How to become a landlord in Illinois

Since January 1, 2026, every written residential lease, new or renewal, must have the state's summary of housing rights for survivors of domestic and sexual violence attached as its first page, with each tenant signing the acknowledgment at the bottom of each page. Other disclosures depend on the property (765 ILCS 752/20).

• The Illinois Department of Human Rights prepares the summary. If you do not comply, you owe the tenant actual damages up to $2,000 or $100, whichever is greater, plus court costs and attorney's fees; missing tenant signatures create a presumption that you did not comply (765 ILCS 752/15(a); 765 ILCS 752/25; 765 ILCS 752/30).
• Before the lease is signed, disclose in writing whether the property is in a FEMA flood hazard area and any flooding you know of (765 ILCS 705/25).See Flood disclosure on the Illinois page
• For a unit below the third story, give the state's radon pamphlet for tenants, any records showing a radon hazard, and the radon disclosure form at application or before the lease is signed, or on request during the lease; the tenant then has 90 days to test (420 ILCS 46/26(a); 420 ILCS 46/26(b); 420 ILCS 46/20).
• A written lease must tell the tenant that using the home for a felony or Class A misdemeanor lets you void the lease (735 ILCS 5/9-120(a)).
• If the tenant will pay a utility account that also serves common areas or other units, before offering the lease you must give a written statement of what the meter serves, the last 12 months of bills (unless waived in writing) and any rent reduction offered, and you may not ask the tenant to collect from neighbors (765 ILCS 735/1.2(a)).
• If tenants pay a share of a master-metered utility, the lease or another writing must give the allocation formula, and you must show the utility bill on request (765 ILCS 740/5).
• For leases signed after January 1, 2027, all non-optional fees must be on the first page of the lease (765 ILCS 705/35(b)).See Rent and late fees on the Illinois page
• An owner of a building with more than 4 units who does not live or keep an office there must post the manager's and insurer's contact details, or put them in the lease (735 ILCS 5/9-320).See Landlord and manager identity on the Illinois page

If you own a building with more than 4 units and neither you nor a manager lives or keeps an office there, you must post a notice of at least 20 square inches next to the mailboxes, or inside where all residents can see it, with the name, address and phone number of the person managing the building and of the company insuring it against fire, or say it is uninsured (735 ILCS 5/9-320).

• Instead of posting, you may put the notice in the written lease or mail it by first-class mail to each tenant (735 ILCS 5/9-320(b)).
• If the fire insurance is cancelled, post notice of the cancellation within 24 hours of learning of it (735 ILCS 5/9-320(a)).
• Failing to give a required notice is a petty offense with a fine of up to $100 a day (735 ILCS 5/9-320(c)).

Before the lease is signed, you must tell the tenant in writing whether the property is in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area and, if you know it, whether the property or its parking has flooded and how often. For a garden, basement or first-floor unit, disclose any flooding in the last 10 years and how often. The disclosure goes in the lease and both parties sign it (765 ILCS 705/25).

• The disclosure must look substantially like the form in the statute (765 ILCS 705/25(d)).
• If you do not disclose a flood hazard area location, the tenant may end the lease within 30 days of learning of it, and you must refund prepaid rent and fees within 15 days (765 ILCS 705/25(e)).
• If you fail to disclose and a flood damages the tenant's property or the home, the tenant may end the lease within 30 days of the flood and sue for lost or damaged belongings (765 ILCS 705/25(e)).
• The rule does not apply to farm leases, concession leases or property of the Department of Natural Resources (765 ILCS 705/25(e)).

Every unit needs a working smoke detector within 15 feet of every sleeping room, and a carbon monoxide alarm within 15 feet of every sleeping room unless the building is exempt. You must supply and install them, make sure their batteries work when the tenant moves in, and give one tenant in each unit written information on testing and maintenance. A battery-only smoke detector that you newly install, or that is more than 10 years old or fails testing, must have a sealed, non-removable long-term battery unless it is wired into the building's power (425 ILCS 60/3; 430 ILCS 135/10).

• A building is exempt from the carbon monoxide rule if it burns no fossil fuel for heat, ventilation or hot water, is not connected to a garage, and is not close enough to another carbon monoxide source for the local building commissioner to find a risk; a unit the commissioner finds is not at risk is also exempt (430 ILCS 135/20).
• A single-family home also needs a smoke detector on every story, including the basement, and a multi-unit building needs one at the top of each interior stairwell (425 ILCS 60/3(b); 425 ILCS 60/3(c)).
• The tenant tests and maintains the alarms in the unit, replaces batteries, tells you in writing about problems the tenant cannot fix, and lets you in to fix them (425 ILCS 60/3(d); 430 ILCS 135/10(c)).
• You must make reasonable efforts to test and maintain smoke detectors in common stairwells and hallways (425 ILCS 60/3(d)).
• Willfully failing to install or maintain a required carbon monoxide alarm is a misdemeanor, and tampering with or disabling one is a crime (430 ILCS 135/15).

