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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some point during their lives most people will be involved with the leasing of realty, either as landlord or renter. Laws that impact property managers and tenants can differ considerably from city to city. This handout provides general info about being a renter in Illinois. You should speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county as they might offer you with greater defense under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between property owner and tenant arises from an agreement, composed or oral, by which one party inhabits the property of another with the owner's authorization in return for the payment of specific amount as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies are in composing and are called a lease. No specific words are needed to develop a lease, but typically the terms of a lease consist of a description of the realty, the length of the contract, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your arrangement in composing to prevent future misconceptions.
  
  Provisions in a lease agreement that safeguard a property owner from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property triggered by the carelessness of the proprietor are seen as being versus public policy and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other restrictions and prohibition on certain lease terms, so you should talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy agreement is not in writing, the regard to the agreement will, generally, be thought about a month-to-month tenancy. The duration is usually 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 might be hard to figure out, a party may be bound to the regards to an oral arrangement simply as much as a written one.
  
  Termination of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement
  
  If a lease is not for a specific term, it might be ended by either party with appropriate notification.
  
  - For year-to-year occupancies, besides a lease of farmland, either celebration might end 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 occupancy may be terminated by either party by 7 days of written notice to the other celebration.
• Farm leases usually 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 the end of the term.
• In all other lease arrangements for a period of less than one year, a celebration needs to offer 1 month of written notice. Any notification given should call for termination on the last day of that rental duration.
• The lease may also have actually stated requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In specific towns and counties, landlords are needed to provide more than the above mentioned notification period for termination. You should speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  If the lease does specify a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is essential. Know that your lease might also require notice of termination in a particular type or a higher notification period than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords ought to note that no matter what the lease requires or states, you might be required to offer more than the notification period specified in the lease for termination and in writing. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month tenancy typically only requires 1 month of notice by tenant and a landlord is required to serve a composed notice of termination of occupancy on the occupant (see Service on Demand section listed below). In certain towns and counties, property owners are required to offer more than 1 month of notice, so you should talk to talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases
  
  Generally, a lease may be restored at any time by oral or written arrangement of the celebrations. If a lease term expires and the property manager accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly ends up being month-to-month based upon the same terms stated in the lease.
  
  The lease may need a particular notification and timeframe for renewing the lease. You must evaluate your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and renters ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, landlords might likewise have restrictions on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a renter and are required to put such in writing. You should speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies automatically renew from month to month till ended by either landlord or renter.
  
  Unless there is a composed lease, a proprietor can raise the lease by any quantity by giving the tenant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week occupancy, 1 month of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In specific towns and counties, property owners are required to give more than 7 or thirty days of notification of a rental boost, so you should seek advice from with speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a property owner does not have a right to self-help and should file an expulsion to remove a tenant or resident from the facilities.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of rent. In this case the landlord should serve a five-day notice upon the overdue tenant unless the lease requires more than 5 days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the property owner might start expulsion procedures against the tenant. If, nevertheless, the tenant pays the total of lease demanded in the five-day notification within those five days, the property owner might not proceed with an expulsion. The proprietor is not required, however, to accept rent that is less than the exact amount due. If the property owner accepts a tender of a lower amount of rent, it might affect the rights to proceed under the notice.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a property manager wishes to end a lease because of an offense of the lease agreement by the tenant, aside from for non-payment of rent, he or she must serve 10 days of written notification upon the occupant before expulsion procedures can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of lease after such notification is a waiver by the proprietor 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, usually, a landlord may file an expulsion without having to very first serve a notice on the occupant. However, the terms of the lease or in specific towns or counties, a proprietor is required to offer a notice of non-renewal to the occupant, so you should talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.
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  Service as needed Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notifications might be served upon occupant by providing a composed or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the exact same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the party's house, or sending a copy of the notice to the celebration by licensed or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody is in the real ownership of the properties, then posting notice on the facilities suffices.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, composed leases forbid the renter from subletting the properties without the written permission of the property manager. Such approval can not be unreasonably kept, but the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then an occupant may sublease or appoint their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the occupant will remain accountable to the property owner unless the proprietor releases the initial renter. A breach of the sublease will not change the preliminary relationship in between the proprietor and occupant.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the proprietor has breached the lease by stopping working to satisfy their duties under the lease, specific remedies emerge in favor of the occupant:
  
