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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
Landlord-Tenant Law
Eventually throughout their lives the majority of people will be included with the leasing of realty, either as property manager or occupant. Laws that affect landlords and renters can vary significantly from city to city. This pamphlet provides basic information about being an occupant in Illinois. You need to seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county as they may provide you with greater security under the law.
Tenancy Agreement
The relationship between landlord and tenant develops from a contract, composed or oral, by which one party inhabits the property of another with the owner's authorization in return for the payment of particular quantity as rent.
Written Agreement: Most occupancies are in writing and are called a lease. No particular words are required to develop a lease, but normally the regards to 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 writing to avoid future misunderstandings.
Provisions in a lease arrangement that protect a property owner from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property brought on by the negligence of the property owner are viewed as protesting public law and are therefore unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other limitations and prohibition on particular lease terms, so you must seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
Oral Agreement: If an occupancy contract is not in writing, the regard to the contract will, normally, be considered a month-to-month tenancy. The period is typically determined 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 difficult to determine, a celebration may be bound to the terms of 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 terminated by either celebration with appropriate notice.
- For year-to-year occupancies, other than a lease of farmland, either celebration may end the lease by giving 60 days of composed notice at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
- A week-to-week occupancy may be ended by either celebration by offering 7 days of composed notice to the other celebration.
- Farm leases usually run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end must be offered at least 4 months before the end of the term.
- In all other lease agreements for a period of less than one year, a party should give one month of composed notification. Any notification offered should call for termination on the last day of that rental duration.
- The lease might also have mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
- In specific municipalities and counties, landlords are required to give more than the above mentioned notification period for termination. You should talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
If the lease does state a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notification is needed. Understand that your lease may likewise need notice of termination in a specific type or a higher notification period than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords must note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, you may be required to offer more than the notification period stated in the lease for termination and in writing. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.
Termination of a month-to-month tenancy generally only requires one month of notice by occupant and a property manager is required to serve a written notice of termination of occupancy on the renter (see Service on Demand section listed below). In particular towns and counties, landlords are required to offer more than one month of notice, so you ought to talk to talk to 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 arrangement of the parties. If a lease term expires and the property manager accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly becomes month-to-month based upon the exact same terms stated in the lease.
The lease might require a particular notice and timeframe for restoring the lease. You need to examine your lease to confirm such requirements. Landlords and renters must note that no matter what the lease requires or states, landlords might also have constraints on how early they can need renewal of a lease by a renter and are required to put such in composing. You need to seek advice from with an attorney or your town or county.
Month-to-month occupancies immediately renew from month to month till ended by either proprietor or renter.
Unless there is a written lease, a property manager can raise the lease by any amount by giving the tenant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week tenancy, 1 month of notification for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In particular towns and counties, property managers are required to offer more than 7 or 30 days of notification of a rental increase, so you need to talk to speak with a lawyer 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 must file an eviction to get rid of a tenant or resident from the premises.
Five-Day Notice. The most typical breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the property manager need to serve a five-day notification upon the overdue occupant unless the lease needs more than five days of notice. Five days after such notice is served, the property owner may commence expulsion procedures versus the occupant. If, however, the occupant pays the complete quantity of rent required in the five-day notification within those five days, the property owner may not proceed with an eviction. The proprietor is not needed, nevertheless, to accept rent that is less than the specific amount due. If the property owner accepts a tender of a lower quantity of lease, it might affect the rights to continue under the notice.
10-Day Notice. If a proprietor wishes to end a lease since of an offense of the lease contract by the renter, aside from for non-payment of lease, she or he must serve 10 days of composed notification upon the renter before expulsion proceedings can start, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of lease after such notification is a waiver by the property owner of the right to end the lease unless the breach complained of is a continuing breach.
Holdover. If a tenant remains beyond the lease expiration date, typically, a property manager may submit an expulsion without having to first serve a notice on the renter. However, the regards to the lease or in specific towns or counties, a landlord is needed to offer a notification of non-renewal to the occupant, so you must speak with an attorney or your town or county.
Service as needed Notice
The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy 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 house, or sending out a copy of the notice to the celebration by licensed or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one remains in the real possession of the properties, then posting notice on the premises is adequate.
