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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 property owner or occupant. Laws that affect property owners and tenants can vary considerably from city to city. This handout provides general information about being an occupant in Illinois. You ought to consult with a lawyer or your town or county as they might provide you with higher defense under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between proprietor and tenant arises from a contract, composed or oral, by which one celebration occupies the property of another with the owner's authorization 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 needed to produce a lease, but typically the terms of a lease include a description of the genuine estate, the length of the agreement, the amount of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your contract in composing to prevent future misunderstandings.
  
  Provisions in a lease contract that safeguard a property manager from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property triggered by the neglect of the property manager are considered as being versus public policy and are therefore unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other restrictions and restriction on certain lease terms, so you ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy arrangement is not in composing, the regard to the arrangement will, typically, be thought about a month-to-month occupancy. The period is normally determined 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 may be tough to identify, a celebration might be bound to the terms of an oral contract simply 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 terminated by either celebration with proper notice.
  
  - For year-to-year tenancies, other than 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 might be ended by either celebration by offering 7 days of written notice to the other celebration.
• Farm leases typically run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate should be provided at least four months before completion of the term.
• In all other lease arrangements for a period of less than one year, a party needs to provide 1 month of written notification. Any notice offered should require 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 municipalities and counties, property owners are required to offer more than the above specified notification period for termination. You must seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is required. Be mindful that your lease might also need notice of termination in a specific form or a higher notice duration than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords should note that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, you might be required to offer more than the notification period mentioned in the lease for termination and in composing. You must seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month occupancy normally only requires thirty days of notice by occupant and a property owner is needed to serve a composed notice of termination of tenancy on the tenant (see Service on Demand section below). In specific towns and counties, landlords are needed to offer more than 1 month of notification, so you should speak with speak with an attorney 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 agreement of the celebrations. If a lease term ends and the proprietor accepts rent following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly ends up being month-to-month based upon the same terms set forth in the lease.
  
  The lease might require a particular notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You should evaluate your lease to confirm such requirements. Landlords and tenants should note that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, landlords might likewise have constraints on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a tenant and are needed to put such in writing. You need to seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies immediately restore from month to month till terminated by either property owner or renter.
  
  Unless there is a written lease, a property owner can raise the lease by any quantity by providing the renter notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week tenancy, 30 days of notification for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In certain towns and counties, landlords are required to give more than seven or 1 month of notification of a rental boost, so you ought to talk to seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a property manager does not have a right to self-help and should file an expulsion to get rid of a renter 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 landlord need to serve a five-day notice upon the delinquent occupant unless the lease requires more than five days of notification. Five days after such notice is served, the may start expulsion procedures versus the occupant. If, nevertheless, the tenant pays the total of lease demanded in the five-day notice within those 5 days, the property manager might not proceed with an eviction. The property owner is not required, nevertheless, to accept lease that is less than the exact amount due. If the proprietor accepts a tender of a lower amount of lease, it may affect the rights to continue under the notice.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a property manager wants to terminate a lease due to the fact that of an offense of the lease arrangement by the occupant, other than for non-payment of rent, he or she need to serve 10 days of written notification upon the renter before expulsion proceedings can start, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of lease after such notification is a waiver by the property manager of the right to end the lease unless the breach grumbled of is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If an occupant stays beyond the lease expiration date, usually, a landlord might submit an expulsion without needing to very first serve a notification on the renter. However, the regards to the lease or in particular towns or counties, a property manager is needed to provide a notification of non-renewal to the renter, so you must consult with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Service on Demand Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notices may be served upon occupant 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 notice to the celebration by certified or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody remains in the actual belongings of the premises, then publishing notification on the properties suffices.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, written leases forbid the tenant from subletting the premises without the composed permission of the proprietor. Such consent can not be unreasonably withheld, however the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then a renter may sublease or appoint their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the tenant will stay responsible to the proprietor unless the property manager launches the initial renter. A breach of the sublease will not alter the initial relationship between the landlord and tenant.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the proprietor has breached the lease by failing to fulfill their tasks under the lease, particular remedies develop in favor of the renter:
  
