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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Eventually throughout their lives the majority of people will be involved with the rental of realty, either as property manager or renter. Laws that impact landlords and tenants can vary considerably from city to city. This pamphlet supplies general info about being a renter in Illinois. You ought to seek advice from an attorney or your town or county as they may provide you with higher defense under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between proprietor and renter emerges from an agreement, composed or oral, by which one party occupies the property of another with the owner's permission in return for the payment of particular quantity as rent.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies remain in writing and are called a lease. No specific words are needed to develop a lease, however generally the terms of a lease include a description of the realty, the length of the arrangement, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You must put your contract in writing to prevent future misconceptions.
  
  Provisions in a lease arrangement that protect a property owner from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property brought on by the neglect of the landlord are considered as protesting public policy and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other limitations and prohibition on particular lease terms, so you should seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy agreement is not in composing, the regard to the contract will, usually, be considered a month-to-month occupancy. The period is generally determined 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 may be tough to figure out, a celebration may be bound to the terms of an oral agreement just as much as a composed one.
  
  Termination of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement
  
  If a lease is not for a specific term, it may be ended by either celebration with appropriate notification.
  
  - For year-to-year tenancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either party may terminate the lease by providing 60 days of written notice at any time within the 4 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 composed notification to the other party.
• Farm leases usually run for one year. Customarily, they begin and end in March of each year. Notice to end need to be given at least four months before the end of the term.
• In all other lease contracts for a duration of less than one year, a party should offer 1 month of composed notice. Any notice provided should require termination on the last day of that rental period.
• The lease might likewise have stated requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In particular municipalities and counties, property managers are required to provide more than the above mentioned notice period for termination. You need to consult with a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  If the lease does specify a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notice is essential. Be conscious that your lease may likewise need notice of termination in a particular form or a higher notice duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords should note that no matter what the lease needs or specifies, you might be required to give more than the notice duration specified in the lease for termination and in writing. You need to talk to an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month tenancy usually just requires 30 days of notice by renter and a landlord is needed to serve a composed notification of termination of occupancy on the renter (see Service as needed area listed below). In certain municipalities and counties, proprietors are needed to give more than thirty days of notification, so you must talk to 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 arrangement of the celebrations. If a lease term expires and the proprietor 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 may require a particular notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You ought to examine your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and renters ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or mentions, property managers might also have limitations on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a tenant and are required to put such in writing. You should speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies immediately restore from month to month up until terminated by either proprietor or renter.
  
  Unless there is a written lease, a property manager can raise the rent by any amount by providing the tenant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week tenancy, thirty days of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In particular towns and counties, property owners are required to give more than 7 or 30 days of notice of a rental boost, so you ought to seek advice from talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a landlord does not have a right to self-help and must submit an eviction to get rid of 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 must serve a five-day notice upon the delinquent occupant unless the lease requires more than five days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the property owner may commence eviction procedures versus the tenant. If, nevertheless, the occupant pays the full amount of rent demanded in the five-day notice within those five days, the landlord may not proceed with an expulsion. The property owner is not needed, nevertheless, to accept lease that is less than the specific amount due. If the landlord accepts a tender of a lower amount of rent, it may affect the rights to continue under the notification.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a property owner wants to end a lease due to the fact that of an infraction of the lease arrangement by the renter, other than for non-payment of lease, she or he need to serve 10 days of composed notification upon the renter before eviction proceedings can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of rent after such notification is a waiver by the landlord 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, typically, a landlord might file an expulsion without having to very first serve a notification 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 occupant, so you need to seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Service on Demand Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notifications might be served upon occupant by providing a written 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 home, or sending a copy of the notification to the celebration by certified or signed up mail with a return invoice from the addressee. If nobody remains in the real belongings of the facilities, then posting notice on the facilities suffices.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, written leases forbid the tenant from subletting the facilities without the written authorization of the landlord. Such consent can not be unreasonably withheld, however the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then an occupant may sublease or appoint their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the occupant will remain responsible to the landlord unless the landlord launches the initial renter. A breach of the sublease will not change the initial relationship in between the property owner and renter.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the property owner has breached the lease by failing to satisfy their tasks under the lease, certain remedies occur in favor of the occupant:
  
