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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

At some point during their lives many people will be involved with the rental of realty, either as property manager or renter. Laws that affect proprietors and occupants can differ significantly from city to city. This handout offers general info about being an occupant in Illinois. You ought to seek advice from an attorney or your town or county as they may provide you with greater security under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship between proprietor and renter develops from an arrangement, composed or oral, by which one party inhabits the real estate of another with the owner's permission in return for the payment of particular quantity as lease.

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

Provisions in a lease contract that safeguard a property manager from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property caused by the negligence of the property owner are deemed protesting public policy and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain municipalities and counties have other limitations and restriction on particular lease terms, so you need to speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Oral Agreement: If a tenancy contract is not in writing, the term of the arrangement will, normally, be considered a month-to-month tenancy. The duration is normally determined by the frequency of the rental payments. For instance: week to week, month to month, or year to year. Although the regards to an oral lease may be hard to determine, a party might be bound to the regards to 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 ended by either party with proper notice.

- For year-to-year tenancies, aside from a lease of farmland, either celebration might end the lease by offering 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 might be terminated by either celebration by giving 7 days of written notice to the other celebration.
Farm leases normally run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate should be provided a minimum of 4 months before the end of the term.
In all other lease arrangements for a period of less than one year, a party must give 30 days of composed notification. Any notification provided should require termination on the last day of that rental period.
The lease may likewise have stated requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
In certain municipalities and counties, property managers are required to provide more than the above stated notification period for termination. You must speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

If the lease does mention a specific expiration or termination date, no termination notice is essential. Know that your lease might likewise need notification of termination in a particular type or a higher notice duration than the minimum required by law, if any. Landlords ought to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or mentions, you might be needed to give more than the notification period specified in the lease for termination and in writing. You must consult with a lawyer or your town or county.

Termination of a month-to-month occupancy normally just requires one month of notice by tenant and a property owner is required to serve a composed notification of termination of tenancy on the occupant (see Service on Demand area listed below). In certain towns and counties, proprietors are required to offer more than 30 days of notification, 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 might be restored at any time by oral or written contract of the parties. If a lease term expires and the landlord accepts lease following the expiration of the term, the lease term instantly ends up being month-to-month based on the exact same terms stated in the lease.

The lease might require a specific notification and timeframe for restoring the lease. You ought to evaluate your lease to confirm such requirements. Landlords and occupants should keep in mind that no matter what the lease requires or specifies, landlords might also have restrictions on how early they can require renewal of a lease by a tenant and are needed to put such in composing. You should speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Month-to-month occupancies automatically restore from month to month up until terminated by either property owner or occupant.

Unless there is a composed lease, a property manager can raise the lease by any amount by providing the occupant notice: Seven days of notification for a week-to-week occupancy, 1 month of notice for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of for mobile home parks. In specific municipalities and counties, property managers are required to give more than seven or 1 month of notice of a rental boost, so you need to seek advice from speak with a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a property manager 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 typical breach of a lease is for non-payment of lease. In this case the proprietor need to serve a five-day notification upon the delinquent tenant unless the lease requires more than 5 days of notification. Five days after such notice is served, the proprietor may start eviction procedures versus the renter. If, nevertheless, the renter pays the complete amount of lease demanded in the five-day notification within those 5 days, the landlord may not proceed with an expulsion. The landlord is not needed, nevertheless, to accept rent that is less than the precise quantity due. If the property manager accepts a tender of a lesser amount of lease, it may impact the rights to proceed under the notification.

10-Day Notice. If a property manager wants to end a lease since of an offense of the lease agreement by the occupant, aside from for non-payment of lease, he or she need to serve 10 days of composed notice upon the tenant before expulsion procedures can start, unless the lease needs more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of lease after such notice is a waiver by the property owner of the right to terminate the lease unless the breach grumbled of is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a tenant remains beyond the lease expiration date, typically, a property manager may submit an expulsion without needing to first serve a notice on the tenant. However, the regards to the lease or in specific municipalities or counties, a property owner is needed to supply a notification of non-renewal to the tenant, so you should seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Service as needed Notice

The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month occupancy notices may be served upon renter by delivering a written 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 party by licensed or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee. If nobody is in the actual ownership of the facilities, then publishing notice on the premises suffices.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease
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Often, composed leases prohibit the occupant from subletting the facilities without the written permission of the proprietor. Such approval can not be unreasonably withheld, however the restriction is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a renter might sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, nevertheless, the renter will remain responsible to the property manager unless the landlord releases the initial occupant. A breach of the sublease will not change the preliminary relationship in between the property manager and renter.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the proprietor has actually breached the lease by stopping working to meet their duties under the lease, particular solutions emerge in favor of the occupant:

