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Illinois Landlord-Tenant Law 2026: The Complete Handbook
No statewide deposit cap, but 30/45-day return rules bind ALL landlords. 5-day eviction notices, radon disclosure, plus Chicago RLTO and Cook County rules.
Quick answer
Illinoislate fee & security deposit rules (2026)
In Illinois, a landlord's late fee has no statutory cap, though courts generally accept up to 5% of the monthly rent, and no grace period is required by state law. Security deposits are limited to no statutory limit and must be returned within 45 calendar days of move-out.
- Late fee cap: ~5% of the monthly rent (court guideline)
- Grace period: None required by state law
- Max security deposit: no statutory limit
- Deposit return deadline: 45 calendar days after move-out
- Deposit escrow: Not required
- Statutes: 765 ILCS 710/1 (as amended by P.A. 103-0224)
Tenby is an AI-powered property management platform for independent landlords managing 1-50 rental units. Tenby's compliance engine is loaded with Illinois-specific rules — security deposit deadlines, required disclosures, late fee limits, and eviction notice requirements — automatically enforced for every Illinois property, with local overrides for Chicago and Cook County.
Illinois has no single landlord-tenant act. Its rules are spread across several statutes — the Security Deposit Return Act (765 ILCS 710), the Security Deposit Interest Act (765 ILCS 715), the eviction article of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/9) — and, critically, local ordinances in Chicago and Cook County that override state law. Here's everything you need to know.
Security deposits in Illinois
| Rule | Illinois Law |
|---|---|
| Maximum deposit | No statewide limit (Cook County RTLO: 1.5 months' rent) |
| Itemized statement deadline | 30 days after move-out |
| Full refund deadline | 45 days after move-out (765 ILCS 710/1) |
| Escrow required? | No statewide (Chicago RLTO: yes) |
| Interest required? | Only for 25+ unit buildings statewide (765 ILCS 715/1); Chicago: all covered rentals |
| Itemized deductions? | Yes (765 ILCS 710/1) |
| Penalty for violations | 2x the deposit plus costs and fees |
Key details:
- Illinois has no statewide cap on deposit amounts
- You must deliver an itemized statement of damages within 30 days of the tenant vacating, and the refund due within 45 days (765 ILCS 710/1)
- This applies to every Illinois landlord. P.A. 103-0224 (effective January 1, 2024) removed the old 5-or-more-unit threshold — single-unit and small landlords are now fully covered. The penalty for noncompliance is twice the deposit plus costs and attorney's fees
- Interest: statewide, interest is required only for buildings or contiguous complexes of 25+ units, at the rate set annually by IDFPR based on the largest Illinois bank's passbook rate (2026 rate: 0.005%), paid within 30 days after each 12-month period when the deposit is held more than 6 months (765 ILCS 715/1)
> Check your deposit: Use our Illinois security deposit calculator to track the 30-day itemization and 45-day refund deadlines — including the stricter Chicago and Cook County rules.
Chicago and Cook County are different
Illinois is the one state in this series where your city can matter more than your state:
- Chicago (RLTO): deposits must be held in a federally insured interest-bearing account (RLTO § 5-12-080), interest must be paid at the city-set rate (2026: 0.01%) (RLTO § 5-12-081), and the deposit must be returned within 30 days — stricter than the state's 45 (RLTO § 5-12-080). Owner-occupied buildings of 6 or fewer units are exempt from the RLTO
- Suburban Cook County (RTLO, Ord. 21-0602): deposits are capped at 1.5 months' rent, any portion above one month is payable in up to 6 monthly installments at the tenant's election, return within 30 days, with a 2x penalty. Applies in suburban Cook County excluding Chicago, Evanston, and Mount Prospect (which have their own ordinances)
Eviction process in Illinois
Illinois eviction follows a strict legal process. Self-help evictions (changing locks, removing belongings, shutting off utilities) are illegal.
Step 1: Serve proper notice
| Reason | Notice Period | Notice Type |
|---|---|---|
| Nonpayment of rent | 5 days | Five-Day Notice (735 ILCS 5/9-209) |
| Month-to-month termination | 30 days | Notice to Terminate (765 ILCS 705/5) |
The tenant has the right to cure: if they pay the full amount owed within the 5-day notice period, the tenancy continues (735 ILCS 5/9-209).
Step 2: File an eviction action
If the tenant doesn't pay or vacate by the deadline, file an eviction action in the circuit court for the county where the property is located.
Step 3: Court hearing
Both parties present their case. Bring your lease, the five-day notice with proof of service, and the payment ledger.
Step 4: Eviction order
If the court rules in your favor, an eviction order is entered and the sheriff carries out the physical eviction. Never remove a tenant yourself.
Late fees in Illinois
| Rule | Illinois Law |
|---|---|
| Grace period | Not required by statewide statute |
| Maximum fee | No statewide cap — courts generally accept up to ~5% of monthly rent |
| Must be in lease? | Yes |
| Chicago RLTO | Local cap: $10 on the first $500 of monthly rent + 5% of the excess |
> Calculate your late fee: Use our Illinois late fee calculator to check if your proposed fee is compliant — it applies the Chicago RLTO cap automatically. Also try our prorated rent calculator for move-in/move-out calculations and rent estimate tool to see if your rent is at market rate.
