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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some point throughout their lives a lot of individuals will be involved with the rental of realty, either as property owner or occupant. Laws that impact property owners and renters can vary significantly from city to city. This pamphlet offers general details about being an occupant in Illinois. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county as they might supply you with higher security under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between property owner and renter occurs from an agreement, written or oral, by which one celebration occupies the realty of another with the owner's consent in return for the payment of certain amount as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies remain in writing and are called a lease. No particular words are required to create a lease, but generally the regards to a lease consist of a description of the genuine estate, the length of the contract, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You must put your agreement in writing to avoid future misunderstandings.
  
  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 proprietor are seen as being against public policy and are therefore unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other restrictions and prohibition on particular lease terms, so you ought to speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy contract is not in writing, the term of the contract will, normally, be considered a month-to-month tenancy. The period is generally figured out 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 challenging to determine, a party 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 may be terminated by either celebration with proper notice.
  
  - For year-to-year tenancies, other than a lease of farmland, either celebration may end the lease by providing 60 days of composed notice at any time within the four months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
• A week-to-week occupancy might be terminated by either celebration by offering seven days of composed notification to the other celebration.
• Farm leases usually run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate should be given at least four months before completion of the term.
• In all other lease contracts for a period of less than one year, a party needs to offer 30 days of composed notification. Any notification given ought to call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
• The lease may also have 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 notice period for termination. You should seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  If the lease does mention a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notice is necessary. Know that your lease might likewise need notification of termination in a particular type or a higher notification duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords need to note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, you might be required to offer more than the notice duration specified in the lease for termination and in writing. You should seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month occupancy normally just requires 30 days of notice by occupant and a proprietor is needed to serve a composed notification of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service as needed section listed below). In particular municipalities and counties, property managers are required to provide more than 30 days of notice, so you ought 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 restored at any time by oral or written agreement of the celebrations. If a expires and the property manager accepts rent following the expiration of the term, the lease term automatically becomes month-to-month based on the exact same terms set forth in the lease.
  
  The lease may require a specific notification and timeframe for restoring the lease. You must evaluate your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and tenants should note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, property owners might likewise have restrictions on how early they can require renewal of a lease by an occupant and are needed to put such in composing. You should consult with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies automatically restore from month to month till ended by either property manager or tenant.
  
  Unless there is a composed lease, a property owner can raise the rent by any quantity by offering the tenant notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week tenancy, one month of notification for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In certain municipalities and counties, landlords are required to provide more than 7 or one month of notification of a rental boost, so you should seek advice from talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a proprietor does not have a right to self-help and should file an eviction to eliminate a tenant or resident from the facilities.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most typical breach of a lease is for non-payment of rent. In this case the landlord should serve a five-day notification upon the overdue tenant unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the property owner might begin expulsion proceedings versus the tenant. If, nevertheless, the occupant pays the total of rent demanded in the five-day notice within those five days, the proprietor may not continue with an eviction. The property owner 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 quantity of lease, it might impact the rights to continue under the notice.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a property owner wants to end a lease due to the fact that of an infraction of the lease contract by the tenant, besides for non-payment of rent, he or she must serve 10 days of written notice upon the tenant before expulsion procedures can start, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notification is a waiver by the property owner 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, generally, a proprietor might submit an eviction without having to very first serve a notification on the tenant. However, the terms of the lease or in particular towns or counties, a landlord is required to provide a notification of non-renewal to the renter, so you should speak with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Service on Demand Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notifications may be served upon tenant by providing a composed or printed copy to the renter, leaving the same with some individual 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 licensed or signed up mail with a return invoice from the addressee. If no one is in the actual belongings of the premises, then publishing notification on the facilities is adequate.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, written leases forbid the renter from subletting the properties without the written consent of the landlord. Such permission can not be unreasonably kept, but the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then a tenant may sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the tenant will remain accountable to the property manager unless the landlord releases the original occupant. A breach of the sublease will not alter the preliminary relationship between the property manager and tenant.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the property manager has actually breached the lease by failing to fulfill their responsibilities under the lease, specific remedies develop in favor of the renter:
  
