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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Eventually during their lives many people will be included with the rental of property, either as proprietor or tenant. Laws that affect property managers and tenants can vary significantly from city to city. This handout supplies general information about being a renter in Illinois. You should seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county as they might supply you with greater security under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between property owner and tenant arises from an arrangement, written or oral, by which one party occupies the realty of another with the owner's approval in return for the payment of particular amount as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most occupancies remain in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are essential to develop a lease, but normally the regards to a lease consist of a description of the property, the length of the contract, the amount of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You must put your contract in writing to avoid future misconceptions.
  
  Provisions in a lease agreement that protect a landlord from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property triggered by the negligence of the property manager are deemed protesting public policy and are therefore unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other constraints and prohibition on certain lease terms, so you ought to speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If an occupancy contract is not in composing, the term of the contract will, usually, be thought about a month-to-month tenancy. The period is normally figured out by the of the rental payments. For example: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the terms of an oral lease may be tough to figure out, a celebration might be bound to the terms of an oral contract just as much as a written 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 correct notice.
  
  - For year-to-year occupancies, other than a lease of farmland, either party may 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 tenancy might be terminated by either party by providing seven days of written notification to the other celebration.
• Farm leases typically run for one year. Customarily, they begin and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate must be provided a minimum of 4 months before completion of the term.
• In all other lease arrangements for a duration of less than one year, a celebration should provide one month of written notification. Any notification offered must call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
• The lease may likewise have specified requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In specific municipalities and counties, property owners are needed to provide more than the above mentioned notification duration for termination. You must talk to an attorney or your town or county.
  
  If the lease does state a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is required. Know that your lease may likewise require notice of termination in a specific form or a greater notice duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords need to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or states, you may be required to give more than the notice period mentioned in the lease for termination and in writing. You ought to seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month occupancy normally just requires 30 days of notification by tenant and a property owner is needed to serve a composed notification of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service as needed area below). In certain municipalities and counties, property managers are needed to offer more than 30 days of notice, so you should seek advice from consult with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases
  
  Generally, a lease might be restored 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 exact same terms stated in the lease.
  
  The lease might need a specific notice and timeframe for restoring the lease. You ought to examine your lease to confirm such requirements. Landlords and occupants ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or states, property managers might likewise have limitations on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a renter and are required to put such in writing. You ought to speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Month-to-month tenancies immediately renew from month to month till terminated by either property manager or tenant.
  
  Unless there is a composed lease, a property owner can raise the rent by any quantity by giving the renter notification: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week occupancy, 1 month of notice for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In particular municipalities and counties, landlords are needed to provide more than 7 or thirty days of notification of a rental boost, so you ought to talk to seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a proprietor does not have a right to self-help and must file an expulsion to get rid of a renter or occupant from the premises.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the property owner should serve a five-day notice upon the delinquent occupant unless the lease needs more than five days of notification. Five days after such notification is served, the proprietor may commence eviction proceedings against the occupant. If, nevertheless, the renter pays the total of rent demanded in the five-day notice within those five days, the property owner may not proceed with an expulsion. The property manager is not needed, however, to accept rent that is less than the specific amount due. If the property manager accepts a tender of a lesser quantity of rent, it may impact the rights to continue under the notification.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a property manager wants to end a lease due to the fact that of an offense of the lease arrangement by the renter, other than for non-payment of rent, she or he should serve 10 days of composed notification upon the renter before eviction procedures can start, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of lease after such notification is a waiver by the landlord of the right to end the lease unless the breach experienced is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If a tenant remains beyond the lease expiration date, normally, a proprietor might submit an eviction without having to first serve a notice on the tenant. However, the regards to the lease or in specific municipalities or counties, a property owner is required to provide a notification of non-renewal to the tenant, so you should seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Service as needed Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notices may be served upon occupant by providing a composed or printed copy to the renter, leaving the exact same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the party's house, or sending out a copy of the notification to the celebration by certified or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one is in the actual possession of the facilities, then publishing notice on the properties suffices.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, written leases restrict the renter from subletting the facilities without the composed consent of the property owner. Such approval can not be unreasonably kept, however the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a renter might sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the occupant will stay accountable to the property owner unless the proprietor releases the original renter. A breach of the sublease will not change the initial relationship between the property owner and renter.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the landlord has breached the lease by stopping working to fulfill their duties under the lease, certain solutions occur in favor of the occupant:
  
