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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

At some point during their lives the majority of people will be included with the rental of genuine estate, either as property manager or occupant. Laws that impact landlords and occupants can differ considerably from city to city. This pamphlet supplies basic information about being an occupant in Illinois. You should talk to a lawyer or your municipality or county as they may offer you with greater protection under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

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

Written Agreement: Most occupancies remain in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are essential to create a lease, however normally the regards to a lease consist of a description of the realty, the length of the agreement, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You must put your agreement in writing to avoid future misconceptions.

Provisions in a lease agreement that protect a landlord from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property triggered by the carelessness of the landlord are seen as being versus public policy and are therefore unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other limitations and restriction on specific lease terms, so you ought to seek advice from with an attorney or your town or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy agreement is not in composing, the regard to the contract will, typically, be considered a month-to-month occupancy. The duration is generally determined by the frequency of the rental payments. For example: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the terms of an oral lease might be hard to figure out, a celebration might be bound to the regards to an oral agreement just 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 celebration with appropriate notification.

- For year-to-year tenancies, besides a lease of farmland, either celebration may terminate the lease by providing 60 days of composed 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 seven days of written notification to the other party.
- Farm leases generally run for one year. Customarily, they begin and end in March of each year. Notice to end must be given a minimum of 4 months before the end of the term.
- In all other lease contracts for a duration of less than one year, a celebration should give 30 days of composed notice. Any notice provided must call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
- The lease might also have actually specified requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
- In certain towns and counties, property managers are required to provide more than the above stated notice duration for termination. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.

If the lease does specify a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notification is required. Know that your lease may likewise need notification of termination in a particular type or a greater notification period than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords ought to note that no matter what the lease requires or states, you might be needed to offer more than the notification period mentioned in the lease for termination and in writing. You need to speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

Termination of a month-to-month tenancy normally just requires 30 days of notification by occupant and a landlord is needed to serve a composed notification of termination of tenancy on the occupant (see Service as needed area below). In certain towns and counties, landlords are required to give more than one month of notification, so you ought to talk to talk to an attorney or your town or county.

Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases

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

The lease might require a particular notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You should evaluate your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and renters must keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or mentions, property managers might also have restrictions on how early they can require renewal of a lease by an occupant and are required to put such in writing. You should seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Month-to-month occupancies immediately restore from month to month till ended by either property owner or occupant.

Unless there is a composed lease, a property manager can raise the lease by any quantity by providing the occupant notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week tenancy, thirty days of notification for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In specific towns and counties, property managers are needed to give more than 7 or 1 month of notice of a rental boost, so you ought to seek advice from consult with a lawyer or your town or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a property owner does not have a right to self-help and need to file an eviction to get rid of a tenant or resident from the premises.

Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the property manager need to serve a five-day notification upon the overdue tenant unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notice. Five days after such notification is served, the proprietor might begin eviction proceedings versus the tenant. If, however, the tenant pays the complete amount of rent demanded in the five-day notice within those five days, the landlord might not continue with an eviction. The property owner is not required, however, to accept rent that is less than the specific quantity due. If the landlord accepts a tender of a lower quantity of rent, it may impact the rights to continue under the notice.

10-Day Notice. If a landlord wishes to end a lease due to the fact that of an offense of the lease agreement by the tenant, aside from for non-payment of lease, he or she must serve 10 days of composed notice upon the occupant before eviction procedures can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of lease after such notification is a waiver by the proprietor of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach experienced is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a renter remains beyond the lease expiration date, typically, a property owner may submit an expulsion without having to first serve a notification on the renter. However, the terms of the lease or in specific municipalities or counties, a property owner is needed to supply a notification of non-renewal to the occupant, so you should speak with 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 tenant by providing a composed or printed copy to the tenant, leaving the exact same with some individual above the age of 13 years who lives at the celebration's house, or sending a copy of the notification to the celebration by certified or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one remains in the real possession of the facilities, then posting notification on the premises suffices.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, written leases forbid the occupant from subletting the properties without the composed authorization of the property manager. Such approval can not be unreasonably withheld, but the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a tenant may sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, however, the occupant will stay accountable to the property owner unless the property owner launches the original tenant. A breach of the sublease will not alter the preliminary relationship in between the proprietor and occupant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the landlord has actually breached the lease by failing to meet their tasks under the lease, particular remedies occur in favor of the tenant:

