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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

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Your Guide to Landlord-Tenant Law

Landlord-Tenant Law

At some time during their lives the majority of people will be involved with the leasing of realty, either as proprietor or occupant. Laws that affect property owners and renters can differ significantly from city to city. This pamphlet provides basic details about being a tenant in Illinois. You ought to speak with a lawyer or your town or county as they may supply you with higher security under the law.

Tenancy Agreement

The relationship in between property manager and tenant develops from an agreement, composed or oral, by which one celebration inhabits the genuine estate of another with the owner’s consent in return for the payment of certain quantity as lease.

Written Agreement: Most occupancies are in composing and are called a lease. No particular words are required to develop a lease, however typically the regards to a lease include a description of the property, the length of the arrangement, the amount of the lease, and the time of payment. TIP: You ought to put your agreement in writing to avoid future misunderstandings.

Provisions in a lease agreement that secure a landlord from liability for damages to persons or residential or commercial property brought on by the negligence of the proprietor are deemed being against public policy and are for that reason unenforceable. Certain towns and counties have other constraints and restriction on specific lease terms, so you must speak with an attorney or your town or county.

Oral Agreement: If an occupancy arrangement is not in composing, the regard to the agreement will, normally, be thought about a month-to-month occupancy. The period is generally figured out 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 might be difficult to determine, a celebration may be bound to the regards to an oral arrangement simply as much as a written 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 appropriate notice.

– For year-to-year tenancies, besides a lease of farmland, either celebration might end the lease by offering 60 days of composed 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 party by offering 7 days of composed notice to the other celebration.
– Farm leases usually run for one year. Customarily, they start and end in March of each year. Notice to terminate need to be offered at least four months before completion of the term.
– In all other lease arrangements for a period of less than one year, a party should give 1 month of composed notification. Any notification provided must call for termination on the last day of that rental duration.
– The lease might likewise have actually mentioned requirements and timeframe for termination of the lease.
– In specific towns and counties, property owners are needed to give more than the above stated notification period for termination. You should seek advice from an attorney or your municipality or county.

If the lease does specify a particular expiration or termination date, no termination notification is necessary. Be aware that your lease might likewise require notice of termination in a particular form or a higher notice duration than the minimum needed by law, if any. Landlords need to keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or states, you may be needed to offer more than the notification period mentioned in the lease for termination and in writing. You should speak with an attorney or your municipality or county.

Termination of a month-to-month occupancy typically only needs 30 days of notification by occupant and a proprietor is required to serve a written notice of termination of occupancy on the tenant (see Service as needed section below). In particular municipalities and counties, property owners are required to give more than thirty days of notification, so you must talk to seek advice from with an attorney 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 agreement of the celebrations. If a lease term expires and the property owner accepts rent following the expiration of the term, the lease term immediately ends up being month-to-month based on the very same terms set forth in the lease.

The lease may need a particular notification and timeframe for renewing the lease. You must examine your lease to confirm such requirements. Landlords and occupants must keep in mind that no matter what the lease needs or specifies, proprietors might also have restrictions on how early they can need renewal of a lease by a renter and are required to put such in writing. You ought to seek advice from with an attorney or your municipality or county.

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

Unless there is a written lease, a proprietor can raise the lease by any amount by giving the tenant notice: Seven days of notice for a week-to-week tenancy, 30 days of notification for a month-to-month occupancy, and 90 days of notification for mobile home parks. In specific towns and counties, property managers are required to offer more than seven or one month of notification of a rental increase, so you ought to consult with speak with a lawyer or your town or county.

Eviction, Termination of Tenants Right to Possession

In Illinois, a property manager does not have a right to self-help and should submit an eviction to eliminate an occupant or occupant from the premises.

Five-Day Notice. The most common breach of a lease is for non-payment of rent. In this case the property owner need to serve a five-day notice upon the overdue tenant unless the lease needs more than five days of notification. Five days after such notification is served, the property owner might commence expulsion procedures versus the renter. If, however, the renter pays the total of lease demanded in the five-day notice within those five days, the property manager might not continue with an eviction. The property owner is not needed, however, to accept lease that is less than the specific amount due. If the proprietor accepts a tender of a lower amount of lease, it might affect the rights to continue under the notice.

10-Day Notice. If a proprietor wishes to terminate a lease due to the fact that of a violation of the lease contract by the tenant, other than for non-payment of lease, she or he need to serve 10 days of written notification upon the occupant before expulsion proceedings can start, unless the lease requires more than 10 days of notification. Acceptance of rent after such notification is a waiver by the proprietor of the right to end the lease unless the breach complained of is a continuing breach.

Holdover. If a tenant remains beyond the lease expiration date, normally, a property owner might submit an eviction without needing to first serve a notice on the tenant. However, the regards to the lease or in particular towns or counties, a property manager is required to supply a notification of non-renewal to the occupant, so you should seek advice from a lawyer or your town or county.

