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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some time during their lives many people will be involved with the rental of property, either as landlord or occupant. Laws that affect proprietors and tenants can vary significantly from city to city. This handout supplies general details about being a renter in Illinois. You need to speak with an attorney or your municipality or county as they might supply you with higher protection under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship in between property manager and renter arises from an agreement, written or oral, by which one party inhabits the real estate of another with the owner’s consent in return for the payment of certain quantity as lease.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies are in writing and are called a lease. No particular words are needed to create a lease, however typically the terms of a lease consist of a description of the realty, the length of the agreement, the quantity of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You should put your agreement in composing to avoid future misconceptions.
  
  Provisions in a lease agreement that safeguard a proprietor from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property triggered by the carelessness of the property manager are viewed as being versus public law and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other limitations and restriction on particular lease terms, so you ought to speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If an occupancy agreement is not in composing, the term of the agreement will, typically, be considered a month-to-month occupancy. The duration is typically figured out by the frequency of the rental payments. For example: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the terms of an oral lease might be hard to identify, a party 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 may be terminated by either celebration with proper notification.
  
  - For year-to-year occupancies, other than a lease of farmland, either celebration might end the lease by providing 60 days of written notification at any time within the 4 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 composed notification to the other celebration.
• Farm leases generally run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate need to be given a minimum of 4 months before completion of the term.
• In all other lease contracts for a period of less than one year, a party must offer thirty days of composed notification. Any notification offered need to call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
• The lease may likewise have mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In particular towns and counties, landlords are required to provide more than the above mentioned notification period for termination. You ought to seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notification is needed. Understand that your lease may likewise require notification of termination in a specific form or a greater notification period than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or states, you may be needed to give more than the notice duration stated in the lease for termination and in writing. You must seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month occupancy normally just requires thirty days of notice by tenant and a property manager is required to serve a composed notification of termination of tenancy on the occupant (see Service on Demand area listed below). In specific towns and counties, property managers are needed to offer more than 1 month of notice, so you must consult with seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases
  
  Generally, a lease might be restored at any time by oral or written agreement of the celebrations. If a lease term ends and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately ends up being month-to-month based upon the same terms stated in the lease.
  
  The lease may require a particular notification and timeframe for renewing the lease. You ought to examine your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and tenants need to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, property owners may likewise have constraints on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a tenant and are required to put such in writing. You need to speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies automatically renew from month to month up until ended by either property manager or occupant.
  
  Unless there is a written lease, a landlord can raise the lease by any quantity by giving the occupant notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week occupancy, 30 days 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 give more than 7 or one month of notice of a rental increase, so you ought to speak with seek advice from with an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a landlord does not have a right to self-help and need to submit an expulsion to remove an occupant or resident from the properties.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most typical breach of a lease is for non-payment of rent. In this case the property owner should serve a five-day notification upon the overdue tenant unless the lease needs more than five days of notice. Five days after such notice is served, the property manager might start eviction procedures against the tenant. If, nevertheless, the renter pays the complete quantity of rent required in the five-day notification within those five days, the property owner might not proceed with an eviction. The proprietor is not needed, however, to accept rent that is less than the specific amount due. If the property owner accepts a tender of a lesser quantity of rent, it may impact the rights to proceed under the notification.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a landlord wishes to terminate a lease due to the fact that of a violation of the lease contract by the renter, besides for non-payment of rent, she or he should serve 10 days of composed notification upon the tenant before expulsion procedures can start, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notice is a waiver by the landlord of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach suffered is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If a tenant stays beyond the lease expiration date, generally, a proprietor may file an eviction without needing to very first serve a notice on the occupant. However, the regards to the lease or in particular municipalities or counties, a property owner is needed to provide a notice of non-renewal to the renter, so you must talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Service as needed Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notifications might be served upon occupant by providing a written 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 home, or sending a copy of the notice to the celebration by licensed or registered mail with a return invoice from the addressee. If nobody is in the real belongings of the facilities, then publishing notification on the premises is enough.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, composed leases forbid the tenant from subletting the facilities without the written consent of the proprietor. Such authorization can not be unreasonably kept, but the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then a tenant might sublease or appoint their lease to another. In such cases, however, the renter will remain responsible to the property manager unless the property owner launches the original renter. A breach of the sublease will not change the preliminary relationship in between the property owner and tenant.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the proprietor has actually breached the lease by stopping working to satisfy their tasks under the lease, specific treatments arise in favor of the renter:
  
