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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 realty, either as property manager or tenant. Laws that affect property owners and occupants can vary significantly from city to city. This pamphlet provides general info about being an occupant in Illinois. You should consult with a lawyer or your municipality or county as they might supply you with higher protection under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship between property manager and tenant occurs from a contract, composed or oral, by which one party inhabits the real estate of another with the owner's permission in return for the payment of particular amount as lease.

Written Agreement: Most tenancies are in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are required to develop a lease, but usually the regards to a lease consist of a description of the realty, the length of the contract, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your agreement in writing to avoid future misconceptions.

Provisions in a lease contract that secure a proprietor from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property triggered by the neglect of the proprietor are considered as being versus public law and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other constraints and prohibition on specific lease terms, so you must seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy contract is not in composing, the term of the arrangement will, generally, be considered a month-to-month occupancy. The duration is normally identified by the frequency of the rental payments. For example: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the regards to an oral lease may be hard to identify, a celebration may be bound to the terms of an oral contract simply as much as a composed 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, besides a lease of farmland, either party might terminate the lease by giving 60 days of composed notification at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
- A week-to-week occupancy might be terminated by either party by providing seven days of composed notice to the other party.
- Farm leases typically run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end 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 party needs to give thirty days of composed notification. Any notification given ought to call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
- The lease might also have actually stated requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
- In specific municipalities and counties, property managers are required to give more than the above specified notice duration for termination. You should consult with an attorney or your town or county.

If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is necessary. Be mindful that your lease may also need notice of termination in a specific kind or a greater notice period than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords need to keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or states, you might be needed to give more than the notification period mentioned in the lease for termination and in writing. You should speak with an attorney or your town or county.

Termination of a month-to-month tenancy typically only requires 1 month of notice by renter and a proprietor is required to serve a written notification of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service on Demand area below). In certain municipalities and counties, landlords are needed to provide more than 30 days of notification, so you must seek advice from with seek advice from a lawyer or your town 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 parties. If a lease term expires and the property manager accepts rent following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately becomes month-to-month based upon the very same terms set forth in the lease.

The lease may require a specific notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You need to examine your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and tenants must note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, proprietors may likewise have constraints on how early they can need renewal of a lease by a tenant and are required to put such in composing. You ought to speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

Month-to-month tenancies automatically renew from month to month until ended by either property manager or renter.

Unless there is a composed lease, a landlord can raise the rent by any quantity by providing the tenant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week occupancy, 1 month of notification for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In certain municipalities and counties, proprietors are required to offer more than seven or 30 days of notification of a rental increase, so you should speak with speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a landlord does not have a right to self-help and should submit an expulsion to remove a renter or resident from the premises.

Five-Day Notice. The most common 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 renter unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the property manager may commence eviction proceedings against the occupant. If, nevertheless, the tenant pays the full amount of rent required in the five-day notice within those 5 days, the landlord may not continue with an expulsion. The property owner is not needed, nevertheless, to accept lease that is less than the precise quantity due. If the property owner accepts a tender of a lesser amount of lease, it may impact the rights to proceed under the notification.

10-Day Notice. If a property manager wants to end a lease because of a violation of the lease contract by the occupant, aside from for non-payment of rent, she or he should serve 10 days of composed notice upon the occupant before expulsion procedures can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of lease after such notification is a waiver by the property owner of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach suffered is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a tenant remains beyond the lease expiration date, generally, a landlord might submit an eviction without needing to very first serve a notice on the renter. However, the terms of the lease or in certain towns or counties, a property owner is required to offer a notice of non-renewal to the occupant, so you ought to seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.