Illinois has no statewide statutory cap and no required grace period — but the 5% figure is a court-accepted guideline, not a legal maximum, and fees far above it risk being struck down as unenforceable penalties. In Chicago, the RLTO imposes a binding local cap: $10 per month on the first $500 of rent plus 5% of the amount over $500. Cook County also imposes local late-fee rules — check your municipality.
Landlord entry in Illinois
| Rule | Illinois Law |
|---|---|
| Notice required? | 24 hours is the standard in Tenby's compliance data |
| Statute | No specific statewide entry-notice statute cited |
| Emergency exceptions | Yes — emergencies permit entry without notice |
Illinois' statewide law does not pin entry notice to a specific statute the way it does deposits. Tenby's compliance engine applies a 24-hour notice standard for Illinois properties. Put your entry procedure in the written lease, and note that Chicago's RLTO imposes its own detailed entry requirements on covered units.
Required disclosures in Illinois
Illinois landlords must disclose the following before or at lease signing:
- Lead paint disclosure — for properties built before 1978, disclose known lead-based paint hazards and provide the EPA "Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home" pamphlet (federal requirement)
- Radon disclosure — disclose radon hazards and provide the radon hazard pamphlet (Illinois Radon Awareness Act)
- Carbon monoxide alarms — comply with and disclose carbon monoxide alarm requirements (430 ILCS 135)
- No rent control — Illinois law prohibits local rent control ordinances (50 ILCS 825)
- 30 days' notice is required to terminate a month-to-month tenancy (765 ILCS 705/5), which effectively sets the minimum runway for a rent increase on a month-to-month tenancy
- Cannot raise rent during a fixed-term lease unless the lease includes a rent increase clause
- There is no cap on the amount of a rent increase
- Maintain the property in habitable condition and comply with applicable building and housing codes
- Keep structural components, plumbing, electrical, and supplied appliances in good working order
- Maintain common areas
- Make repairs within a reasonable time after notice — Tenby's compliance data tracks a 14-day repair window for Illinois properties
- Keep the unit clean and sanitary
- Use systems, fixtures, and appliances reasonably
- Not damage the premises or disturb neighbors
- Notify the landlord of needed repairs promptly
- Habitable housing — the landlord must maintain the premises
- Withhold rent — Illinois recognizes rent withholding for serious habitability failures
- Repair and deduct — Illinois recognizes a repair-and-deduct remedy
- Right to cure nonpayment — paying in full within the 5-day notice period ends the eviction (735 ILCS 5/9-209)
- Deposit protections — 30-day itemization, 45-day refund, and the 2x penalty (765 ILCS 710/1)
- Source-of-income protection — Illinois prohibits discrimination based on source of income (775 ILCS 5/3-102), so you cannot reject an applicant simply for using a voucher
- Reusable screening reports — Illinois law requires landlords to accept qualifying reusable tenant screening reports (Ill. HB 3203)
- Chicago ban-the-box — Chicago restricts the use of criminal history in screening (Chicago Municipal Code § 5-36)
- Domestic violence protections — under federal VAWA, tenants in certain federally subsidized housing have additional protections
- 30-day itemization and 45-day refund tracking with countdown alerts
- Chicago RLTO overrides applied automatically — 30-day return, interest at the city rate, escrow documentation
- Cook County RTLO deposit cap (1.5 months) enforced at lease creation for suburban Cook properties
- Chicago late fee cap ($10 + 5% of rent over $500) applied automatically
- Radon, carbon monoxide, and lead paint disclosure checklist at lease creation
- Five-day notice generation with proper service documentation
- Reusable screening report and source-of-income compliance built into the screening flow
Chicago has additional RLTO disclosure requirements for covered units — including the deposit account and interest rules above.
Rent increase rules in Illinois
Maintenance obligations
Landlord must:
Tenant must:
Tenant rights in Illinois
Tenants in Illinois have the right to:
How Tenby helps Illinois landlords
Tenby's compliance engine handles Illinois-specific requirements automatically:
The bottom line
Illinois looks landlord-friendly on the surface — no deposit cap, no statewide late fee cap, no rent control — but the details bite. The key requirements to remember: itemized deposit statement within 30 days and refund within 45 (now binding on all landlords, with a 2x penalty), radon and carbon monoxide disclosures, 5-day pay-or-quit notices, and — above all — know whether your property sits in Chicago or suburban Cook County, because the RLTO and RTLO rewrite the deposit and late-fee rules entirely. Get the jurisdiction right, document everything, and you'll avoid most legal issues.
Landlord Law Watch
Never miss a Illinois law change
This guide is current today — but Illinois's late fee caps, deposit rules, grace periods, and notice requirements change more often than most landlords realize. Law Watch monitors the statutes and emails you the moment Illinois moves: what changed, old vs. new, and what to update in your lease.
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