  - The tenant may take legal action against the property manager for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
• If a landlord fails to keep a rented home in a habitable condition, the renter may be able to abandon the properties and terminate the lease under the theory of "positive expulsion."
• The failure of a proprietor to keep a rented residence in a habitable condition or comply significantly with local housing codes might be a breach of the property manager's "suggested guarantee of habitability" (independent of any composed lease provisions or oral guarantees), which the occupant may assert as a defense to an eviction based on the non-payment of lease or a claim for decrease in the rental worth of the properties. However, breach by property owner does not automatically entitle a tenant to keep lease or a reduction in the rental value. The obligation to pay rent continues as long as the tenant remains in the rented facilities and to assert this defense effectively, the occupant will need to reveal that their damages resulting from proprietor's breach of this "implied service warranty" equal or exceed the rent declared due.
  
  A property manager's breach and renter's damages may be hard to prove. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these rules, tenants must be exceptionally cautious in keeping rent and needs to most likely do so just after consulting a lawyer.
  
  Please note that specific municipalities or counties provide for particular responsibilities and requirements that the proprietor should perform. If a proprietor stops working to adhere to such commitments or requirements, the tenant may have extra remedies for such failure. You must speak with an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for specific breaches by tenant, a property owner also has the following solutions:
  
  If rent is not paid, the property manager may: (1) demand the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any past rent due. Under specific situations in the occasion of non-payment of lease the property owner may hold the furniture and individual residential or commercial property of the tenant up until previous rent is paid by the occupant.
  
  If an occupant stops working to leave the rented facility at the end of the lease term, the renter may become accountable for double rent for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The renter can likewise be evicted.
  
  If the tenant damages the facilities, the proprietor may demand the repair work of such damages.
  
  Please note that certain towns or counties offer specific commitments and requirements that the occupant must satisfy. If an occupant fails to comply with such obligations or requirements, the property owner may have additional solutions for such failure. You need to seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is unlawful for a proprietor to discriminate in the leasing of a home home, flat, or home against prospective occupants who have children 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, income, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.
  
  Security Deposits, Move-in Fee
  
  Down payment. An occupant can be required to deposit with the landlord a sum of cash prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is normally described as a security deposit. This cash is considered to be security for any damage to the premises or non-payment of rent. The down payment does not relieve the renter of the responsibility to pay the last month's lease or for damage triggered to the facilities. It needs to be returned to the occupant upon leaving the facilities if no damage has actually 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 recover the part of the security deposit to which the occupant is entitled. In some towns or counties and certain scenarios under state law, when a property owner wrongfully withholds an occupant's security deposit the occupant might be able to recover additional damages and lawyers' charges. You need to speak with a legal representative.
  
  Generally, a property owner who gets a down payment might not withhold any part of that deposit as compensation for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within one month of the date the renter leaves, a declaration of damage presumably triggered by the renter and the approximated or real expense of repairing or changing each item on that statement. If no such declaration is provided within 1 month, the proprietor should return the security deposit completely within 45 days of the date the renter abandoned.
  
  If a building consists of 25 or more residential units, the proprietor 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 identified by total possessions, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above statements regarding security deposits are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties might impose additional responsibilities. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a landlord should adhere to when taking down payment and provide high charges when a property owner fails 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 quantity of a move-in cost, nevertheless, specific towns or counties do offer limitations. TIP: A move-in charge ought to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be considered to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and tenant matters can end up being complex. Both property owner and tenant need to seek advice from a lawyer for assistance with specific issues. To learn more about your rights and obligations as a renter, consisting of specific landlord-tenant laws in your municipality 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 handout is ready and released by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has been made to supply precise info at the time of publication.