Service as needed Notice

The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notices might be served upon renter 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 house, or sending out a copy of the notice to the party by accredited or signed up mail with a return invoice from the addressee. If no one is in the real ownership of the premises, then publishing notification on the facilities is adequate.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, written leases prohibit the tenant from subletting the properties without the written approval of the property owner. Such approval can not be unreasonably kept, but the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a tenant may sublease or appoint their lease to another. In such cases, however, the tenant will remain responsible to the proprietor unless the landlord releases the initial tenant. A breach of the sublease will not change the preliminary relationship between the landlord and occupant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the property owner has actually breached the lease by stopping working to fulfill their tasks under the lease, specific solutions arise in favor of the tenant:

- The tenant may take legal action against the property manager for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
- If a proprietor stops working to preserve a rented residence in a livable condition, the tenant might have the ability to vacate the properties and terminate the lease under the theory of "useful expulsion."
- The failure of a landlord to preserve a leased residence in a livable condition or comply significantly with regional housing codes might be a breach of the property owner's "indicated service warranty of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral guarantees), which the occupant might assert as a defense to an expulsion based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental worth of the properties. However, breach by property owner does not immediately entitle a tenant to keep lease or a reduction in the rental value. The obligation to pay rent continues as long as the occupant stays in the leased facilities and to assert this defense effectively, the renter will have to reveal that their damages arising from landlord's breach of this "implied guarantee" equivalent or surpass the lease claimed due.

A property manager's breach and occupant's damages might be difficult to prove. Because of the limited and technical nature of these rules, tenants should be extremely cautious in withholding lease and ought to probably do so only after speaking with an attorney.

Please note that certain municipalities or counties offer for particular obligations and requirements that the proprietor need to carry out. If a property manager stops working to abide by such commitments or requirements, the occupant may have extra remedies for such failure. You should speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

In addition to termination for specific breaches by occupant, a property manager likewise has the following solutions:

If rent is not paid, the property owner may: (1) demand the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) end the lease and collect any previous lease due. Under particular circumstances in the event of non-payment of rent the proprietor might hold the furnishings and personal residential or commercial property of the occupant till previous rent is paid by the tenant.

If a tenant stops working to abandon the rented facility at the end of the lease term, the tenant may become responsible for double lease for the duration of holdover if the holdover is considered to be willful. The occupant can also be evicted.

If the occupant damages the facilities, the landlord may sue for the repair work of such damages.

Please note that certain municipalities or counties supply for certain responsibilities and requirements that the tenant need to fulfill. If an occupant stops working to abide by such commitments or requirements, the property owner may have extra remedies for such failure. You ought to consult with 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 against prospective tenants who have kids under the age of 14. It is likewise unlawful for a property manager to discriminate versus 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 required to deposit with the property owner a sum of cash prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is normally described as a down payment. This money is deemed to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of rent. The security deposit does not alleviate the tenant of the responsibility to pay the last month's rent or for damage caused to the premises. It should be gone back to the renter upon vacating the facilities if no damage has been done beyond typical wear and tear and the lease is fully paid.

If a property manager fails to return the down payment without delay, the renter can take legal action against to recuperate the part of the down payment to which the renter is entitled. In some towns or counties and particular circumstances under state law, when a proprietor wrongfully keeps an occupant's security deposit the tenant may be able to recuperate extra damages and attorneys' fees. You must speak with a lawyer.

Generally, a landlord who receives a down payment may not keep any part of that deposit as settlement for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the tenant, within 1 month of the date the occupant leaves, a declaration of damage presumably triggered by the tenant and the estimated or real cost of repairing or changing each product on that declaration. If no such statement is furnished within thirty days, the property owner needs to return the down payment in full within 45 days of the date the occupant left.

If a structure includes 25 or more property units, the property owner must also pay interest on the deposit from the date it was paid, if held more than 67 months. Interest is calculated at the rate paid by the largest bank in Illinois, as identified by overall assets, on a passbook security account.

The above statements concerning security deposits are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties may impose additional commitments. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a property owner need to comply with when taking down payment and offer steep charges when a landlord stops working to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a down payment, a proprietor might charge a move-in charge. Generally, there are no particular limitations on the amount of a move-in charge, nevertheless, certain municipalities or counties do provide restrictions. TIP: A move-in charge must be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be deemed to be a security deposit.

Landlord and tenant matters can end up being complex. Both proprietor and tenant ought to speak with a lawyer for support with specific problems. To find out more about your rights and obligations as a renter, consisting of particular landlord-tenant laws in your town 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

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 actually been made to offer precise information at the time of publication.