  - The occupant might sue the proprietor for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
• If a proprietor stops working to maintain a leased home in a livable condition, the occupant might be able to vacate the properties and terminate the lease under the theory of "useful eviction."
• The failure of a landlord to preserve a rented residence in a habitable condition or comply substantially with regional housing codes might be a breach of the property owner's "suggested warranty of habitability" (independent of any composed lease arrangements or oral promises), which the renter may assert as a defense to an eviction based on the non-payment of lease or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the premises. However, breach by property manager does not instantly entitle a tenant to keep rent or a reduction in the rental value. The commitment to pay rent continues as long as the renter remains in the leased properties and to assert this defense successfully, the occupant will need to reveal that their damages resulting from proprietor's breach of this "implied warranty" equal or exceed the rent claimed due.
  
  A property owner's breach and renter's damages might be difficult to prove. Because of the limited and technical nature of these rules, renters need to be extremely careful in keeping rent and needs to most likely do so only after speaking with an attorney.
  
  Please note that particular towns or counties provide for particular obligations and requirements that the property manager should carry out. If a proprietor fails to comply with such commitments or requirements, the occupant might have extra solutions for such failure. You need to consult with a lawyer or your municipality 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) sue 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 occasion of non-payment of lease the property manager may hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the occupant up until previous rent is paid by the renter.
  
  If a renter stops working to leave the rented premise at the end of the lease term, the tenant may become accountable for double rent for the period of holdover if the holdover is considered to be willful. The tenant can also be kicked out.
  
  If the tenant damages the facilities, the proprietor may demand the repair of such damages.
  
  Please note that certain municipalities or counties offer specific obligations and requirements that the renter need to satisfy. If a tenant stops working to adhere to such obligations or requirements, the property manager might have additional remedies for such failure. You must seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is unlawful for a landlord to discriminate in the leasing of a home home, flat, or house against potential occupants who have kids under the age of 14. It is also illegal for a landlord to discriminate against a tenant on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, source of earnings, sexual origination, gender identity, or special needs.
  
  Down Payment, Move-in Fee
  
  Security Deposit. An occupant 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 cash is deemed to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of lease. The down payment does not alleviate the tenant of the responsibility to pay the last month's rent or for damage triggered to the premises. It should be gone back to the occupant upon abandoning the properties if no damage has been done beyond normal wear and tear and the rent is completely paid.
  
  If a proprietor fails to return the security deposit immediately, the tenant can take legal action against to recuperate the part of the down payment to which the occupant is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and certain scenarios under state law, when a landlord wrongfully keeps a tenant's down payment the occupant might be able to recuperate additional damages and attorneys' fees. You must speak with a lawyer.
  
  Generally, a proprietor who receives a down payment may not keep any part of that deposit as compensation for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the tenant, within thirty days of the date the occupant leaves, a declaration of damage allegedly triggered by the renter and the approximated or actual cost of repairing or changing each item on that statement. If no such declaration is provided within 30 days, the property manager needs to return the security deposit completely within 45 days of the date the tenant abandoned.
  
  If a building includes 25 or more domestic systems, the proprietor should 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 largest bank in Illinois, as determined by total possessions, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations relating to down payment are based upon state law. However, some municipalities or counties might enforce additional obligations. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a property manager should adhere to when taking down payment and offer high charges when a landlord stops working to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a down payment, a landlord might charge a move-in charge. Generally, there are no specific limitations on the amount of a move-in fee, nevertheless, particular towns or counties do supply constraints. TIP: A move-in charge ought to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be considered to be a down payment.
  
  Landlord and tenant matters can end up being complex. Both proprietor and occupant ought to consult a lawyer for support with particular problems. For more information about your rights and duties as an occupant, consisting of particular landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, contact your regional bar association, or go to 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 prepared and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has actually been made to provide accurate information at the time of publication.