Service as needed Notice

The five-day, 10-day, or termination of month-to-month tenancy notifications may be served upon tenant by delivering a composed or printed copy to the occupant, leaving the exact same with some person above the age of 13 years who lives at the celebration’s house, or sending a copy of the notification to the party by certified or registered mail with a return invoice from the addressee. If no one is in the actual ownership of the premises, then posting notice on the facilities is adequate.

Subletting or Assigning the Lease

Often, written leases forbid the occupant from subletting the premises without the written authorization of the landlord. Such approval can not be unreasonably kept, however the prohibition is enforceable under the law. If there is no such restriction, then a tenant might sublease or assign their lease to another. In such cases, however, the renter will remain responsible to the proprietor unless the property owner releases the initial occupant. A breach of the sublease will not change the initial relationship between the landlord and tenant.

Breach by Landlord, Tenant Remedies

If the property manager has breached the lease by stopping working to fulfill their duties under the lease, certain solutions arise in favor of the tenant:

– The renter might take legal action against the landlord for damages sustained as a result of the breach.
– If a property owner stops working to preserve a rented home in a habitable condition, the tenant may have the ability to vacate the facilities and end the lease under the theory of “positive expulsion.”
– The failure of a landlord to preserve a rented residence in a habitable condition or comply considerably with local housing codes might be a breach of the landlord’s “implied guarantee of habitability” (independent of any composed lease provisions or oral promises), which the occupant might assert as a defense to an expulsion based on the non-payment of lease or a claim for decrease in the rental value of the properties. However, breach by landlord does not immediately entitle a tenant to keep rent or a reduction in the rental value. The obligation to pay rent continues as long as the occupant remains in the rented properties and to assert this defense successfully, the renter will need to reveal that their damages resulting from property manager’s breach of this “implied warranty” equal or surpass the lease declared due.

A property manager’s breach and occupant’s damages may be hard to show. Because of the minimal and technical nature of these guidelines, tenants should be very cautious in keeping lease and needs to probably do so only after seeking advice from a lawyer.

Please note that specific municipalities or counties offer particular obligations and requirements that the proprietor should perform. If a landlord fails to comply with such responsibilities or requirements, the renter may have extra remedies for such failure. You need to seek advice from a lawyer or your municipality or county.

Breach by the Tenant, Landlord Remedies

In addition to termination for particular breaches by occupant, a landlord likewise has the following treatments:

If lease is not paid, the landlord may: (1) take legal action against for the rent due or to become due in the future and (2) end the lease and gather any past rent due. Under particular situations in case of non-payment of lease the property owner may hold the furnishings and individual residential or commercial property of the renter till past lease is paid by the renter.

If a renter fails to abandon the leased property at the end of the lease term, the tenant may become responsible for double lease for the duration of holdover if the holdover is deemed to be willful. The renter can also be kicked out.

If the tenant damages the premises, the proprietor might demand the repair work of such damages.

Please note that particular towns or counties attend to specific obligations and requirements that the tenant should meet. If a tenant stops working to abide by such or requirements, the property manager might have additional remedies for such failure. You should seek advice from with a lawyer or your municipality 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 residence house, flat, or home against prospective occupants who have children under the age of 14. It is likewise illegal for a proprietor to victimize a renter on the basis of race, faith, sex, national origin, source of earnings, sexual origination, gender identity, or disability.

Security Deposits, Move-in Fee

Security Deposit. A tenant can be required to deposit with the proprietor a sum of cash 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 facilities or non-payment of lease. The down payment does not eliminate the renter of the responsibility to pay the last month’s rent or for damage caused to the properties. It must be gone back to the tenant upon abandoning the premises if no damage has been done beyond regular wear and tear and the lease is totally paid.

If a property manager fails to return the down payment quickly, the renter can take legal action against to recover the portion of the down payment to which the renter is entitled. In some towns or counties and specific situations under state law, when a property owner wrongfully withholds an occupant’s security deposit the occupant may have the ability to recuperate additional damages and lawyers’ charges. You should talk to a legal representative.

Generally, a property manager who gets a security deposit may not withhold any part of that deposit as settlement for residential or commercial property damage unless he provides to the occupant, within one month of the date the renter leaves, a statement of damage apparently triggered by the renter and the approximated or actual expense of repairing or replacing each product on that declaration. If no such declaration is provided within 30 days, the property manager should return the security deposit in complete within 45 days of the date the renter abandoned.

If a structure contains 25 or more domestic units, the landlord must likewise 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 determined by total assets, on a passbook security account.

The above declarations concerning down payment are based on state law. However, some municipalities or counties may enforce extra responsibilities. For instance, Cook County, Evanston, Chicago, and Oak Park all have additional requirements that a property owner need to adhere to when taking security deposits and supply steep charges when a proprietor fails to comply.

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

Landlord and renter matters can become complex. Both property owner and occupant should consult a lawyer for assistance with specific issues. To find out more about your rights and duties as a renter, including particular landlord-tenant laws in your town or county, call 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 supply accurate details at the time of publication.