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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 involved with the leasing of genuine estate, either as property owner or occupant. Laws that affect property owners and tenants can vary considerably from city to city. This handout offers general details about being a tenant in Illinois. You must speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county as they may provide you with greater defense under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship in between landlord and occupant emerges from an arrangement, written or oral, by which one party inhabits the realty of another with the owner's consent in return for the payment of certain quantity as lease.

Written Agreement: Most tenancies remain in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are essential to create a lease, but typically the regards to a lease include a description of the property, the length of the arrangement, the quantity of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your contract in composing to prevent future misunderstandings.

Provisions in a lease arrangement that protect a property manager from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property caused by the neglect of the property owner are considered as protesting public policy and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other restrictions and restriction on specific lease terms, so you should seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy contract is not in writing, the regard to the arrangement will, typically, be considered a month-to-month tenancy. The duration is normally identified 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 may be tough to identify, a celebration might be bound to the terms of an oral contract simply as much as a composed one.

Termination of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement

If a lease is not for a particular term, it might be terminated by either celebration with proper notification.

- For year-to-year occupancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either party may terminate 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 terminated by either party by providing 7 days of written notification to the other party.
Farm leases typically run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to end need to be given a minimum of four months before the end of the term.
In all other lease arrangements for a period of less than one year, a celebration must offer 1 month of written notice. Any notice given need to require termination on the last day of that rental period.
The lease may likewise have actually stated requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
In certain municipalities and counties, proprietors are needed to give more than the above specified notice duration for termination. You need to seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county.

If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is necessary. Understand that your lease might also require notice of termination in a particular type or a greater notice period than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords need to note that no matter what the lease needs or states, you might be required to offer more than the notification duration mentioned in the lease for termination and in composing. You should consult with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Termination of a month-to-month occupancy normally just needs 1 month of notification by renter and a property owner is required to serve a written notice of termination of tenancy on the occupant (see Service on Demand section listed below). In certain municipalities and counties, property managers are required to provide more than 1 month of notification, so you ought to talk to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.

Renewal of the Lease or Tenancy Agreement, Rental Increases

Generally, a lease may be restored at any time by oral or written agreement of the parties. If a lease term ends and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly ends up being month-to-month based upon the same terms set forth in the lease.

The lease may require a specific notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You ought to review your lease to validate such requirements. Landlords and occupants need to note that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, proprietors may likewise have constraints on how early they can need renewal of a lease by a tenant and are required to put such in composing. You must consult with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Month-to-month occupancies immediately restore from month to month till terminated by either property manager or renter.
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Unless there is a composed lease, a property owner can raise the lease by any quantity by giving the renter notification: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week tenancy, one month of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notice for mobile home parks. In specific municipalities and counties, property managers are needed to provide more than seven or one month of notice of a rental boost, so you ought to speak with talk to a lawyer or your town or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a proprietor does not have a right to self-help and must file an eviction to get rid of a tenant or resident from the properties.

Five-Day Notice. The most typical 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 tenant unless the lease needs more than 5 days of notification. Five days after such notification is served, the proprietor may begin eviction proceedings versus the renter. If, however, the occupant pays the total of lease required in the five-day notice within those 5 days, the property manager might not continue with an expulsion. The property owner is not required, nevertheless, to accept lease that is less than the specific amount due. If the proprietor accepts a tender of a lesser quantity of rent, it may affect the rights to proceed under the notification.

10-Day Notice. If a property owner wants to terminate a lease due to the fact that of an offense of the lease contract by the renter, besides for non-payment of rent, he or she must serve 10 days of composed notification upon the renter before eviction procedures can begin, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notice is a waiver by the property manager of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach suffered is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a renter stays beyond the lease expiration date, usually, a property owner may file an expulsion without needing to very first serve a notification on the renter. However, the terms of the lease or in particular towns or counties, a landlord is required to supply a notice of non-renewal to the tenant, so you ought to seek advice from with a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Service as needed Notice