- The occupant might sue the proprietor for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
- If a property owner stops working to keep a rented home in a habitable condition, the renter might have the ability to abandon the properties and terminate the lease under the theory of "constructive eviction."
- The failure of a landlord to keep a leased house in a habitable condition or comply substantially with local housing codes might be a breach of the landlord's "implied service warranty of habitability" (independent of any composed lease provisions or oral promises), which the occupant may assert as a defense to an expulsion based on the non-payment of lease or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the facilities. However, breach by property owner does not immediately entitle a tenant to withhold rent or a decrease in the rental value. The commitment to pay rent continues as long as the tenant remains in the leased premises and to assert this defense successfully, the tenant will need to show that their damages arising from proprietor's breach of this "implied service warranty" equal or surpass the rent claimed due.

A proprietor's breach and tenant's damages may be tough to prove. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these rules, renters ought to be extremely cautious in keeping rent and ought to probably do so just after consulting an attorney.

Please note that specific towns or counties offer for certain commitments and requirements that the proprietor must carry out. If a proprietor fails to abide by such responsibilities or requirements, the tenant might have extra remedies for such failure. You must talk to a lawyer or your town or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

In addition to termination for certain breaches by occupant, a landlord also has the following solutions:

If rent is not paid, the property manager might: (1) demand the rent due or to become due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any past lease due. Under specific circumstances in the event of non-payment of lease the landlord might hold the furnishings and personal residential or commercial property of the occupant until previous lease is paid by the renter.

If a tenant fails to leave the rented property 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 considered to be willful. The tenant can also be kicked out.

If the tenant harms the properties, the landlord may sue for the repair of such damages.

Please note that particular towns or counties offer specific obligations and requirements that the renter must satisfy. If a tenant fails to comply with such commitments or requirements, the property manager 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 illegal for a property owner to discriminate in the leasing of a residence home, flat, or apartment or condo versus prospective occupants who have kids under the age of 14. It is also illegal for a property manager to victimize a renter on the basis of race, religious beliefs, sex, national 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 owner a sum of cash prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is generally described 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 ease the tenant of the duty to pay the last month's lease or for damage caused to the premises. It must be returned to the tenant upon abandoning the premises if no damage has actually been done beyond normal wear and tear and the rent is totally paid.

If a landlord stops working to return the security deposit promptly, the occupant can sue to recuperate the portion of the security deposit to which the occupant is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and certain circumstances under state law, when a proprietor wrongfully withholds a renter's down payment the occupant might be able to recover extra damages and lawyers' charges. You ought 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 tenant, within thirty days of the date the tenant abandons, a statement of damage presumably caused by the tenant and the estimated or actual expense of fixing or changing each product on that declaration. If no such declaration is furnished within one month, the property manager should return the down payment completely within 45 days of the date the occupant vacated.

If a building contains 25 or more residential units, the property owner must 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 largest bank in Illinois, as figured out by total possessions, on a passbook security account.

The above statements regarding down payment are based upon state law. However, some municipalities or counties might enforce additional responsibilities. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a property owner must comply with when taking security deposits and supply high charges when a property manager stops working 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 limitations on the amount of a move-in cost, however, specific municipalities or counties do supply constraints. TIP: A move-in fee ought to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be deemed to be a security deposit.

Landlord and occupant matters can end up being complex. Both proprietor and renter ought to speak with an attorney for help with specific issues. For more details about your rights and obligations as a tenant, including particular landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, contact your regional 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 released by the Illinois State Bar Association as a public service. Every effort has actually been made to supply precise details at the time of publication.