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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

At some time during their lives the majority of individuals will be involved with the leasing of genuine estate, either as property owner or renter. Laws that affect property managers and occupants can vary considerably from city to city. This pamphlet provides basic info about being a renter in Illinois. You should consult with a lawyer or your town or county as they may provide you with higher security under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship between property manager and occupant arises from a contract, written or oral, by which one party occupies the realty of another with the owner's approval in return for the payment of specific quantity as rent.

Written Agreement: Most occupancies are in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are necessary to create a lease, however usually the terms of a lease include a description of the real estate, the length of the agreement, the quantity of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You need to put your arrangement in writing to avoid future misunderstandings.

Provisions in a lease contract that protect a property manager from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property brought on by the carelessness of the property manager are seen as protesting public law and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other limitations and prohibition on certain lease terms, so you must speak with an attorney or your town or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy contract is not in writing, the term of the arrangement will, normally, be thought about a month-to-month occupancy. The period is typically figured out 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 might be difficult to determine, a party may be bound to the terms of an oral contract just 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 notice.

- For year-to-year occupancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either celebration may terminate the lease by offering 60 days of written notification at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
A week-to-week occupancy may be ended by either party by providing 7 days of composed notification to the other celebration.
Farm leases typically run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end should be given at least 4 months before completion of the term.
In all other lease contracts for a period of less than one year, a celebration needs to provide thirty days of written notice. Any notice provided need to call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
The lease might also have actually mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
In specific municipalities and counties, landlords are needed to give more than the above specified notice duration for termination. You need to seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county.

If the lease does specify a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notification is essential. Be mindful that your lease may likewise need notice of termination in a particular type or a higher notice duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords must keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or mentions, you might be needed to give more than the notice period mentioned in the lease for termination and in composing. You should consult with a lawyer or your town or county.

Termination of a month-to-month tenancy generally only requires thirty days of notification by occupant and a property manager is needed to serve a composed notice of termination of tenancy on the tenant (see Service on Demand area below). In specific towns and counties, proprietors are needed to give more than 1 month of notification, so you must speak with seek advice from an attorney 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 contract of the parties. If a lease term ends and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately becomes month-to-month based upon the same terms set forth in the lease.

The lease might require a particular notification and timeframe for restoring the lease. You need to evaluate your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and renters must keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or mentions, property managers may also have restrictions on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a renter and are needed to put such in writing. You should speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

Month-to-month tenancies automatically restore from month to month till ended by either property owner or occupant.

Unless there is a written lease, a property manager can raise the rent by any amount by providing the renter notice: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week occupancy, thirty days of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In certain municipalities and counties, proprietors are required to offer more than 7 or one month of notification of a rental boost, so you should seek advice from with talk to a lawyer or your town or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a proprietor does not have a right to self-help and must file an expulsion to eliminate 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 property owner should serve a five-day notification upon the delinquent occupant unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notification. Five days after such notice is served, the property manager might start eviction procedures against the occupant. If, however, the tenant pays the total of lease required in the five-day notification within those 5 days, the landlord might not continue with an expulsion. The landlord is not needed, however, to accept lease that is less than the precise quantity due. If the proprietor accepts a tender of a lower quantity of rent, it may impact the rights to proceed 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 renter, aside from for non-payment of rent, he or she need to serve 10 days of composed notification upon the tenant before eviction procedures can start, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of lease after such notice 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 stays beyond the lease expiration date, typically, a landlord may file an expulsion without needing to first serve a notice on the tenant. However, the terms of the lease or in specific municipalities or counties, a proprietor is required to provide a notification of non-renewal to the tenant, so you need 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 tenant, leaving the exact same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the party's house, or sending out a copy of the notification to the celebration by licensed or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one is in the actual belongings of the facilities, then posting notification on the properties is enough.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, composed leases restrict the tenant from subletting the premises without the composed permission of the proprietor. Such consent can not be unreasonably withheld, however the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then a renter might sublease or appoint their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the renter will remain accountable to the proprietor unless the landlord launches the initial occupant. A breach of the sublease will not change the initial relationship between the property owner and renter.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the landlord has breached the lease by stopping working to fulfill their duties under the lease, certain remedies emerge in favor of the occupant:

