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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some time throughout their lives the majority of individuals will be included with the leasing of property, either as property manager or occupant. Laws that affect property owners and tenants can vary significantly from city to city. This pamphlet supplies general info about being an occupant in Illinois. You ought to seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county as they might offer you with higher security under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship in between property manager and tenant emerges from an agreement, written or oral, by which one celebration inhabits the real estate of another with the owner's approval in return for the payment of particular amount as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most occupancies are in writing and are called a lease. No specific words are essential to develop a lease, however normally the terms of a lease include a description of the property, the length of the arrangement, the amount of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You should put your arrangement in composing to avoid future misunderstandings.
  
  Provisions in a lease agreement that secure a proprietor from for damages to persons or residential or commercial property triggered by the neglect of the proprietor are viewed as being versus public law and are therefore unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other restrictions and prohibition on particular lease terms, so you should seek advice from with an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy agreement is not in writing, the regard to the contract will, generally, be considered a month-to-month occupancy. The duration is normally 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 challenging to figure out, a celebration might 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 particular term, it may be terminated by either celebration with correct notification.
  
  - For year-to-year tenancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either celebration may terminate the lease by offering 60 days of composed notification at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
• A week-to-week occupancy might be ended by either celebration by providing 7 days of written notification to the other party.
• Farm leases usually run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end need to be given 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 needs to give 30 days of composed notification. Any notice offered ought to require termination on the last day of that rental duration.
• The lease might likewise have actually specified requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In particular municipalities and counties, property managers are required to provide more than the above specified notification period for termination. You ought to talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notification is necessary. Understand that your lease may also require notice of termination in a specific kind or a higher notification duration than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords need to note that no matter what the lease needs or states, you may be needed to give more than the notice period stated in the lease for termination and in writing. You need to seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month tenancy normally just needs 30 days of notice by renter and a landlord is needed to serve a written notice of termination of occupancy on the occupant (see Service as needed section below). In specific municipalities and counties, landlords are required to offer more than 1 month of notice, so you need to speak with talk to an attorney or your municipality 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 parties. If a lease term ends and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately becomes month-to-month based on the very same terms set forth in the lease.
  
  The lease may need a specific notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You must evaluate your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and tenants ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or specifies, property managers may also have constraints on how early they can need renewal of a lease by a tenant and are needed to put such in composing. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Month-to-month tenancies automatically renew from month to month up until terminated by either proprietor or occupant.
  
  Unless there is a composed lease, a property owner can raise the lease by any amount by giving the tenant notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week occupancy, thirty days of notice for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In specific municipalities and counties, property owners are needed to offer more than seven or 30 days of notification of a rental increase, so you must seek advice from seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a property manager does not have a right to self-help and should submit an eviction to remove a renter or occupant from the facilities.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of rent. In this case the proprietor must serve a five-day notice upon the overdue tenant unless the lease needs more than five days of notice. Five days after such notice is served, the proprietor might commence eviction proceedings versus the tenant. If, however, the tenant pays the total of rent demanded in the five-day notice within those 5 days, the proprietor may not continue with an eviction. The property manager is not needed, nevertheless, to accept lease that is less than the specific quantity due. If the property manager accepts a tender of a lesser amount of lease, it may impact the rights to proceed under the notification.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a landlord wants to terminate a lease due to the fact that of a violation of the lease arrangement by the occupant, aside from for non-payment of rent, he or she need to serve 10 days of composed notice upon the tenant before expulsion proceedings can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notice is a waiver by the property owner of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach experienced is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If a renter stays beyond the lease expiration date, generally, a landlord may file an expulsion without needing to very first serve a notification on the renter. However, the regards to the lease or in specific municipalities or counties, a proprietor is required to provide a notification of non-renewal to the occupant, so you need to speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Service on Demand Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notifications might be served upon renter by delivering a composed or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the celebration's home, or sending out a copy of the notification to the celebration by licensed or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody remains in the actual possession of the facilities, then posting notice on the properties suffices.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, written leases restrict the tenant from subletting the properties without the composed consent of the landlord. Such permission can not be unreasonably kept, but the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then an occupant may sublease or designate their lease to another. In such cases, however, the occupant will remain responsible to the property owner unless the landlord releases the initial occupant. A breach of the sublease will not alter the initial relationship in between the property owner and tenant.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the proprietor has actually breached the lease by failing to satisfy their responsibilities under the lease, certain remedies emerge in favor of the renter:
  