The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notifications might be served upon occupant by providing a written or printed copy to the tenant, leaving the exact same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the party's house, or sending out a copy of the notification to the celebration by accredited or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If no one remains in the real belongings of the facilities, then posting notification on the facilities suffices.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, composed leases prohibit the tenant from subletting the facilities without the written permission of the proprietor. Such authorization can not be unreasonably withheld, however the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such prohibition, then an occupant may sublease or appoint their lease to another. In such cases, however, the tenant will remain responsible to the property manager unless the landlord launches the original occupant. A breach of the sublease will not change the initial relationship in between the property manager and occupant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the landlord has breached the lease by stopping working to satisfy their tasks under the lease, particular solutions develop in favor of the renter:

- The occupant may take legal action against the property manager for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
If a proprietor fails to keep a rented residence in a livable condition, the tenant may have the ability to leave the facilities and end the lease under the theory of "positive expulsion."
The failure of a property manager to preserve a rented house in a habitable condition or comply significantly with local housing codes may be a breach of the property manager's "indicated warranty of habitability" (independent of any composed lease provisions or oral pledges), which the renter may assert as a defense to an expulsion based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for reduction in the rental value of the facilities. However, breach by proprietor does not instantly entitle a renter to withhold rent or a reduction in the rental worth. The obligation to pay lease continues as long as the tenant stays in the leased premises and to assert this defense successfully, the tenant will have to show that their damages resulting from proprietor's breach of this "implied warranty" equal or surpass the lease declared due.

A proprietor's breach and tenant's damages might be tough to prove. Because of the restricted and technical nature of these rules, renters need to be very mindful in keeping lease and must most likely do so only after consulting an attorney.

Please note that particular municipalities or counties supply for particular commitments and requirements that the property manager should perform. If a property manager fails to comply with such obligations or requirements, the occupant may have extra treatments for such failure. You ought to seek advice from an attorney or your town or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

In addition to termination for specific breaches by tenant, a proprietor likewise has the following remedies:

If rent is not paid, the property manager might: (1) sue for the rent due or to end up being due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and collect any previous rent due. Under particular circumstances in the occasion of non-payment of rent the property manager might hold the furniture and personal residential or commercial property of the renter till previous lease is paid by the tenant.

If a renter fails to vacate the rented facility at the end of the lease term, the occupant may end up being accountable for double lease for the period of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The tenant can also be evicted.

If the renter harms the facilities, the property manager might take legal action against for the repair work of such damages.

Please note that particular municipalities or counties attend to specific commitments and requirements that the occupant need to satisfy. If an occupant fails to abide by such commitments or requirements, the proprietor might have additional remedies for such failure. You should talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.

Discrimination

Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is illegal for a property manager to discriminate in the leasing of a residence home, flat, or apartment or condo versus prospective tenants who have children under the age of 14. It is likewise unlawful for a landlord to victimize a tenant on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, income, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.

Down Payment, Move-in Fee

Down payment. A tenant can be needed to deposit with the property manager an amount of cash prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is typically referred to as a down payment. This money is deemed to be security for any damage to the premises or non-payment of lease. The security deposit does not relieve 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 renter upon leaving the properties if no damage has actually been done beyond typical wear and tear and the lease is completely paid.

If a property manager fails to return the down payment quickly, the tenant can sue to recover the portion of the down payment to which the occupant is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and certain situations under state law, when a landlord wrongfully keeps a tenant's security deposit the occupant might be able to recuperate extra damages and attorneys' fees. You must talk to a legal representative.

Generally, a landlord who gets a down payment might not keep any part of that deposit as settlement for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the tenant, within 1 month of the date the tenant leaves, a statement of damage presumably triggered by the occupant and the or actual expense of repairing or changing each product on that statement. If no such declaration is furnished within 1 month, the proprietor should return the down payment in full within 45 days of the date the occupant vacated.

If a building contains 25 or more property 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 determined by overall properties, on a passbook security account.

The above statements regarding down payment are based upon state law. However, some towns or counties may impose additional commitments. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have extra requirements that a landlord need to adhere to when taking down payment and supply steep charges when a proprietor fails to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a security deposit, a proprietor might charge a move-in fee. Generally, there are no specific constraints on the amount of a move-in fee, nevertheless, certain municipalities or counties do provide restrictions. TIP: A move-in fee needs 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 occupant must consult a lawyer for help with particular issues. For additional information about your rights and duties as a renter, including particular landlord-tenant laws in your municipality 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 published by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has actually been made to supply accurate info at the time of publication.