- The tenant may take legal action against the proprietor for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
If a property manager stops working to preserve a rented residence in a habitable condition, the tenant may have the ability to abandon the properties and terminate the lease under the theory of "positive expulsion."
The failure of a proprietor to maintain a leased residence in a habitable condition or comply significantly with local housing codes might be a breach of the landlord's "implied warranty of habitability" (independent of any composed lease arrangements or oral promises), which the occupant may assert as a defense to an expulsion based upon the non-payment of lease or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the premises. However, breach by property owner does not immediately entitle an occupant to keep lease or a reduction in the rental worth. The commitment to pay rent continues as long as the occupant stays in the leased properties and to assert this defense effectively, the occupant will need to show that their damages arising from proprietor's breach of this "implied guarantee" equal or surpass the rent declared due.

A landlord's breach and tenant's damages may be hard to prove. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these guidelines, tenants ought to be very careful in withholding rent and should probably do so only after consulting an attorney.

Please note that certain towns or counties attend to specific responsibilities and requirements that the proprietor must carry out. If a proprietor fails to abide by such obligations or requirements, the renter might have extra treatments for such failure. You need to talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

In addition to termination for certain breaches by renter, a property manager also has the following remedies:

If lease is not paid, the landlord may: (1) sue for the lease due or to become due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and collect any previous lease due. Under certain situations in the event of non-payment of rent the property owner may hold the furniture and individual residential or commercial property of the renter until previous lease is paid by the renter.

If a renter stops working to vacate the leased property at the end of the lease term, the tenant might become accountable for double lease for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The renter can likewise be kicked out.

If the renter harms the properties, the landlord may take legal action against for the repair of such damages.

Please note that specific municipalities or counties offer particular commitments and requirements that the tenant should meet. If an occupant stops working to comply with such obligations or requirements, the property manager may have extra remedies for such failure. You should talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Discrimination

Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is illegal for a property owner to discriminate in the leasing of a residence home, flat, or apartment or condo against potential tenants who have children under the age of 14. It is likewise illegal for a property owner to discriminate versus a renter on the basis of race, faith, sex, nationwide origin, income source, sexual origination, gender identity, or disability.

Down Payment, Move-in Fee

Security Deposit. A renter can be required to deposit with the property manager a sum of cash prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is usually referred to as a down payment. This money is deemed to be security for any damage to the premises or non-payment of rent. The down payment does not relieve the occupant of the task to pay the last month's rent or for damage triggered to the properties. It needs to be returned to the tenant upon abandoning the premises if no damage has been done beyond typical wear and tear and the lease is totally paid.

If a property manager stops working to return the security deposit immediately, the occupant can take legal action against to recuperate the portion of the down payment to which the renter is entitled. In some towns or counties and particular situations under state law, when a property manager wrongfully keeps a renter's down payment the tenant may have the ability to recover additional damages and attorneys' costs. You must seek advice from a lawyer.

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 furnishes to the tenant, within 30 days of the date the tenant leaves, a statement of damage apparently brought on by the tenant and the estimated or actual expense of fixing or replacing each item on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within thirty days, the proprietor must return the security deposit in complete within 45 days of the date the renter left.

If a structure consists of 25 or more domestic units, the property owner should likewise pay interest on the deposit from the date it was paid, if held more than 67 months. Interest is determined at the rate paid by the biggest bank in Illinois, as identified by total assets, on a passbook security account.

The above declarations relating to security deposits are based upon state law. However, some towns or counties might impose extra commitments. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a landlord should abide by when taking down and offer high charges when a property manager fails to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a security deposit, a landlord may charge a move-in fee. Generally, there are no specific constraints on the amount of a move-in cost, nevertheless, certain municipalities or counties do provide restrictions. TIP: A move-in fee needs to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be considered to be a down payment.

Landlord and occupant matters can end up being complex. Both proprietor and tenant should seek advice from an attorney for help with particular problems. To find out more about your rights and responsibilities as a renter, including particular landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, contact 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 pamphlet is prepared and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has been made to supply accurate details at the time of publication.