- The renter might sue the landlord for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
If a landlord fails to maintain a rented house in a habitable condition, the occupant may be able to leave the properties and terminate the lease under the theory of "constructive eviction."
The failure of a proprietor to preserve a leased house in a habitable condition or comply substantially with local housing codes might be a breach of the property owner's "indicated service warranty of habitability" (independent of any written lease arrangements or oral pledges), which the renter may assert as a defense to an eviction based upon the non-payment of rent or a claim for reduction in the rental value of the properties. However, breach by proprietor does not immediately entitle a tenant to keep lease or a reduction in the rental value. The responsibility to pay lease continues as long as the renter stays in the leased facilities and to assert this defense successfully, the occupant will have to reveal that their damages arising from proprietor's breach of this "implied service warranty" equal or go beyond the rent declared due.

A property owner's breach and renter's damages might be hard to prove. Because of the limited and technical nature of these rules, occupants need to be exceptionally careful in keeping rent and needs to most likely do so only after consulting an attorney.

Please note that particular towns or counties supply for certain responsibilities and requirements that the property manager should perform. If a proprietor fails to comply with such commitments or requirements, the occupant may have extra treatments for such failure. You must speak with an attorney or your town or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

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

If lease is not paid, the property owner might: (1) take legal action against for the lease due or to end up being due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any previous rent due. Under specific circumstances in case of non-payment of rent the landlord may hold the furnishings and individual residential or commercial property of the occupant up until previous rent is paid by the renter.

If an occupant fails to leave the rented property at the end of the lease term, the renter may end up being responsible for double lease for the duration of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The occupant can also be kicked out.

If the tenant damages the facilities, the property manager may demand the repair work of such damages.

Please note that specific municipalities or counties offer for particular obligations and requirements that the renter need to satisfy. If a renter stops working to adhere to such commitments or requirements, the landlord might have extra remedies for such failure. You ought to talk to a lawyer or your town or county.

Discrimination

Under the federal Fair Housing Act and Illinois law, it is unlawful for a property owner to discriminate in the leasing of a home house, flat, or home versus potential occupants who have kids under the age of 14. It is likewise unlawful for a proprietor to victimize a tenant on the basis of race, religion, sex, nationwide origin, source of earnings, sexual origination, gender identity, or impairment.

Down Payment, Move-in Fee

Down payment. A renter can be needed to deposit with the proprietor a sum of cash prior to occupying the residential or commercial property. This is normally described as a security deposit. This money is deemed to be security for any damage to the premises or non-payment of rent. The down payment does not eliminate the occupant of the responsibility to pay the last month's lease or for damage caused to the facilities. It needs to be gone back to the tenant upon abandoning the premises if no damage has actually been done beyond typical wear and tear and the rent is totally paid.

If a property owner stops working to return the security deposit immediately, the renter can sue to recover the part of the down payment to which the occupant is entitled. In some municipalities or counties and particular circumstances under state law, when a landlord wrongfully keeps a tenant's down payment the renter might be able to recuperate additional damages and attorneys' fees. You must seek advice from with a lawyer.

Generally, a proprietor who receives a security deposit might not withhold any part of that deposit as compensation for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the renter, within one month of the date the tenant vacates, a statement of damage allegedly triggered by the occupant and the estimated or real cost of repairing or replacing each product on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within 30 days, the landlord must return the down payment completely within 45 days of the date the tenant left.

If a building contains 25 or more residential units, the property manager should 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 biggest bank in Illinois, as identified by overall properties, on a passbook security account.

The above statements relating to security deposits are based on state law. However, some towns or counties might impose extra obligations. For example, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a property manager need to comply with when taking security deposits and supply steep penalties when a property owner stops working to comply.

Move-in Fee. In addition to or as an alternative to a security deposit, a property manager might charge a move-in cost. Generally, there are no particular limitations on the quantity of a move-in fee, nevertheless, specific towns or counties do offer limitations. TIP: A move-in cost should be nonrefundable, otherwise it might be deemed to be a down payment.

Landlord and tenant matters can end up being complex. Both proprietor and renter need to consult a lawyer for support with particular issues. To learn more about your rights and duties as a tenant, including particular landlord-tenant laws in your municipality or county, call 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
wikipedia.org
Prepared by the Illinois State Bar Association's Real Estate Law Section (2024 )

This pamphlet is ready and released by the Illinois State Bar Association as a civil service. Every effort has been made to provide precise info at the time of publication.