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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  moneysavingexpert.com
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some point throughout their lives the majority of people will be involved with the leasing of property, either as landlord or renter. Laws that impact landlords and tenants can differ considerably from city to city. This handout offers general information about being an occupant in Illinois. You ought to seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county as they might provide you with greater protection under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between landlord and renter emerges from an arrangement, composed or oral, by which one celebration occupies the property of another with the owner's consent in return for the payment of specific quantity as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies are in writing and are called a lease. No specific words are needed to create a lease, however generally 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 need to put your arrangement in composing to prevent future misunderstandings.
  
  Provisions in a lease agreement that safeguard a property owner from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property caused by the carelessness of the landlord are considered as protesting public law and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other restrictions and restriction on particular lease terms, so you ought to speak with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy contract is not in composing, the regard to the agreement will, usually, be thought about a month-to-month tenancy. The period is normally determined by the frequency of the rental payments. For instance: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the terms of an oral lease may be challenging to determine, a party may be bound to the terms of an oral agreement simply as much as a written one.
  
  Termination of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement
  
  If a lease is not for a particular term, it may be ended by either party with correct notification.
  
  - For year-to-year occupancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either celebration might terminate the lease by offering 60 days of composed notification at any time within the four months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
• A week-to-week tenancy might be ended by either party by offering 7 days of composed notification to the other party.
• Farm leases generally run for one year. Customarily, they begin and end in March of each year. Notice to end need to be provided a minimum of 4 months before the end of the term.
• In all other lease agreements for a period of less than one year, a celebration must give 30 days of composed notice. Any notice given must require termination on the last day of that rental period.
• The lease may likewise have actually specified requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In certain municipalities and counties, property owners are required to provide more than the above stated notice period for termination. You should speak with an attorney or your town or county.
  
  If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notification is required. Be mindful that your lease might also need notice of termination in a specific kind or a higher notification period than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, you may be required to give more than the notice period mentioned in the lease for termination and in writing. You need to speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month tenancy generally only needs one month of notice by tenant and a proprietor is needed to serve a composed notification of termination of tenancy on the renter (see Service on Demand section listed below). In certain towns and counties, property owners are required to provide more than 1 month of notification, so you must 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 renewed at any time by oral or written agreement of the parties. If a lease term ends and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly ends up being month-to-month based upon the very same terms set forth in the lease.
  
  The lease might require a particular notification and timeframe for restoring the lease. You must evaluate your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and occupants ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or states, property managers may also have constraints on how early they can need renewal of a lease by an occupant and are required to put such in writing. You should seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies instantly renew from month to month up until terminated by either landlord or renter.
  
  Unless there is a written lease, a property manager can raise the lease by any quantity by providing the tenant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week occupancy, thirty days of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In specific municipalities and counties, proprietors are required to offer more than seven or 1 month of notification of a rental boost, so you need to speak with seek advice from with an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a property manager does not have a right to self-help and need to file an eviction to get rid of an occupant or resident from the properties.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of rent. In this case the landlord must serve a five-day notice upon the delinquent renter unless the lease requires more than five days of notification. Five days after such notice is served, the property manager might commence expulsion procedures against the tenant. If, however, the renter pays the total of rent demanded in the five-day notification within those five days, the landlord might not proceed with an eviction. The landlord is not required, nevertheless, to accept rent that is less than the precise amount due. If the property owner accepts a tender of a lower amount of lease, it may affect the rights to proceed under the notice.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a property manager wants to end a lease since of a violation of the lease arrangement by the tenant, besides for non-payment of lease, she or he need to serve 10 days of written notification upon the tenant before eviction proceedings can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notice 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 a renter remains beyond the lease expiration date, normally, a property manager might submit an expulsion without having to first serve a notification on the tenant. However, the regards to the lease or in particular municipalities or counties, a property manager is needed to supply a notification of non-renewal to the renter, so you ought to seek advice from a lawyer 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 occupant by providing a composed or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the very same with some individual 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 accredited or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one remains in the actual ownership of the facilities, then posting notice on the facilities suffices.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, composed leases forbid the tenant from subletting the facilities without the composed permission of the property manager. Such approval can not be unreasonably kept, however 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, however, the tenant will stay accountable to the property owner unless the landlord releases the initial renter. A breach of the sublease will not alter the initial relationship in between the proprietor and tenant.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the proprietor has breached the lease by stopping working to fulfill their duties under the lease, certain solutions occur in favor of the tenant:
  
