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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some time throughout their lives many people will be included with the rental of genuine estate, either as property owner or tenant. Laws that impact property managers and tenants can vary significantly from city to city. This handout provides basic info about being an occupant in Illinois. You need to speak with an attorney or your town or county as they might supply you with greater security under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship between property owner and occupant develops from a contract, composed or oral, by which one party inhabits the property 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 specific words are needed to produce a lease, however usually the terms of a lease include a description of the property, the length of the contract, the amount of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You need to put your agreement in composing to avoid future misconceptions.
  
  Provisions in a lease agreement that secure a property owner from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property triggered by the neglect of the property owner are viewed as protesting public law and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other limitations and prohibition on specific lease terms, so you should talk to an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If a tenancy arrangement is not in composing, the term of the contract will, typically, be considered a month-to-month occupancy. The period is generally identified 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 figure out, a party might be bound to the regards to an oral arrangement just 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 ended by either celebration with appropriate notice.
  
  - For year-to-year occupancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either party may end the lease by providing 60 days of written notice at any time within the four months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
• A week-to-week tenancy may be ended by either celebration by giving 7 days of composed notice to the other celebration.
• Farm leases normally run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end need to be offered at least four months before the end of the term.
• In all other lease contracts for a duration of less than one year, a celebration should offer 1 month of written notification. Any notice offered ought to call for termination on the last day of that rental duration.
• The lease may also have actually mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
• In particular towns and counties, property owners are needed to give more than the above specified notice duration for termination. You should talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  If the lease does state a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is needed. Be aware that your lease may also need notice of termination in a specific type or a greater notification period than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords should note that no matter what the lease needs or specifies, you may be needed to give more than the notification duration specified in the lease for termination and in composing. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month tenancy usually only needs 1 month of notice by tenant and a proprietor is needed to serve a composed notice of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service as needed section listed below). In specific towns and counties, landlords are required to provide more than 30 days of notification, so you need to consult with seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases
  
  Generally, a lease might be restored at any time by oral or written agreement of the celebrations. If a lease term expires and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term automatically ends up being month-to-month based on the very same terms stated in the lease.
  
  The lease may require a specific notice and timeframe for restoring the lease. You need to evaluate your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and renters must note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, landlords may also have limitations 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 an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Month-to-month tenancies instantly restore from month to month till ended by either proprietor or renter.
  
  Unless there is a written lease, a property manager can raise the lease by any quantity by giving the renter notification: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week tenancy, 30 days of notification for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In specific towns and counties, property managers are required to give more than 7 or one month of notification of a rental boost, so you ought to seek advice from talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession
  
  In Illinois, a property manager does not have a right to self-help and must submit an expulsion to remove a renter or resident from the facilities.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the property owner should serve a five-day notification upon the delinquent tenant unless the lease requires more than five days of notification. Five days after such notice is served, the landlord might start eviction proceedings versus the occupant. If, however, the occupant pays the total of lease demanded in the five-day notification within those five days, the property owner might not continue with an eviction. The property manager is not needed, however, to accept rent that is less than the exact amount due. If the property manager accepts a tender of a lesser quantity of lease, it may affect the rights to continue under the notification.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a landlord wishes to terminate a lease since of an offense of the lease contract by the renter, besides for non-payment of lease, he or she should serve 10 days of composed notice upon the occupant before expulsion procedures can start, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notice is a waiver by the landlord of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach experienced is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If a tenant remains beyond the lease expiration date, usually, a property owner might file an expulsion without needing to first serve a notice on the renter. However, the regards to the lease or in certain municipalities or counties, a landlord is needed to supply a notice of non-renewal to the occupant, so you should talk to an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Service on Demand Notice
  
  The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notifications may be served upon renter by providing a composed or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the exact same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the celebration's home, or sending a copy of the notification to the celebration by licensed or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody remains in the actual ownership of the facilities, then publishing notice on the facilities is enough.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, composed leases prohibit the tenant from subletting the facilities without the composed authorization of the landlord. Such consent can not be unreasonably withheld, but the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a renter may sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, however, the occupant will stay responsible to the landlord unless the landlord releases the initial occupant. A breach of the sublease will not change the preliminary relationship in between the landlord and occupant.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the landlord has breached the lease by stopping working to fulfill their responsibilities under the lease, specific treatments occur in favor of the renter:
  