  - The tenant may sue the landlord for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
• If a proprietor stops working to keep a rented house in a livable condition, the renter might have the ability to abandon the facilities and end the lease under the theory of "constructive eviction."
• The failure of a property manager to maintain a rented home in a habitable condition or comply significantly with regional housing codes might be a breach of the property manager's "implied service warranty of habitability" (independent of any composed lease arrangements or oral guarantees), which the tenant might assert as a defense to an expulsion based upon the non-payment of lease or a claim for reduction in the rental value of the premises. However, breach by property owner does not automatically entitle an occupant to keep rent or a decrease in the rental worth. The commitment to pay rent continues as long as the occupant remains in the rented facilities and to assert this defense successfully, the occupant will need to reveal that their damages resulting from landlord's breach of this "implied guarantee" equal or surpass the rent claimed due.
  
  A property owner's breach and tenant's damages may be difficult to prove. Because of the restricted and technical nature of these guidelines, tenants must be extremely mindful in keeping rent and should most likely do so just after seeking advice from an attorney.
  
  Please note that certain municipalities or counties attend to certain commitments and requirements that the landlord should perform. If a landlord stops working to comply with such commitments or requirements, the tenant may have additional treatments for such failure. You need to seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for specific breaches by renter, a proprietor also has the following remedies:
  
  If rent is not paid, the landlord might: (1) demand the rent due or to become due in the future and (2) end the lease and collect any past rent due. Under certain circumstances in the event of non-payment of lease the property owner may hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the tenant till past rent is paid by the tenant.
  
  If a tenant fails to vacate the leased property at the end of the lease term, the tenant might end up being responsible for double rent for the period of holdover if the holdover is considered to be willful. The occupant can also be forced out.
  
  If the renter harms the properties, the proprietor might demand the repair of such damages.
  
  Please note that certain towns or counties attend to specific obligations and requirements that the occupant should meet. If a tenant stops working to comply with such obligations or requirements, the landlord might have extra remedies 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 illegal for a property manager to discriminate in the leasing of a dwelling house, flat, or apartment or condo versus potential tenants who have children under the age of 14. It is likewise unlawful for a proprietor to discriminate versus a renter on the basis of race, religious beliefs, sex, national origin, income source, sexual origination, gender identity, or special needs.
  
  Down Payment, Move-in Fee
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  Security Deposit. A tenant can be required to deposit with the property manager an amount of cash prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is normally described as a down payment. This money is considered to be security for any damage to the facilities or non-payment of lease. The security deposit does not alleviate the tenant of the responsibility to pay the last month's lease or for damage caused to the facilities. It needs to be gone back to the renter upon abandoning the premises if no damage has actually been done beyond typical wear and tear and the lease is fully paid.
  
  If a property owner stops working to return the security deposit immediately, the occupant can sue to recover the portion of the security deposit to which the occupant is entitled. In some towns or counties and specific circumstances under state law, when a proprietor wrongfully keeps a renter's security deposit the tenant might have the ability to recover extra damages and attorneys' charges. You must speak with a lawyer.
  
  Generally, a property owner who gets a security deposit might not keep any part of that deposit as payment for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the occupant, within one month of the date the tenant abandons, a declaration of damage apparently brought on by the tenant and the estimated or real cost of repairing or replacing each product on that statement. If no such declaration is furnished within 30 days, the property owner should return the security deposit completely within 45 days of the date the tenant left.
  
  If a building includes 25 or more property systems, the landlord needs to also 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 figured out by overall properties, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations concerning security deposits are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties might impose additional responsibilities. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a property manager need to abide by when taking security deposits and offer steep penalties when a proprietor fails to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a down payment, a landlord might charge a move-in charge. Generally, there are no particular limitations on the amount of a move-in charge, however, particular municipalities or counties do supply constraints. TIP: A move-in fee should be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be deemed to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and renter matters can become complex. Both property manager and occupant should seek advice from a lawyer for support with particular problems. To learn more about your rights and duties as a renter, including specific landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, call your local 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 ready and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a public service. Every effort has actually been made to supply precise info at the time of publication.