  - The occupant may take legal action against the for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
• If a proprietor fails to maintain a rented residence in a livable condition, the tenant may have the ability to vacate the premises and end the lease under the theory of "constructive eviction."
• The failure of a property owner to preserve a rented residence in a livable condition or comply substantially with local housing codes might be a breach of the proprietor's "suggested guarantee of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral pledges), which the occupant might assert as a defense to an eviction based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental worth of the premises. However, breach by landlord does not instantly entitle an occupant to keep lease or a decrease in the rental worth. The obligation to pay rent continues as long as the tenant remains in the leased facilities and to assert this defense effectively, the tenant will have to show that their damages arising from property manager's breach of this "implied guarantee" equal or surpass the lease declared due.
  
  A property manager's breach and tenant's damages might be difficult to prove. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these rules, renters should be incredibly mindful in keeping lease and needs to most likely do so only after seeking advice from a lawyer.
  
  Please note that certain towns or counties offer particular commitments and requirements that the property owner should perform. If a property owner stops working to comply with such commitments or requirements, the tenant may have extra remedies for such failure. You should seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for particular breaches by renter, a property owner likewise has the following treatments:
  
  If rent is not paid, the property owner might: (1) sue for the rent due or to become due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any past rent due. Under particular circumstances in case of non-payment of rent the proprietor may hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the occupant until previous lease is paid by the renter.
  
  If a tenant stops working to abandon the leased premise at the end of the lease term, the renter might become liable for double rent for the duration of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The renter can likewise be evicted.
  
  If the tenant damages the facilities, the property owner might sue for the repair of such damages.
  
  Please note that certain municipalities or counties offer particular obligations and requirements that the tenant need to satisfy. If an occupant fails to abide by such obligations or requirements, the property owner might have extra remedies for such failure. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is illegal for a landlord to discriminate in the leasing of a home home, flat, or home versus potential renters who have kids under the age of 14. It is also illegal 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. An occupant can be required to deposit with the proprietor an amount of cash prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is typically described as a security deposit. This money is deemed to be security for any damage to the facilities or non-payment of lease. The down payment does not eliminate the renter of the task to pay the last month's rent or for damage caused to the facilities. It needs to be returned to the renter upon leaving the premises if no damage has been done beyond typical wear and tear and the rent is fully paid.
  
  If a landlord fails to return the security deposit promptly, the occupant can take legal action against to recover the part of the down payment to which the occupant is entitled. In some towns or counties and specific circumstances under state law, when a landlord wrongfully keeps a renter's security deposit the renter may be able to recuperate additional damages and attorneys' fees. You should talk to an attorney.
  
  Generally, a proprietor who receives a down payment may not keep any part of that deposit as payment for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within 1 month of the date the tenant leaves, a statement of damage apparently triggered by the renter and the approximated or real cost of repairing or changing each item on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within 1 month, the proprietor should return the security deposit completely within 45 days of the date the occupant vacated.
  
  If a structure consists of 25 or more residential systems, the proprietor should 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 biggest bank in Illinois, as figured out by total assets, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above statements regarding security deposits are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties may impose extra commitments. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a landlord should adhere to when taking security deposits and offer high charges when a property owner 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 constraints on the amount of a move-in charge, however, certain towns or counties do provide restrictions. TIP: A move-in fee should be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be deemed to be a down payment.
  
  Landlord and renter matters can become complex. Both property manager and occupant need to consult an attorney for support with specific problems. To learn more about your rights and obligations as an occupant, including specific landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, call your regional bar association, or visit 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
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  Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section (2024 )
  
  This handout is ready and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has been made to supply precise information at the time of publication.