  - The occupant might take legal action against the landlord for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
• If a proprietor fails to preserve a leased home in a habitable condition, the renter might have the ability to abandon the facilities and end the lease under the theory of “useful eviction.”
• The failure of a property manager to keep a leased residence in a livable condition or comply substantially with local housing codes may be a breach of the property manager’s “indicated guarantee of habitability” (independent of any written lease provisions or oral guarantees), which the tenant may assert as a defense to an expulsion based on the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental worth of the properties. However, breach by property manager does not immediately entitle a renter to withhold rent or a decrease in the rental value. The responsibility to pay rent continues as long as the occupant remains in the rented premises and to assert this defense effectively, the tenant will need to show that their damages resulting from property manager’s breach of this “implied service warranty” equivalent or surpass the lease declared due.
  
  A proprietor’s breach and tenant’s damages might be tough to show. Because of the limited and technical nature of these guidelines, occupants should be exceptionally cautious in keeping lease and should probably do so just after consulting an attorney.
  
  Please note that particular towns or counties supply for particular obligations and requirements that the property owner need to carry out. If a landlord fails to abide by such responsibilities or requirements, the renter may have extra solutions for such failure. You must seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for specific breaches by occupant, a property manager also has the following remedies:
  
  If lease is not paid, the proprietor may: (1) take legal action against for the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and collect any previous lease due. Under specific situations in the event of non-payment of rent the landlord may hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the renter up until previous rent is paid by the renter.
  
  If a renter fails to leave the at the end of the lease term, the tenant may become accountable for double lease for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The occupant can likewise be forced out.
  
  If the renter harms the properties, the property owner may take legal action against for the repair work of such damages.
  
  Please note that particular towns or counties attend to specific commitments and requirements that the tenant should fulfill. If a renter stops working to comply with such obligations or requirements, the property owner might have extra treatments for such failure. You ought to seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is illegal for a proprietor to discriminate in the leasing of a dwelling home, flat, or apartment or condo versus potential renters who have kids under the age of 14. It is also illegal for a proprietor to victimize an occupant on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, source of earnings, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.
  
  Down Payment, Move-in Fee
  
  Down payment. A tenant can be needed to deposit with the proprietor an amount of cash prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is usually described as a down payment. This money is considered to be security for any damage to the premises or non-payment of lease. The down payment does not ease the tenant of the duty to pay the last month’s rent or for damage caused to the properties. It should be returned to the renter upon leaving the premises if no damage has actually been done beyond regular wear and tear and the lease is completely paid.
  
  If a landlord fails to return the security deposit without delay, the tenant can sue to recuperate the portion of the down payment to which the renter is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and particular circumstances under state law, when a landlord wrongfully keeps a tenant’s security deposit the renter might have the ability to recuperate additional damages and lawyers’ costs. You ought to speak with an attorney.
  
  Generally, a landlord who receives a down payment might not keep any part of that deposit as compensation for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the renter, within thirty days of the date the tenant leaves, a statement of damage allegedly triggered by the occupant and the estimated or real expense of repairing or replacing each product on that declaration. If no such statement is furnished within 30 days, the property manager needs to return the security deposit completely within 45 days of the date the renter vacated.
  
  If a building consists of 25 or more domestic systems, the property manager must likewise 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 biggest bank in Illinois, as identified by total properties, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations concerning security deposits are based upon state law. However, some municipalities or counties might enforce extra commitments. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a landlord need to comply with when taking security deposits and supply steep charges when a landlord stops working to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a down payment, a landlord may charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no specific restrictions on the quantity of a move-in fee, however, particular municipalities or counties do supply restrictions. TIP: A move-in charge ought to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be deemed to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and tenant matters can end up being complex. Both property owner and renter need to consult a lawyer for assistance with specific issues. For more information about your rights and obligations as a renter, consisting of specific landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, contact your regional 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
  toptenrealestatedeals.com
  Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association’s Real Estate Law Section (2024 )
  
  This pamphlet is prepared 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.