  - The tenant may take legal action against the property manager for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
• If a property manager fails to preserve a rented residence in a livable condition, the tenant might have the ability to abandon the premises and terminate the lease under the theory of "constructive eviction."
• The failure of a property manager to maintain a leased home in a habitable condition or comply significantly with local housing codes may be a breach of the property owner's "implied warranty of habitability" (independent of any written lease arrangements or oral pledges), which the renter may 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 proprietor does not immediately entitle an occupant to withhold lease or a decrease in the rental worth. The commitment to pay rent continues as long as the renter remains in the leased properties and to assert this defense effectively, the renter will need to show that their damages resulting from proprietor's breach of this "implied service warranty" equivalent or go beyond the lease claimed due.
  
  A property owner's breach and renter's damages may be tough to show. Because of the restricted and technical nature of these guidelines, tenants must be very careful in withholding rent and should most likely do so only after speaking with a lawyer.
  
  Please note that specific towns or counties offer certain commitments and requirements that the proprietor must carry out. If a property manager stops working to adhere to such obligations or requirements, the renter may have additional remedies for such failure. You need to seek advice from with a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for particular breaches by renter, a property manager likewise has the following treatments:
  
  If lease is not paid, the property manager might: (1) demand the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any previous rent due. Under specific situations in the occasion of non-payment of rent the property owner may hold the furnishings and individual residential or commercial property of the tenant until previous lease is paid by the occupant.
  
  If an occupant stops working to vacate the leased property at the end of the lease term, the renter may become accountable for double lease for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The tenant can also be kicked out.
  
  If the occupant damages the premises, the property manager might demand the repair work of such damages.
  
  Please note that particular municipalities or counties offer certain obligations and requirements that the renter must meet. If a tenant fails to abide by such responsibilities or requirements, the landlord may have additional remedies for such failure. You must seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is illegal for a proprietor to discriminate in the leasing of a home home, flat, or house against prospective tenants who have kids under the age of 14. It is likewise unlawful for a property manager to discriminate against a tenant on the basis of race, faith, sex, national origin, income, sexual origination, gender identity, or disability.
  
  Down Payment, Move-in Fee
  
  Down payment. A tenant can be needed to deposit with the property manager an amount of cash prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is generally described as a security deposit. This cash is considered to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of lease. The security deposit does not alleviate the renter of the task to pay the last month's lease or for damage triggered to the properties. It must be returned to the occupant upon vacating the facilities if no damage has been done beyond typical wear and tear and the lease is fully paid.
  
  If a property owner fails to return the down payment quickly, the occupant can take legal action against to recuperate the part of the down payment to which the tenant is entitled. In some towns or counties and specific circumstances under state law, when a property owner wrongfully withholds a tenant's down payment the renter might be able to recuperate extra damages and lawyers' fees. You should seek advice from with a legal representative.
  
  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 furnishes to the tenant, within 30 days of the date the renter leaves, a declaration of damage allegedly brought on by the renter and the approximated or real cost of fixing or changing each item on that statement. If no such statement is furnished within 30 days, the proprietor needs to return the down payment completely within 45 days of the date the tenant abandoned.
  
  If a building consists of 25 or more domestic units, the property manager needs to 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 biggest bank in Illinois, as determined by total assets, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations concerning down payment are based upon state law. However, some towns or counties might impose additional responsibilities. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a proprietor should comply with when taking security deposits and provide steep charges when a landlord fails to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a down payment, a property manager may charge a move-in fee. Generally, there are no particular limitations on the quantity of a move-in fee, nevertheless, particular municipalities or counties do offer constraints. TIP: A move-in fee should be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be considered to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and tenant matters can become complex. Both landlord and occupant ought to seek advice from a lawyer for support with particular problems. To learn more about your rights and responsibilities as an occupant, including specific landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, contact your local bar association, or visit the Illinois Tenants Union at www.tenant.org.
  
  Additional Resources
  
  - Illinois Lawyer Finder: isba.org/public/illinoislawyerfinder 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
  investopedia.com
  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 public service. Every effort has been made to supply accurate information at the time of publication.