Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

At some point during their lives a lot of individuals will be involved with the leasing of real estate, either as property manager or tenant. Laws that impact property managers and occupants can differ significantly from city to city. This pamphlet supplies general info about being a renter in Illinois. You need to speak with an attorney or your town or county as they might offer you with higher protection under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship between proprietor and occupant emerges from an arrangement, written or oral, by which one party occupies the real estate of another with the owner's authorization in return for the payment of particular quantity as lease.

Written Agreement: Most occupancies remain in writing and are called a lease. No particular words are needed to develop a lease, but usually the regards to a lease consist of a description of the real estate, the length of the arrangement, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You need to put your contract in composing to avoid future misunderstandings.

Provisions in a lease arrangement that safeguard a landlord from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property caused by the negligence of the property manager are considered as being versus public law and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other constraints and prohibition on certain lease terms, so you must speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Oral Agreement: If a tenancy arrangement is not in writing, the regard to the contract will, typically, be thought about a month-to-month occupancy. The period is normally 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 may be difficult to figure out, a party might be bound to the regards to an oral agreement just 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 ended by either party with appropriate notice.

- For year-to-year tenancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either celebration might terminate the lease by giving 60 days of composed notification at any time within the 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the lease.
- A week-to-week occupancy might be terminated by either party by giving 7 days of composed notice 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 at least four months before completion of the term.
- In all other lease agreements for a duration of less than one year, a celebration needs to offer one month of written notification. Any notice provided must call for termination on the last day of that rental period.
- The lease may also have actually mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
- In specific towns and counties, landlords are needed to give more than the above specified notice period for termination. You must consult with an attorney or your town or county.

If the lease does state a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notification is required. Understand that your lease may also require notification of termination in a particular type or a higher notification duration than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords must keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or mentions, you may be required to give more than the notice period stated in the lease for termination and in writing. You must seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.

Termination of a month-to-month occupancy normally only requires thirty days of notification by occupant and a proprietor is needed to serve a written notification of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service as needed area listed below). In particular towns and counties, proprietors are required to give more than thirty days of notification, so you ought to seek advice from 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 parties. If a lease term expires and the property owner accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately ends up being month-to-month based upon the same terms set forth in the lease.

The lease might need a particular notice and timeframe for renewing the lease. You need to examine your lease to verify such requirements. Landlords and tenants need to keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or mentions, proprietors may also have limitations on how early they can need renewal of a lease by a tenant and are required to put such in writing. You need to talk to an attorney or your town or county.

Month-to-month tenancies instantly renew from month to month till ended by either proprietor or occupant.

Unless there is a composed lease, a landlord can raise the rent by any amount by providing the tenant notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week tenancy, 1 month of notice for a month-to-month tenancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In certain municipalities and counties, proprietors are required to offer more than seven or one month of notice of a rental increase, so you should seek advice from with speak with 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 must submit an expulsion to remove a renter or resident from the properties.

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

10-Day Notice. If a property owner wishes to terminate a lease since of an infraction of the lease arrangement by the occupant, besides for non-payment of lease, she or he should serve 10 days of written notice upon the occupant before eviction procedures can begin, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notice. Acceptance of lease after such notification is a waiver by the property owner of the right to end the lease unless the breach experienced is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a renter stays beyond the lease expiration date, usually, a proprietor may file an eviction without needing to very first serve a notice on the renter. However, the regards to the lease or in specific municipalities or counties, a proprietor is needed to offer a notice of non-renewal to the tenant, so you ought to consult with an attorney 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 occupant by delivering a composed or printed copy to the renter, leaving the very same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the party's house, or sending a copy of the notification to the celebration by accredited or signed up mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody remains in the real belongings of the premises, then posting notice on the premises suffices.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, composed leases forbid the occupant from subletting the premises without the written consent 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 may sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, however, the renter will stay accountable to the property owner unless the property manager releases the initial occupant. A breach of the sublease will not alter the preliminary relationship between the property manager and occupant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the proprietor has actually breached the lease by failing to meet their responsibilities under the lease, certain remedies emerge in favor of the renter:

