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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

At some point throughout their lives most individuals will be included with the rental of genuine estate, either as property manager or occupant. Laws that impact property owners and renters can differ substantially from city to city. This handout offers general information about being a tenant in Illinois. You should seek advice from with an attorney or your town or county as they might provide you with higher security under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship between property manager and tenant develops from an agreement, composed or oral, by which one party occupies the real estate of another with the owner's approval in return for the payment of particular quantity as rent.

Written Agreement: Most occupancies are in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are essential to create a lease, however typically the terms of a lease include a description of the genuine estate, the length of the arrangement, the quantity of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your arrangement in writing to prevent future misconceptions.

Provisions in a lease arrangement that secure a property owner from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property brought on by the neglect of the property owner are viewed as being against public policy and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other limitations and restriction on certain lease terms, so you need to seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.

Oral Agreement: If a tenancy agreement is not in composing, the term of the contract will, usually, be thought about a month-to-month tenancy. The period is usually determined 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 might be hard to figure out, a party 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, other than a lease of farmland, either party 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 might be terminated by either celebration by providing seven 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 terminate must be provided at least 4 months before the end of the term.
- In all other lease contracts for a duration of less than one year, a party needs to offer one month of written notice. Any notification given must call for 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 particular towns and counties, landlords are needed to provide more than the above mentioned notification period for termination. You need to consult with an attorney or your town or county.

If the lease does state a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is necessary. Be aware that your lease might also need notification of termination in a particular type or a higher notification duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords should keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or specifies, you might be needed to offer more than the notice period specified in the lease for termination and in composing. You need to seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Termination of a month-to-month tenancy generally only requires 1 month of notice by occupant and a property manager is needed to serve a composed notice of termination of tenancy on the renter (see Service on Demand area listed below). In specific municipalities and counties, proprietors are required to offer more than thirty days of notification, so you ought to speak with consult with 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 ends and the proprietor accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly ends up being month-to-month based upon the exact same terms set forth in the lease.

The lease may require a particular notification and timeframe for renewing the lease. You must evaluate your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and tenants need to note that no matter what the lease requires or states, property owners might also have limitations on how early they can require renewal of a lease by an occupant and are needed to put such in writing. You should consult with an attorney or your town or county.

Month-to-month occupancies immediately renew from month to month up until terminated by either property manager or renter.

Unless there is a written lease, a property owner can raise the lease by any quantity by providing the renter notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week occupancy, 30 days of notice for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In particular towns and counties, property owners are required to give more than seven or 30 days of notification of a rental boost, so you ought to seek advice from seek advice from 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 need to submit an expulsion 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 property manager must serve a five-day notice upon the delinquent renter unless the lease needs more than five days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the proprietor may commence expulsion proceedings versus the tenant. If, however, the occupant pays the complete amount of rent demanded in the five-day notification within those five days, the property owner may not continue with an expulsion. The proprietor is not needed, nevertheless, to accept rent that is less than the precise quantity due. If the landlord accepts a tender of a lower amount of rent, it might affect the rights to proceed under the notification.

10-Day Notice. If a property manager wants to terminate a lease due to the fact that 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 renter before expulsion proceedings can start, 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 experienced is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a renter remains beyond the lease expiration date, usually, a property owner might file an expulsion without having to very first serve a notification on the renter. However, the terms of the lease or in particular municipalities or counties, a property owner is needed to provide a notification of non-renewal to the occupant, so you need to seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Service as needed Notice

The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notices might be served upon renter by delivering a composed or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the very same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the celebration's residence, or sending out a copy of the notification to the party by accredited or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one remains in the actual belongings of the premises, then publishing notification on the properties is enough.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, written leases restrict the tenant from subletting the facilities without the written authorization of the property manager. Such approval can not be unreasonably withheld, but the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then an occupant may sublease or designate their lease to another. In such cases, however, the occupant will remain accountable to the proprietor unless the proprietor launches the original renter. A breach of the sublease will not alter the initial relationship between the property manager and tenant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the proprietor has actually breached the lease by failing to meet their responsibilities under the lease, particular remedies develop in favor of the tenant:

- The tenant may take legal action against the landlord for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
- If a property owner stops working to maintain a leased residence in a habitable condition, the occupant may have the ability to leave the facilities and terminate the lease under the theory of "positive eviction."
- The failure of a proprietor to keep a leased house in a livable condition or comply considerably with local housing codes may be a breach of the property owner's "implied guarantee of habitability" (independent of any written lease arrangements or oral pledges), which the renter might assert as a defense to an eviction based on the non-payment of rent or a claim for reduction in the rental value of the premises. However, breach by property manager does not automatically entitle a tenant to keep lease or a decrease in the rental value. The obligation to pay lease continues as long as the tenant remains in the leased facilities and to assert this defense successfully, the renter will have to show that their damages arising from property manager's breach of this "implied service warranty" equal or go beyond the rent claimed due.

A property manager's breach and occupant's damages might be tough to show. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these rules, renters ought to be very cautious in keeping rent and needs to probably do so only after speaking with an attorney.

Please note that particular municipalities or counties offer certain commitments and requirements that the landlord need to carry out. If a proprietor fails to abide by such commitments or requirements, the tenant might 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 particular breaches by tenant, a proprietor likewise has the following solutions:

If rent is not paid, the property manager may: (1) take legal action against for the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and gather any past rent due. Under specific scenarios in case of non-payment of rent the landlord might hold the furniture and individual residential or commercial property of the occupant till past lease is paid by the occupant.

If a renter stops working to vacate the leased premise at the end of the lease term, the tenant may become responsible for double rent for the duration of holdover if the holdover is considered to be willful. The occupant can also be kicked out.

If the renter harms the properties, the property owner might demand the repair of such damages.

Please note that particular towns or counties offer specific commitments and requirements that the occupant must fulfill. If a renter stops working to comply with such obligations or requirements, the landlord may have extra 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 unlawful for a proprietor to discriminate in the leasing of a home house, flat, or house versus potential occupants who have kids under the age of 14. It is likewise unlawful for a landlord to discriminate against an occupant on the basis of race, religious beliefs, sex, national origin, source of earnings, sexual origination, gender identity, or special needs.

Security Deposits, Move-in Fee

Down payment. An occupant can be required to deposit with the landlord an amount of cash prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is normally described as a down payment. This cash is deemed to be security for any damage to the facilities or non-payment of lease. The down payment does not relieve the occupant of the responsibility to pay the last month's lease or for damage caused to the facilities. It needs to be gone back to the occupant upon leaving the properties if no damage has actually been done beyond normal wear and tear and the lease is completely paid.

If a landlord stops working to return the down payment immediately, the occupant can sue to recuperate the part of the down payment to which the tenant is entitled. In some towns or counties and certain situations under state law, when a property owner wrongfully withholds an occupant's security deposit the tenant may have the ability to recover additional damages and attorneys' fees. You need to speak with a lawyer.

Generally, a property manager who receives a security deposit might not withhold any part of that deposit as settlement for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within 1 month of the date the renter abandons, a statement of damage supposedly brought on by the occupant and the estimated or actual cost of repairing or changing each item on that declaration. If no such statement is furnished within one month, the property owner should return the down payment in full within 45 days of the date the renter left.

If a building consists of 25 or more property units, the landlord should 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 statements relating to down payment are based upon state law. However, some towns or counties may impose additional responsibilities. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a landlord must adhere to when taking security deposits and provide high penalties when a landlord fails to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a down payment, a landlord might charge a move-in charge. Generally, there are no specific constraints on the quantity of a move-in cost, nevertheless, particular municipalities or counties do offer restrictions. TIP: A move-in charge ought to be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be considered to be a down payment.

Landlord and tenant matters can end up being complex. Both landlord and renter should seek advice from an attorney for assistance with specific problems. For more details about your rights and obligations as a tenant, consisting of particular landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, call your regional bar association, or go to 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 prepared and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has actually been made to supply accurate details at the time of publication.