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  Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  Landlord-Tenant Law
  
  At some point 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 occupants can differ substantially from city to city. This pamphlet offers basic details about being an occupant in Illinois. You need to seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county as they may supply you with higher defense under the law.
  
  Tenancy Agreement
  
  The relationship in between property owner and occupant develops from a contract, composed or oral, by which one celebration occupies the property of another with the owner's authorization in return for the payment of specific amount as lease.
  
  Written Agreement: Most tenancies remain in composing and are called a lease. No specific words are needed to create a lease, however typically the terms of a lease consist of a description of the realty, the length of the agreement, the quantity of the rent, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your arrangement in composing to prevent future misconceptions.
  
  Provisions in a lease arrangement that protect a property owner from liability for damages to individuals or residential or commercial property brought on by the carelessness of the property owner are viewed as protesting public law and are therefore unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other and restriction on particular lease terms, so you need to seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.
  
  Oral Agreement: If an occupancy contract is not in writing, the term of the contract will, typically, be thought about a month-to-month occupancy. The period is typically figured out 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 may be tough to identify, a party may be bound to the regards to an oral arrangement simply 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 terminated by either party with proper notice.
  
  - For year-to-year tenancies, other than a lease of farmland, either party may terminate the lease by providing 60 days of composed notice at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
• A week-to-week occupancy may be terminated by either party by providing 7 days of composed notification to the other celebration.
• Farm leases normally run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end should be provided a minimum of four months before completion of the term.
• In all other lease arrangements for a duration of less than one year, a party needs to offer one month of written notice. Any notice given ought to 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, property managers are required to offer more than the above stated notification period for termination. You must talk to a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  If the lease does mention a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notice is needed. Know that your lease may likewise require notification of termination in a specific form or a greater notification duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords should note that no matter what the lease requires or states, you might be needed to provide more than the notice period mentioned in the lease for termination and in writing. You must consult with an attorney or your municipality or county.
  
  Termination of a month-to-month occupancy usually only requires one month of notification by tenant and a property owner is required to serve a written notice of termination of occupancy on the renter (see Service as needed section listed below). In specific municipalities and counties, property managers are needed to provide more than one month of notice, so you should 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 renewed at any time by oral or written contract of the parties. If a lease term ends and the proprietor accepts rent following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly becomes month-to-month based on the very same terms stated in the lease.
  
  The lease may require a specific notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You must review your lease to confirm such requirements. Landlords and tenants need to note that no matter what the lease requires or states, proprietors might likewise have constraints on how early they can need renewal of a lease by a renter and are required to put such in writing. You need to seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Month-to-month occupancies immediately renew from month to month till terminated by either property manager or tenant.
  
  Unless there is a composed lease, a proprietor can raise the lease by any quantity by offering the renter notification: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week occupancy, thirty days of notice for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In particular towns and counties, property owners are required to give more than seven or one month of notification of a rental boost, so you should consult with talk to an attorney 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 need to file an eviction to remove a renter or resident from the properties.
  
  Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the property manager should serve a five-day notice upon the overdue occupant unless the lease requires more than five days of notification. Five days after such notice is served, the proprietor may begin expulsion proceedings against the renter. If, nevertheless, the occupant pays the full amount of lease required in the five-day notice within those 5 days, the property manager might not proceed with an expulsion. The proprietor is not required, however, to accept rent that is less than the exact amount due. If the property owner accepts a tender of a lower amount of lease, it might impact the rights to proceed under the notification.
  
  10-Day Notice. If a proprietor wants to terminate a lease since of an infraction of the lease agreement by the tenant, besides for non-payment of rent, she or he must serve 10 days of written notification upon the occupant before expulsion procedures can start, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of lease after such notice is a waiver by the landlord of the right to end the lease unless the breach suffered is a continuing breach.
  
  Holdover. If an occupant stays beyond the lease expiration date, generally, a property manager may submit an expulsion without needing to first serve a notice on the renter. However, the terms of the lease or in certain municipalities or counties, a landlord is required to offer a notice of non-renewal to the tenant, so you must seek advice from with a lawyer or your town 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 delivering 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 residence, or sending a copy of the notice to the celebration by accredited or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one is in the actual belongings of the facilities, then publishing notification on the premises is adequate.
  
