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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

At some time throughout their lives most people will be included with the leasing of realty, either as proprietor or tenant. Laws that impact property owners and tenants can differ substantially from city to city. This pamphlet offers general info about being a tenant in Illinois. You ought to speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county as they may supply you with greater defense under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship between property manager and tenant occurs from an agreement, written or oral, by which one celebration inhabits the property of another with the owner's consent in return for the payment of certain quantity as lease.

Written Agreement: Most tenancies are in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are required to create a lease, however generally the regards to a lease include a description of the realty, the length of the contract, the quantity of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You should put your agreement in writing to prevent future misunderstandings.

Provisions in a lease contract that protect a proprietor from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property brought on by the carelessness of the proprietor are seen as protesting public policy and are therefore unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other restrictions and restriction on certain lease terms, so you should seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy agreement is not in composing, the term of the agreement will, usually, be thought about a month-to-month tenancy. The duration is normally 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 challenging to identify, a celebration might be bound to the terms of an oral arrangement just as much as a written one.

Termination of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement

If a lease is not for a specific term, it may be terminated by either party with proper notice.

- For year-to-year tenancies, besides a lease of farmland, either party may end the lease by providing 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 may be ended by either celebration by offering 7 days of composed notification to the other celebration.
- Farm leases normally run for one year. Customarily, they begin and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate should be provided a minimum of four months before the end of the term.
- In all other lease arrangements for a duration of less than one year, a celebration must provide 30 days of composed notice. Any notice offered should call for termination on the last day of that rental duration.
- The lease may also have mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
- In certain municipalities and counties, landlords are required to give more than the above mentioned notice period for termination. You should speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.

If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is necessary. Know that your lease might likewise need notice of termination in a specific form or a greater notification period than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, you may be required to provide more than the notice duration mentioned in the lease for termination and in writing. You ought to seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Termination of a month-to-month tenancy usually only requires 30 days of notification by renter and a property owner is needed to serve a composed notice of termination of occupancy on the renter (see Service as needed area listed below). In certain municipalities and counties, property managers are required to provide more than 30 days of notification, so you ought to seek advice from talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.

Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases

Generally, a lease might be restored at any time by oral or written arrangement of the celebrations. If a lease term ends and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term automatically becomes month-to-month based upon the exact same terms stated in the lease.

The lease may need a specific notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You need to examine your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and occupants need to note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, property owners may likewise have limitations on how early they can need renewal of a lease by an occupant and are needed to put such in writing. You should consult with a lawyer or your town or county.

Month-to-month occupancies instantly renew from month to month up until ended by either landlord or renter.

Unless there is a written lease, a landlord can raise the lease by any quantity by giving the tenant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week occupancy, 30 days of notification for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In particular municipalities and counties, property owners are required to offer more than seven or 1 month of notification of a rental increase, so you should speak with seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a property owner does not have a right to self-help and must file an expulsion to get rid of a tenant or occupant from the properties.

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

10-Day Notice. If a landlord wants to terminate a lease because of an offense of the lease contract by the renter, aside from for non-payment of rent, she or he must serve 10 days of written notice upon the occupant before eviction procedures can start, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notice is a waiver by the proprietor of the right to end the lease unless the breach grumbled of is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If an occupant remains beyond the lease expiration date, typically, a landlord might submit an eviction without needing to first serve a notification on the tenant. However, the regards to the lease or in particular towns or counties, a proprietor is needed to supply a notice of non-renewal to the renter, so you need to talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Service on Demand Notice

The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notifications might be served upon tenant by providing a composed or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the same with some individual above the age of 13 years who lives at the party's home, or sending a copy of the notice to the party by accredited or registered mail with a return invoice from the addressee. If no one is in the real belongings of the facilities, then publishing notification on the facilities is enough.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

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

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the property manager has actually breached the lease by stopping working to satisfy their responsibilities under the lease, specific remedies arise in favor of the occupant:

- The occupant may take legal action against the landlord for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
- If a property manager fails to preserve a rented house in a livable condition, the tenant may be able to abandon the premises and terminate the lease under the theory of "constructive expulsion."
- The failure of a property manager to keep a leased house in a livable condition or comply considerably with local housing codes might be a breach of the property owner's "indicated warranty of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral pledges), which the renter may assert as a defense to an expulsion based on the non-payment of rent or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the premises. However, breach by property manager does not automatically entitle a tenant to withhold rent or a reduction in the rental value. The responsibility to pay rent continues as long as the occupant stays in the rented properties and to assert this defense effectively, the renter will have to reveal that their damages arising from proprietor's breach of this "implied guarantee" equivalent or surpass the lease declared due.

A landlord's breach and tenant's damages might be challenging to show. Because of the limited and technical nature of these rules, occupants should be very careful in keeping rent and should probably do so only after speaking with an attorney.

Please note that particular towns or counties supply for certain responsibilities and requirements that the proprietor should perform. If a property manager fails to comply with such commitments or requirements, the occupant might have extra treatments 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 renter, a property manager also has the following solutions:

If rent is not paid, the proprietor may: (1) sue for the lease due or to become due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any previous lease due. Under certain scenarios in the occasion of non-payment of rent the property manager may hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the tenant up until previous lease is paid by the tenant.

If a renter stops working to vacate the rented property at the end of the lease term, the tenant 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 tenant harms the properties, the proprietor might demand the repair work of such damages.

Please note that particular towns or counties attend to specific obligations and requirements that the occupant need to meet. If an occupant fails to comply with such obligations or requirements, the proprietor might have additional treatments for such failure. You need to speak with a lawyer or your town 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 against prospective renters who have children under the age of 14. It is also illegal for a landlord to victimize a renter on the basis of race, faith, sex, nationwide origin, income, sexual origination, gender identity, or special needs.

Down Payment, Move-in Fee

Security Deposit. An occupant can be needed to deposit with the proprietor an amount of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is usually described as a security deposit. This cash is deemed to be security for any damage to the facilities or non-payment of rent. The down payment does not relieve the occupant of the responsibility to pay the last month's rent or for damage caused to the facilities. It must be gone back to the tenant upon vacating the facilities if no damage has actually been done beyond regular wear and tear and the rent is completely paid.

If a property manager stops working to return the security deposit promptly, the renter can take legal action against to recover the portion of the down payment to which the renter is entitled. In some towns or counties and particular scenarios under state law, when a landlord wrongfully withholds an occupant's security deposit the tenant might be able to recover additional damages and lawyers' fees. You must seek advice from with a legal representative.

Generally, a proprietor who gets a down payment might not withhold any part of that deposit as compensation for residential or commercial property damage unless he furnishes to the occupant, within one month of the date the tenant abandons, a declaration of damage apparently triggered by the occupant and the approximated or actual cost of fixing or replacing each item on that declaration. If no such statement is provided within 1 month, the property owner must return the security deposit in complete within 45 days of the date the tenant left.

If a building contains 25 or more residential units, the landlord must also 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 figured out by total possessions, 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 example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a landlord need to adhere to when taking security deposits and supply steep charges when a landlord fails to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a security deposit, a property manager might charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no particular restrictions on the quantity of a move-in cost, nevertheless, particular municipalities or counties do provide restrictions. TIP: A move-in cost must be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be considered to be a security deposit.

Landlord and renter matters can become complex. Both property owner and occupant should seek advice from an attorney for support with specific problems. For additional information about your rights and responsibilities as a tenant, consisting of particular landlord-tenant laws in your town 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 handout is ready and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has actually been made to supply precise info at the time of publication.