  - The tenant may take legal action against the landlord for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
• If a landlord fails to maintain a rented home in a livable condition, the tenant might have the ability to leave the properties and end the lease under the theory of "positive eviction."
• The failure of a property owner to keep a leased house in a livable condition or comply significantly with regional housing codes might be a breach of the proprietor's "indicated warranty of habitability" (independent of any composed lease arrangements or oral guarantees), which the renter might assert as a defense to an eviction based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the premises. However, breach by property owner does not automatically entitle a tenant to keep rent or a decrease in the rental value. The responsibility to pay rent continues as long as the renter stays in the leased premises and to assert this defense effectively, the renter will need to reveal that their damages arising from landlord's breach of this "implied warranty" equal or surpass the rent claimed due.
  
  A property owner's breach and renter's damages might be difficult to prove. Because of the restricted and technical nature of these guidelines, renters should be exceptionally mindful in keeping rent and ought to probably do so just after seeking advice from an attorney.
  
  Please note that specific municipalities or counties attend to particular commitments and requirements that the proprietor must carry out. If a property owner stops working to abide by such obligations or requirements, the occupant might have additional treatments for such failure. You ought to seek advice from 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 remedies:
  
  If rent is not paid, the landlord might: (1) sue for the rent due or to become due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and collect any past rent due. Under certain situations in the occasion of non-payment of lease the landlord may hold the furnishings and personal residential or commercial property of the tenant till previous rent is paid by the renter.
  
  If a renter stops working to leave the rented facility at the end of the lease term, the tenant may become liable for double lease for the duration of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The renter can also be forced out.
  
  If the occupant damages the premises, the landlord may demand the repair of such damages.
  
  Please note that certain towns or counties offer for certain responsibilities and requirements that the occupant should satisfy. If a tenant fails to abide by such responsibilities or requirements, the proprietor may have extra solutions for such failure. You ought to speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Discrimination
  
  Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is unlawful for a landlord to discriminate in the leasing of a residence home, flat, or home versus potential renters who have kids under the age of 14. It is likewise illegal for a property manager to discriminate versus a tenant on the basis of race, faith, sex, national origin, source of income, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.
  
  Down Payment, Move-in Fee
  
  Down payment. A tenant can be needed to deposit with the property owner an amount of money prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is normally described as a down payment. This money is considered to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of rent. The down payment does not alleviate the renter of the task to pay the last month's lease or for damage caused to the premises. It needs to be gone back to the renter upon abandoning the premises if no damage has been done beyond typical wear and tear and the rent is completely paid.
  
  If a property manager stops working to return the security deposit without delay, the occupant can take legal action against to recuperate the portion of the down payment to which the tenant is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and certain scenarios under state law, when a proprietor wrongfully withholds an occupant's down payment the renter may be able to recuperate extra damages and lawyers' fees. You must consult with a lawyer.
  
  Generally, a property manager who gets a down payment may not keep any part of that deposit as for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within thirty days of the date the occupant abandons, a declaration of damage apparently triggered by the renter and the estimated or actual expense of repairing or changing each item on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within one month, the proprietor should return the down payment in full within 45 days of the date the occupant left.
  
  If a structure consists of 25 or more property units, the landlord must 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 properties, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above declarations concerning security deposits are based on state law. However, some towns or counties may enforce extra responsibilities. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a property owner must abide by when taking down payment and offer high penalties when a proprietor stops working to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a down payment, a property owner might charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no particular constraints on the amount of a move-in cost, nevertheless, specific municipalities or counties do supply constraints. TIP: A move-in charge should be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be considered to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and tenant matters can end up being complex. Both property manager and occupant should seek advice from an attorney for help with specific issues. For additional information about your rights and responsibilities as an occupant, consisting of specific landlord-tenant laws in your municipality 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
  didik.com
  Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section (2024 )
  
  This pamphlet is prepared and released by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has actually been made to provide precise info at the time of publication.