Illinois Landlord-Tenant Laws

Security Deposits

No statutory cap, a 45-day return window, and an interest obligation that switches on at 25 units — with Chicago layering much more on top.

Illinois does not cap deposit amounts statewide; the lease sets the number. The Security Deposit Return Act applies to buildings with five or more units: if you intend to withhold anything for damage, you must furnish an itemized statement of the damage and the estimated or actual cost within 30 days of the tenant vacating, and return the balance within 45 days.

Miss the itemization window and the remedy is severe — the landlord must return the entire deposit, and a court may award the tenant twice the deposit plus attorney fees. Buildings under five units fall outside the Act, but the lease and general contract law still bind you, and returning promptly with documentation is the only defensible practice.

Interest, and the 25-unit line

The Security Deposit Interest Act applies to buildings with 25 or more units. Deposits held six months or longer accrue interest at the rate set by statute, payable annually to the tenant or credited against rent. Chicago's RLTO imposes its own interest rate and a separate-account requirement that has no statewide equivalent.

If your property is in Chicago

• The deposit must be held in a federally insured, interest-bearing Illinois account, separate from the landlord's own funds, and the bank must be disclosed in writing.
• A written receipt is required, and the RLTO summary must be attached to every lease.
• Return deadlines are shorter (45 days for the deposit, 30 days for the itemized statement) and the penalty is two times the deposit plus interest and fees.
• Commingling a deposit with operating funds is itself a violation, independent of whether the tenant was ultimately repaid.

Rent & Late Fees

Rent control is banned statewide by statute; late fees have no state cap but Chicago caps them precisely.

The Rent Control Preemption Act bars any Illinois municipality from enacting rent control, so rent levels and increases are contractual everywhere in the state. Repeal efforts surface in most legislative sessions — worth watching if you hold Chicago or Cook County property, but as of this review the preemption stands.

Late fees are unregulated statewide and must simply be in the lease and bear a reasonable relationship to actual costs. Chicago is specific: the RLTO caps the late fee at $10 for the first $500 of monthly rent plus 5% of any amount above $500. A $1,500 Chicago rent therefore supports a maximum $60 late fee, and charging more is an ordinance violation regardless of what the lease says.

Lease Requirements & Disclosures

Statewide disclosures are few; Chicago requires the RLTO summary and a heating-cost disclosure that landlords routinely forget.

Leases longer than one year must be written. Statewide, the required disclosures are limited — radon hazard information where known, lead-based paint for pre-1978 housing under federal law, and the identity of the owner or authorized agent.

• Chicago: a summary of the RLTO must be attached to every lease and renewal, and the landlord must disclose the code-violation history and any pending code enforcement.
• Chicago: if the tenant pays for heat, the landlord must disclose the prior year's heating costs on request.
• Radon: disclosure of known radon hazards is required before lease execution.
• Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are mandatory statewide, with placement rules near sleeping areas.
• Utility billing: if you bill tenants for a shared meter, the arrangement must be disclosed in writing before the lease is signed.

Landlord Entry & Notice

No statewide entry statute — but Chicago requires two days' notice, and a good lease clause fills the gap everywhere else.

Illinois has no general statute governing landlord entry, so outside Chicago the lease is the only source of authority — write a clause covering purposes, notice period, and emergency exceptions, and follow it. Chicago's RLTO requires two days' notice (by mail, telephone, written notice, or other reasonable means) for entry, permits entry between 8am and 8pm unless the tenant agrees otherwise, and allows emergency entry with notice within two days after.

Repeated entry without notice in Chicago gives the tenant a claim for one month's rent or twice the actual damages, whichever is greater — the RLTO's remedies are self-executing and routinely enforced.

Evictions

5 days for unpaid rent, 10 days for a lease violation, 30 days to end a month-to-month — then a forcible entry and detainer action.

Unpaid rent starts with a five-day notice; if the tenant tenders the full amount within the five days, the tenancy continues and the eviction cannot proceed. Other lease violations require a ten-day notice, which — unlike the five-day — does not have to offer a cure opportunity unless the lease says so. Ending a month-to-month tenancy takes 30 days' notice, timed to the rental period.

The court action is a forcible entry and detainer proceeding. Cook County is materially slower than the rest of the state, with mandatory case management and, in Chicago, a Fair Notice ordinance requiring extra notice before non-renewal based on tenancy length. Illinois also prohibits self-help entirely — changing locks or shutting off utilities to force a tenant out exposes the landlord to criminal liability and civil damages.

Habitability & Repairs

The implied warranty of habitability is judicially established statewide; Chicago codifies tenant remedies including repair-and-deduct and rent withholding.

Illinois courts imply a warranty of habitability into every residential lease, and it cannot be waived. Statewide there is no codified repair-and-deduct scheme, so tenant remedies run through the courts and local code enforcement. Local building codes carry the practical weight — a code violation is the usual evidence of breach.

Chicago is far more prescriptive: after written notice and 14 days, a tenant may repair a minor defect and deduct the cost up to the greater of $500 or half a month's rent, or may withhold a portion of rent reasonably reflecting the reduced value of the unit. Failure to supply heat or other essential services triggers a separate set of remedies including substitute housing costs. Retaliation against a complaining tenant is presumed within one year of the protected act.

Termination & Renewal

30 days ends a month-to-month statewide; Chicago adds graduated notice tied to how long the tenant has lived there.

Statewide, 30 days' written notice ends a month-to-month tenancy from either side, and fixed-term leases simply expire. Chicago's Fair Notice Ordinance changes the calculus inside the city: 30 days' notice for tenancies under six months, 60 days for six months to three years, and 120 days for tenancies over three years — for non-renewal or for a rent increase. Missing the window pushes the increase or termination out, it does not merely delay it.

Fair Housing

The Illinois Human Rights Act goes well past federal law, and Cook County plus Chicago add source-of-income and criminal-history rules.

The Illinois Human Rights Act protects race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, marital status, order of protection status, disability, military status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, and — since 2023 — source of income statewide. Refusing a Housing Choice Voucher is unlawful across Illinois, not just in Chicago.

Cook County's Just Housing Amendment adds a strict process for criminal background screening: you must make a conditional offer first, may only consider convictions from the last three years, and must give the applicant a chance to respond with mitigating information before withdrawing the offer. Blanket criminal-history bans are unlawful in the county and risky everywhere under federal disparate-impact guidance.