  - The renter might take legal action against the property manager for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
• If a landlord fails to keep a rented residence in a habitable condition, the renter may have the ability to abandon the premises and terminate the lease under the theory of "useful eviction."
• The failure of a proprietor to keep a leased residence in a habitable condition or comply considerably with regional housing codes may be a breach of the landlord's "suggested guarantee of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral pledges), which the occupant may assert as a defense to an eviction based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the facilities. However, breach by property owner does not automatically entitle an occupant to withhold rent or a reduction in the rental value. The commitment to pay lease continues as long as the occupant stays in the leased facilities and to assert this defense successfully, the renter will have to reveal that their damages resulting from landlord's breach of this "implied service warranty" equivalent or surpass the rent declared due.
  
  A landlord's breach and occupant's damages might be challenging to prove. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these rules, tenants need to be very careful in withholding rent and needs to probably do so only after speaking with a lawyer.
  
  Please note that particular towns or counties offer certain obligations and requirements that the property manager need to carry out. If a property owner fails to adhere to such commitments or requirements, the tenant may have extra treatments for such failure. You must speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for specific breaches by tenant, a proprietor likewise has the following remedies:
  
  If rent is not paid, the property manager might: (1) sue for the rent due or to end up being due in the future and (2) end the lease and collect any past rent due. Under particular situations in the occasion of non-payment of lease the property owner might hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the occupant until previous lease is paid by the renter.
  
  If an occupant stops working to leave the leased premise 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 likewise be forced out.
  
  If the occupant damages the premises, the proprietor might take legal action against for the repair work of such damages.
  
  Please note that specific towns or counties supply for certain commitments and requirements that the tenant must satisfy. If an occupant stops working to comply with such obligations or requirements, the property owner might have additional treatments for such failure. You must speak with an attorney or your town 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 residence house, flat, or home versus potential renters who have kids under the age of 14. It is also unlawful for a landlord to discriminate against an occupant on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, source of income, sexual origination, gender identity, or disability.
  
  Security Deposits, Move-in Fee
  
  Security Deposit. A tenant can be needed to deposit with the proprietor an amount of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is typically referred to as a security deposit. This money is considered to be security for any damage to the facilities or non-payment of lease. The security deposit does not eliminate the tenant of the task to pay the last month's lease or for damage triggered to the facilities. It should be gone back to the renter upon vacating the properties if no damage has actually been done beyond typical wear and tear and the rent is totally paid.
  
  If a proprietor stops working to return the down payment promptly, the occupant can take legal action against to recover the part of the security deposit to which the renter is entitled. In some towns or counties and certain circumstances under state law, when a landlord wrongfully withholds a tenant's down payment the tenant may be able to recover additional damages and attorneys' charges. You should talk to a lawyer.
  
  Generally, a property owner who gets a security deposit might not withhold any part of that deposit as payment for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within one month of the date the tenant abandons, a declaration of damage supposedly brought on by the occupant and the approximated or real cost of fixing or changing each product on that statement. If no such declaration is furnished within one month, the property manager must return the down payment completely within 45 days of the date the occupant left.
  
  If a structure consists of 25 or more residential units, the property owner needs to 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 figured out by overall assets, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations relating to security deposits are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties may impose additional obligations. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a property manager should comply with when taking security deposits and offer high charges when a property manager fails to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a security deposit, a proprietor might charge a move-in fee. Generally, there are no specific restrictions on the amount of a move-in fee, however, specific towns or counties do supply restrictions. TIP: A move-in fee needs to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be deemed to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and tenant matters can become complex. Both property owner and renter should speak with a lawyer for assistance with particular issues. For additional information about your rights and responsibilities as a renter, 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
  saama.com
  Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section (2024 )
  
  This handout is prepared and released 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.