  Subletting or Assigning the Lease
  
  Often, composed leases restrict the renter from subletting the properties without the composed approval of the landlord. Such consent can not be unreasonably kept, but the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then a tenant may sublease or designate their lease to another. In such cases, however, the tenant will remain accountable to the property manager unless the property manager launches the original renter. A breach of the sublease will not alter the preliminary relationship in between the property owner and renter.
  
  Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies
  
  If the property manager has breached the lease by stopping working to fulfill their tasks under the lease, particular solutions emerge in favor of the occupant:
  
  - The tenant might take legal action against the proprietor for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
• If a proprietor fails to keep a rented home in a livable condition, the tenant might have the ability to abandon the premises and terminate the lease under the theory of "constructive eviction."
• The failure of a property manager to maintain a leased residence in a habitable condition or comply considerably with local housing codes might be a breach of the landlord's "implied warranty of habitability" (independent of any written lease provisions or oral guarantees), which the occupant might assert as a defense to an expulsion based on the non-payment of lease or a claim for reduction in the rental worth of the properties. However, breach by property owner does not immediately entitle an occupant to withhold rent or a decrease in the rental worth. The commitment to pay lease continues as long as the occupant stays in the leased premises and to assert this defense effectively, the renter will need to reveal that their damages arising from property manager's breach of this "implied service warranty" equivalent or exceed the lease declared due.
  
  A property manager's breach and renter's damages may be hard to show. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these rules, occupants ought to be incredibly cautious in keeping rent and should probably do so only after consulting an attorney.
  
  Please note that particular municipalities or counties offer certain responsibilities and requirements that the property owner must perform. If a property manager stops working to adhere to such responsibilities or requirements, the occupant may have additional treatments for such failure. You should seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.
  
  Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies
  
  In addition to termination for certain breaches by renter, a landlord also has the following solutions:
  
  If rent is not paid, the property owner 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 collect any past rent due. Under specific circumstances in the event of non-payment of lease the landlord may hold the furnishings and individual residential or commercial property of the tenant up until previous lease is paid by the occupant.
  
  If a renter fails to leave the rented premise at the end of the lease term, the occupant might end up being liable for double rent for the duration of holdover if the holdover is considered to be willful. The tenant can also be forced out.
  
  If the occupant harms the facilities, the property manager may take legal action against for the repair work of such damages.
  
  Please note that specific towns or counties offer certain obligations and requirements that the renter should satisfy. If a renter stops working to comply with such commitments or requirements, the property manager may have additional treatments for such failure. You should talk to a lawyer 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 residence house, flat, or apartment versus potential occupants who have kids under the age of 14. It is also illegal for a proprietor to discriminate against a tenant on the basis of race, faith, sex, nationwide origin, source of earnings, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.
  
  Down Payment, Move-in Fee
  
  Security Deposit. A renter can be needed to deposit with the landlord a sum of cash prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is normally described as a security deposit. This cash is deemed to be security for any damage to the premises or non-payment of rent. The security deposit does not ease the renter of the task to pay the last month's rent or for damage triggered to the facilities. It must be gone back to the occupant upon abandoning the premises 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 without delay, the renter can take legal action against to recuperate the portion of the down payment to which the renter is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and certain scenarios under state law, when a property manager wrongfully keeps a tenant's down payment the tenant might have the ability to recover additional damages and attorneys' costs. You need to talk to an attorney.
  
  Generally, a proprietor who receives a down payment might not keep any part of that deposit as payment 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 apparently brought on by the occupant and the approximated or actual expense of repairing or changing each product on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within thirty days, the landlord should return the security deposit in full within 45 days of the date the renter left.
  
  If a building includes 25 or more domestic systems, the proprietor 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 determined by overall properties, on a passbook security account.
  
  The above statements regarding down payment are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties may enforce additional commitments. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a proprietor must adhere to when taking security deposits and offer high charges when a property owner stops working to comply.
  
  Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a down payment, a property owner may charge a move-in fee. Generally, there are no particular limitations on the quantity of a move-in cost, nevertheless, specific municipalities or counties do offer constraints. TIP: A move-in cost needs to be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be considered to be a security deposit.
  
  Landlord and occupant matters can end up being complex. Both landlord and renter should speak with an attorney for support with specific issues. For more info about your rights and duties as a tenant, including particular landlord-tenant laws in your town 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
  
  Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section (2024 )
  
  This pamphlet is ready and published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a public service. Every effort has been made to supply precise information at the time of publication.