- The tenant may sue the landlord for damages sustained as an outcome of the breach.
- If a property owner stops working to keep a leased residence in a habitable condition, the occupant may be able to vacate the premises and end the lease under the theory of "useful eviction."
- The failure of a property owner to maintain a rented residence in a habitable condition or comply substantially with regional housing codes might be a breach of the landlord's "indicated guarantee of habitability" (independent of any written lease arrangements or oral pledges), which the tenant might assert as a defense to an expulsion based on the non-payment of rent or a claim for reduction in the rental worth of the properties. However, breach by property owner does not automatically entitle a tenant to keep rent or a reduction in the rental value. The commitment to pay lease continues as long as the renter stays in the leased properties and to assert this defense successfully, the tenant will have to show that their damages arising from property manager's breach of this "implied service warranty" equivalent or go beyond the rent declared due.

A property manager's breach and renter's damages might be challenging to show. Because of the limited and technical nature of these rules, occupants must be incredibly careful in keeping rent and ought to most likely do so just after seeking advice from a lawyer.

Please note that certain municipalities or counties provide for specific obligations and requirements that the property owner must perform. If a property owner fails to adhere to such commitments or requirements, the tenant might have extra treatments for such failure. You should talk to an attorney or your municipality or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

In addition to termination for certain breaches by renter, a property owner also has the following treatments:

If lease is not paid, the property manager might: (1) take legal action against for the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) terminate the lease and gather any past lease due. Under specific scenarios in case of non-payment of lease the property manager might hold the furnishings and individual residential or commercial property of the tenant until past lease is paid by the renter.

If a renter stops working to abandon the leased property at the end of the lease term, the renter might become responsible for double rent for the duration of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The occupant can also be evicted.

If the occupant harms the facilities, the property owner might demand the repair work of such damages.

Please note that particular towns or counties attend to certain responsibilities and requirements that the tenant should meet. If an occupant fails to comply with such obligations or requirements, the property owner may have extra treatments for such failure. You should 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 manager to discriminate in the leasing of a residence home, flat, or home versus prospective tenants who have children under the age of 14. It is likewise illegal for a proprietor to discriminate against an occupant on the basis of race, faith, sex, national origin, source of earnings, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.

Down Payment, Move-in Fee

Down payment. An occupant can be required to deposit with the proprietor an amount of money prior to inhabiting the residential or commercial property. This is normally referred to as a down payment. This money is considered to be security for any damage to the properties or non-payment of lease. The security deposit does not eliminate the renter of the duty to pay the last month's lease or for damage caused to the facilities. It must be gone back to the renter 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 fails to return the security deposit quickly, the renter can take legal action against to recover the part of the security deposit to which the occupant is entitled. In some towns or counties and particular circumstances under state law, when a property manager wrongfully withholds a renter's down payment the renter might have the ability to recover extra damages and lawyers' costs. You must consult with a lawyer.

Generally, a landlord who gets a security deposit might not keep any part of that deposit as settlement for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within 1 month of the date the renter abandons, a declaration of damage allegedly triggered by the occupant and the estimated or actual cost of repairing or changing each product on that declaration. If no such statement is provided within one month, the property manager must return the security deposit completely within 45 days of the date the renter abandoned.

If a building consists of 25 or more residential units, the property manager must likewise 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 biggest bank in Illinois, as determined by overall assets, on a passbook security account.

The above declarations regarding down payment are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties might enforce additional obligations. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a property manager need to comply with when taking down payment and supply high penalties when a landlord fails to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an option to a down payment, a property manager may charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no specific constraints on the quantity of a move-in fee, however, certain municipalities or counties do provide constraints. TIP: A move-in charge should be nonrefundable, otherwise it could be deemed to be a security deposit.

Landlord and occupant matters can become complex. Both property owner and tenant must speak with a lawyer for support with particular problems. To learn more about your rights and obligations as an occupant, consisting of specific landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, contact your local 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

Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section (2024 )

This handout is prepared and released by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has actually been made to offer accurate information at the time of publication.