Subletting or Assigning the Lease
Often, composed leases forbid the occupant from subletting the facilities without the written consent of the proprietor. Such permission can not be unreasonably withheld, however the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a renter may sublease or designate their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the renter will remain responsible to the property owner unless the proprietor launches the original renter. A breach of the sublease will not alter the preliminary relationship in between the property owner and tenant.
Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
If the landlord has breached the lease by stopping working to meet their responsibilities under the lease, particular treatments develop in favor of the tenant:
- The renter might sue the landlord for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
- If a landlord stops working to preserve a leased residence in a livable condition, the renter may have the ability to vacate the properties and terminate the lease under the theory of "positive expulsion."
- The failure of a property manager to maintain a leased home in a habitable condition or comply substantially with regional housing codes might be a breach of the proprietor's "suggested warranty of habitability" (independent of any composed lease arrangements or oral guarantees), which the tenant may assert as a defense to an expulsion based upon the non-payment of lease or a claim for reduction in the rental worth of the properties. However, breach by landlord does not automatically entitle an occupant to keep lease or a reduction in the rental value. The responsibility to pay rent continues as long as the renter stays in the leased facilities and to assert this defense effectively, the renter will need to show that their damages resulting from proprietor's breach of this "implied guarantee" equivalent or surpass the lease declared due.
A property owner's breach and occupant's damages may be tough to show. Because of the restricted and technical nature of these rules, occupants must be exceptionally cautious in withholding rent and needs to most likely do so just after consulting an attorney.
Please note that specific towns or counties provide for specific obligations and requirements that the property owner should carry out. If a proprietor fails to abide by such commitments or requirements, the renter may have additional treatments for such failure. You must talk to an attorney or your town or county.
Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
In addition to termination for particular breaches by occupant, a landlord also has the following treatments:
If lease is not paid, the landlord may: (1) sue for the rent due or to become due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and gather any previous rent due. Under particular situations in case of non-payment of rent the property owner may hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the renter until previous rent is paid by the tenant.
If an occupant stops working to leave the leased premise at the end of the lease term, the renter may become accountable for double lease for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The renter can likewise be evicted.
If the renter harms the facilities, the property manager may demand the repair of such damages.
Please note that particular municipalities or counties offer specific obligations and requirements that the tenant should satisfy. If a renter stops working to adhere to such commitments or requirements, the proprietor might have extra treatments for such failure. You should talk to 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 house, flat, or apartment against potential renters who have kids under the age of 14. It is also unlawful for a property manager to victimize a tenant on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, source of income, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.
Down Payment, Move-in Fee
Security Deposit. A renter can be required to deposit with the property owner an amount of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is generally described as a security deposit. This money is deemed to be security for any damage to the facilities or non-payment of rent. The security deposit does not ease the occupant of the task to pay the last month's lease or for damage triggered to the premises. It needs to be gone back to the tenant upon vacating the facilities if no damage has actually been done beyond typical wear and tear and the lease is fully paid.
If a property owner fails to return the security deposit promptly, the renter can sue to recuperate the portion of the security deposit to which the renter is entitled. In some towns or counties and certain situations under state law, when a property owner wrongfully withholds an occupant's security deposit the occupant may have the ability to recuperate additional damages and attorneys' fees. You ought to consult with a lawyer.
Generally, a property owner who receives a down payment might not withhold any part of that deposit as settlement for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the tenant, within one month of the date the tenant abandons, a statement of damage supposedly caused by the renter and the estimated or real expense of repairing or changing each item on that statement. If no such declaration is furnished within 1 month, the proprietor should return the down payment completely within 45 days of the date the occupant left.
If a structure consists of 25 or more domestic units, the landlord 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 identified by overall possessions, on a passbook security account.
The above declarations regarding security deposits are based upon state law. However, some towns or counties might impose additional obligations. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a property owner should adhere to when taking down payment and supply steep charges when a property owner fails to comply.
Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a security deposit, a property manager might charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no particular constraints on the amount of a move-in charge, nevertheless, particular municipalities or counties do offer restrictions. TIP: A move-in cost needs to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be considered to be a security deposit.
Landlord and tenant matters can become complex. Both landlord and occupant need to speak with an attorney for support with specific issues. To learn more about your rights and obligations as a tenant, including particular landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, call 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 handout is prepared and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has actually been made to provide precise information at the time of publication.