  - The tenant may take legal action against the proprietor for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
• If a proprietor fails to maintain a leased home in a livable condition, the renter might have the ability to vacate the premises and terminate the lease under the theory of "positive expulsion."
• The failure of a landlord to maintain a rented home in a habitable condition or comply substantially with local housing codes might be a breach of the property manager's "indicated guarantee of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral pledges), which the occupant might assert as a defense to an expulsion based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the properties. However, breach by property owner does not immediately entitle a renter to withhold rent or a decrease in the rental value. The commitment to pay lease continues as long as the occupant stays in the leased premises and to assert this defense successfully, the renter will have to reveal that their damages resulting from property manager's breach of this "implied guarantee" equivalent or surpass the rent claimed due.
  
  A proprietor's breach and renter's damages might be challenging to prove. Because of the restricted and technical nature of these rules, renters ought to be extremely careful in keeping rent and needs to most likely do so just after consulting an attorney.
  
  Please note that certain towns or counties offer particular commitments and requirements that the property manager should perform. If a property owner fails to abide by such obligations or requirements, the renter may have additional treatments for such failure. You need to seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for certain breaches by renter, a property manager also has the following solutions:
  
  If rent is not paid, the landlord might: (1) take legal action against for the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any previous rent due. Under particular situations in case of non-payment of lease the proprietor might hold the furnishings and individual residential or commercial property of the occupant till past lease is paid by the tenant.
  
  If a renter stops working to leave the leased property at the end of the lease term, the renter may become responsible for double lease for the duration of holdover if the holdover is considered to be willful. The occupant can also be forced out.
  
  If the renter damages the properties, the property manager might sue for the repair of such damages.
  
  Please note that particular towns or counties offer specific commitments and requirements that the renter need to meet. If a tenant fails to comply with such obligations or requirements, the property owner may have additional remedies for such failure. You should speak with 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 residence house, flat, or house against potential tenants who have kids under the age of 14. It is likewise illegal for a property manager to discriminate versus a tenant on the basis of race, faith, sex, nationwide origin, income source, sexual origination, gender identity, or special needs.
  
  Down Payment, Move-in Fee
  
  Security Deposit. An occupant can be needed to deposit with the landlord an amount of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is typically described as a security deposit. This money is considered to be security for any damage to the premises or non-payment of lease. The down payment does not alleviate the renter of the responsibility to pay the last month's rent or for damage triggered to the premises. It needs to be returned to the occupant upon vacating the properties if no damage has actually been done beyond normal wear and tear and the rent is completely paid.
  
  If a proprietor stops working to return the security deposit without delay, the occupant can take legal action against to recover the portion of the down payment to which the occupant is entitled. In some towns or counties and particular circumstances under state law, when a property manager wrongfully withholds a tenant's security deposit the renter may be able to recuperate additional damages and attorneys' fees. You need to seek advice from a lawyer.
  
  Generally, a proprietor who receives a down payment might not withhold any part of that deposit as payment for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the occupant, within 1 month of the date the occupant vacates, a declaration of damage allegedly brought on by the renter and the estimated or actual expense of fixing or changing each item on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within one month, the property owner should return the down payment completely within 45 days of the date the occupant vacated.
  
  If a structure consists of 25 or more residential units, the landlord must likewise 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 statements regarding security deposits are based on state law. However, some towns or counties might impose extra responsibilities. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a proprietor must adhere to when taking security deposits and provide high penalties when a property owner stops working to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a security deposit, a landlord may charge a move-in fee. Generally, there are no specific restrictions on the amount of a move-in charge, however, certain municipalities or counties do provide limitations. TIP: A move-in fee ought to be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be deemed to be a down payment.
  
  Landlord and tenant matters can become complex. Both landlord and tenant should speak with a lawyer for assistance with particular problems. For additional information about your rights and obligations as a renter, consisting of particular landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, call 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 pamphlet is ready and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a public service. Every effort has actually been made to provide accurate info at the time of publication.