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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

Eventually throughout their lives many people will be involved with the leasing of property, either as landlord or renter. Laws that affect property managers and renters can vary considerably from city to city. This handout provides general details about being a renter in Illinois. You must seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county as they may supply you with greater defense under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship in between property manager and renter emerges from an arrangement, composed 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 lease.

Written Agreement: Most occupancies are in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are necessary to produce a lease, but normally the regards to a lease include a description of the property, the length of the contract, the quantity of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You should put your contract in composing to prevent future misunderstandings.

Provisions in a lease contract that secure a property owner from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property brought on by the negligence of the property manager are deemed protesting public policy and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other limitations and prohibition on certain lease terms, so you ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy agreement is not in composing, the term of the arrangement will, generally, be thought about a month-to-month occupancy. The duration 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 might be hard to determine, 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 ended by either party with appropriate notification.

- For year-to-year tenancies, other than a lease of farmland, either celebration might end the lease by giving 60 days of written notification at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
- A week-to-week tenancy might be terminated by either party by providing seven days of written notification to the other party.
- Farm leases usually run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate should be offered at least 4 months before completion of the term.
- In all other lease contracts for a duration of less than one year, a celebration should provide 30 days of composed notice. Any notification provided 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 towns and counties, property managers are required to provide more than the above mentioned notice duration for termination. You should talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.

If the lease does mention a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notice is required. Know that your lease may likewise need notification of termination in a specific type or a greater notice duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords must note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, you might be needed to give more than the notification duration mentioned in the lease for termination and in composing. You must speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Termination of a month-to-month tenancy generally only needs 1 month of notice by occupant and a property owner is required to serve a written notification of termination of tenancy on the tenant (see Service as needed area listed below). In specific municipalities and counties, property owners are required to give more than 1 month of notice, so you need to consult with seek advice from a lawyer 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 contract of the celebrations. If a lease term expires and the proprietor accepts rent following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly becomes month-to-month based upon the exact same terms stated in the lease.

The lease might need a particular notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You should review your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and tenants ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or mentions, landlords may likewise have constraints on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a renter and are needed to put such in writing. You need to talk to an attorney or your town or county.

Month-to-month tenancies immediately restore from month to month until terminated by either property manager or tenant.

Unless there is a written lease, a proprietor can raise the lease by any quantity by providing the renter notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week tenancy, 30 days of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In particular municipalities and counties, property managers are needed to give more than 7 or thirty days of notice of a rental boost, so you need to speak with talk to a lawyer 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 need to submit an expulsion to get rid of an occupant or resident from the premises.

Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of rent. In this case the proprietor should serve a five-day notice upon the overdue occupant unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the property manager may start expulsion procedures versus the renter. If, however, the renter pays the total of lease demanded in the five-day notice within those five days, the proprietor might not continue with an expulsion. The proprietor is not needed, nevertheless, to accept rent that is less than the exact quantity due. If the property owner accepts a tender of a lower amount of lease, it might affect the rights to continue under the notification.

10-Day Notice. If a property owner wishes to end a lease due to the fact that of an offense of the lease arrangement by the renter, aside from for non-payment of rent, he or she must serve 10 days of composed notice upon the tenant before eviction procedures can begin, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of lease after such notice is a waiver by the landlord 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 proprietor 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 manager is required to supply a notification of non-renewal to the renter, so you must talk to an attorney or your town or county.

Service as needed 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 party's house, or sending a copy of the notice to the party by certified or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody remains in the real possession of the premises, then posting notification on the premises is adequate.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, composed leases forbid the occupant from subletting the facilities without the composed consent of the landlord. Such permission can not be unreasonably kept, however the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a renter might sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the renter will stay accountable to the property owner unless the proprietor releases the original tenant. A breach of the sublease will not alter the preliminary relationship between the proprietor and occupant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the landlord has breached the lease by stopping working to satisfy their duties under the lease, certain remedies occur in favor of the tenant:

- The occupant might take legal action against the property owner for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
- If a property owner stops working to keep a rented house in a habitable condition, the tenant might be able to leave the facilities and terminate the lease under the theory of "constructive eviction."
- The failure of a property owner to preserve a leased home in a habitable condition or comply considerably with local housing codes might be a breach of the proprietor's "suggested service warranty of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral guarantees), which the renter may assert as a defense to an eviction based on the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the properties. However, breach by property owner does not automatically entitle a tenant to withhold lease or a reduction in the rental value. The obligation to pay lease continues as long as the renter stays in the leased facilities and to assert this defense effectively, the occupant will have to reveal that their damages arising from property manager's breach of this "implied service warranty" equal or exceed the lease claimed due.

A proprietor's breach and tenant's damages might be difficult to prove. Because of the limited and technical nature of these rules, tenants must be very careful in withholding rent and ought to most likely do so only after speaking with a lawyer.

Please note that specific towns or counties offer specific 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 certain breaches by occupant, a landlord likewise has the following treatments:

If rent is not paid, the proprietor might: (1) demand the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and collect any previous rent due. Under specific scenarios in case of non-payment of lease the proprietor may hold the furnishings and individual residential or commercial property of the renter till previous rent is paid by the occupant.

If a renter stops working to leave the rented facility at the end of the lease term, the renter might end up being responsible for double lease for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The occupant can also be evicted.

If the occupant harms the premises, the proprietor might demand the repair work of such damages.

Please note that certain municipalities or counties offer certain obligations and requirements that the renter need to meet. If an occupant stops working to abide by such obligations or requirements, the proprietor might have extra solutions for such failure. You ought to talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.

Discrimination

Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is unlawful for a proprietor to discriminate in the leasing of a home house, flat, or house against potential occupants who have kids under the age of 14. It is likewise unlawful for a property manager to discriminate versus a tenant on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, income source, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.

Security Deposits, Move-in Fee

Security Deposit. A tenant can be required to deposit with the property manager an amount of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is normally referred to as a security deposit. This cash is considered to be security for any damage to the facilities or non-payment of lease. The down payment does not eliminate the tenant of the responsibility to pay the last month's lease or for damage triggered to the facilities. It must be returned to the tenant upon abandoning the premises if no damage has actually been done beyond typical wear and tear and the lease is completely paid.

If a property manager fails to return the security deposit promptly, the tenant can sue to recuperate the portion of the down payment to which the renter is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and particular circumstances under state law, when a proprietor wrongfully keeps a tenant's down payment the renter might have the ability to recover additional damages and lawyers' charges. You should talk to an attorney.

Generally, a landlord who receives a down payment may not keep any part of that deposit as payment for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the occupant, within 30 days of the date the tenant vacates, a statement of damage allegedly brought on by the occupant and the approximated or actual expense of repairing or changing each item on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within 30 days, the proprietor must return the down payment in full within 45 days of the date the occupant left.

If a building contains 25 or more residential systems, the property owner must 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 identified by total assets, on a passbook security account.

The above declarations concerning security deposits are based upon state law. However, some municipalities or counties might impose additional commitments. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a proprietor should abide by when taking down payment and offer steep charges when a property owner fails to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a down payment, a property owner may charge a move-in fee. Generally, there are no specific restrictions on the amount of a move-in fee, however, certain towns or counties do offer constraints. TIP: A move-in fee should be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be deemed to be a security deposit.

Landlord and tenant matters can become complex. Both proprietor and renter ought to speak with a lawyer for assistance with particular problems. For additional information about your rights and responsibilities as an occupant, consisting of specific landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, contact your local bar association, or check out 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 provide precise details at the time of publication.