failing to satisfy their duties under the lease, specific treatments arise in favor of the occupant:
  
  - The renter may take legal action against the property manager for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
• If a property manager stops working to maintain a rented residence in a habitable condition, the renter may have the ability to leave the premises and end the lease under the theory of "useful eviction."
• The failure of a proprietor to keep a rented residence in a habitable condition or comply substantially with local housing codes might be a breach of the property owner's "implied guarantee of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral pledges), 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 property manager does not immediately entitle a tenant to withhold rent or a decrease in the rental value. The responsibility to pay lease continues as long as the renter stays in the rented properties and to assert this defense successfully, the tenant will need to reveal that their damages resulting from proprietor's breach of this "implied guarantee" equal or surpass the rent claimed due.
  
  A property manager's breach and tenant's damages may be hard to prove. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these guidelines, renters need to be extremely cautious in keeping lease and needs to most likely do so only after speaking with an attorney.
  
  Please note that particular towns or counties offer certain commitments and requirements that the proprietor need to carry out. If a property manager fails to comply with such commitments or requirements, the tenant may have extra solutions for such failure. You should speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for specific breaches by tenant, a property manager also has the following remedies:
  
  If rent is not paid, the property manager might: (1) demand the lease due or to become due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any previous rent due. Under certain situations in case of non-payment of lease the property manager might hold the furnishings and personal residential or commercial property of the occupant up until past rent is paid by the occupant.
  
  If an occupant stops working to leave the leased property at the end of the lease term, the tenant may become accountable for double rent for the duration of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The occupant can also be forced out.
  
  If the occupant damages the facilities, the property manager may demand the repair work of such damages.
  
  Please note that specific municipalities or counties attend to specific responsibilities and requirements that the occupant must fulfill. If an occupant stops working to adhere to such responsibilities or requirements, the property manager might have additional solutions for such failure. You need to consult with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is unlawful for a property manager to discriminate in the leasing of a home home, flat, or apartment or condo against prospective renters who have children under the age of 14. It is also illegal for a property manager to victimize a renter on the basis of race, faith, sex, national origin, source of income, sexual origination, gender identity, or special needs.
  
  Security Deposits, Move-in Fee
  
  Security Deposit. A tenant can be required to deposit with the property owner an amount of money prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is generally referred to as a down payment. This money is considered to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of rent. The down payment does not eliminate the renter of the task to pay the last month's rent or for damage triggered to the premises. It must be gone back to the renter upon leaving the facilities if no damage has been done beyond typical wear and tear and the rent is fully paid.
  
  If a property owner fails to return the security deposit immediately, the occupant can sue to recuperate the part of the security deposit to which the renter is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and particular situations under state law, when a property manager wrongfully keeps a renter's security deposit the occupant may have the ability to recover additional damages and attorneys' charges. You must seek advice from a legal representative.
  
  Generally, a proprietor who gets a down payment may not any part of that deposit as settlement for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the occupant, within one month of the date the occupant leaves, a statement of damage presumably brought on by the tenant and the approximated or actual expense of fixing or changing each product on that declaration. If no such statement is provided within 30 days, the landlord needs to return the security deposit in full within 45 days of the date the renter left.
  
  If a structure includes 25 or more residential systems, the property owner must likewise pay interest on the deposit from the date it was paid, if held more than 67 months. Interest is computed at the rate paid by the biggest bank in Illinois, as figured out by total properties, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations concerning security deposits are based on state law. However, some towns or counties might enforce extra responsibilities. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a landlord need to abide by when taking down payment and provide steep charges when a proprietor stops working to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a security deposit, a property owner may charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no particular limitations on the amount of a move-in cost, however, certain municipalities or counties do supply constraints. TIP: A move-in charge must be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be deemed to be a down payment.
  
  Landlord and occupant matters can end up being complex. Both landlord and renter ought to consult an attorney for support with specific problems. For more details about your rights and responsibilities as an occupant, 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 published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has been made to offer accurate details at the time of publication.