In counties with more than 3,000,000 residents, you must change or rekey the lock to a unit after it is vacated and on or before the day the new tenant takes possession. Anywhere in Illinois, survivors of domestic or sexual violence can require a lock change (765 ILCS 705/15; 765 ILCS 750/20).

• Changing or rekeying includes replacing the lock or cylinder, changing a combination or electronic code, or any other change so the old tenant's way in no longer works (765 ILCS 705/15(b)).
• If you skip it and a theft results, you are liable for the damages. The rule does not apply if the lease gives the tenant the right to rekey, or to owner-occupied buildings of 4 or fewer units or rooms in an owner-occupied home (765 ILCS 705/15(c); 765 ILCS 705/15(d); 765 ILCS 705/15(e)).
• On written notice from the tenants required by section 20, with its required evidence, change the locks or permit the tenant to do so within 48 hours. The Act has specific rules when a threatening person is a co-tenant, so do not require that person's signature when the qualifying exclusive-possession order permits the request without it. A charge may not exceed the customary reasonable lock-change price (765 ILCS 750/20(a); 765 ILCS 750/20(b)).
• If you do not act within 48 hours, the tenant may change the locks with a lock of similar or better quality and must try in good faith to give you a key within 48 hours (765 ILCS 750/20(b)(2)).
• For a written lease and a threat from someone who is not a lessee, section 20 accepts the listed medical, court, police or victim-services evidence. A threat from a lessee requires the qualifying plenary protection or civil no-contact order granting exclusive possession. For an oral lease, the statute likewise requires that qualifying exclusive-possession order; the threatening lessee's signature is not required when the order conditions are met (765 ILCS 750/20).
• A landlord who changes the locks must make a good-faith effort to provide the tenant a key as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after the change. Section 25 provides lock-specific injunction and damages remedies, including consequences when a party fails to make the required effort to supply a key. Do not use the lock-change procedure as a reason to obstruct a qualifying request (765 ILCS 750/20; 765 ILCS 750/25).

Illinois does not cap the amount of a security deposit for apartments and houses. None of the three acts that govern deposits and leases statewide (the Security Deposit Return Act, the Security Deposit Interest Act and the Landlord and Tenant Act) sets a maximum. A lease of a mobile home or lot in a mobile home park of 5 or more homes may not require more than one month's rent as a deposit (765 ILCS 710; 765 ILCS 715; 765 ILCS 705; 765 ILCS 745/12; 765 ILCS 745/1).

• When you sell or otherwise transfer the property, the new owner becomes liable to the tenant for the deposit, any statutory interest and any prepaid rent, and you remain jointly liable with the new owner (765 ILCS 710/1.1).
• A buyer at a foreclosure sale who takes over the deposits must post a notice on the main entrance of each unit within 21 days after receiving the deposits and the tenants' names and addresses, saying it now holds the tenant's deposit (765 ILCS 710/1.2).
• The Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act covers any lease of a mobile home or mobile home lot in a park containing five or more mobile homes, and a lease term that conflicts with it cannot be enforced (765 ILCS 745/1).
• For a home covered by Cook County's RTLO, the deposit cannot exceed 1.5 months' rent. The tenant may elect to pay the portion above one month's rent in up to six equal installments within six months. The county also requires a receipt, a separate federally insured Illinois account and disclosure of the institution in the signed lease. Confirm local coverage before applying these rules (Cook County Code § 42-111(a)-(b), (d), (f), (h)-(i)).
• Check Chicago coverage separately: section 5-12-020 excludes owner-occupied premises with six or fewer units and several other arrangements, with specified provisions still applying. An exclusion from the city chapter does not establish an exemption from statewide deposit law or every other housing rule (Chicago Code §§ 5-12-010–020).

If the property has 25 or more units in one building or in a complex of buildings on contiguous parcels, you must pay interest on any deposit you hold for more than 6 months. The rate is the passbook savings rate paid by the largest commercial bank with its main office in Illinois as of December 31 of the year before the lease began (765 ILCS 715/1).

• Within 30 days after the end of each 12-month rental period, pay any interest that has built up to $5 or more, in cash or as a credit against rent, unless the tenant is in default under the lease (765 ILCS 715/2).
• When the tenancy ends, pay all unpaid interest, whatever the amount (765 ILCS 715/2).
• If a court finds you willfully failed or refused to pay the interest, you owe an amount equal to the deposit plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees (765 ILCS 715/2).
• The interest rule does not apply to deposits for public housing (765 ILCS 715/3).
• Neither statewide deposit act requires you to keep the deposit in a separate account or in an Illinois bank. Chicago has its own rule (765 ILCS 710; 765 ILCS 715).
• For covered Chicago rentals, hold deposits in a separate federally insured Illinois interest-bearing account. Disclose its name and address in the signed lease; specified account changes require notice. Give a signed receipt recording amount, receiver, date and unit; electronic transfers have their own receipt requirements. A combined rent/deposit payment has a five-business-day segregation condition. These local requirements need a separate coverage check (Chicago Code § 5-12-080(a)–(b); Chicago Code § 5-12-020).
• Chicago's interest rule uses the city rate tied to the rental agreement, including the made-or-renewed timing in section 5-12-081. Confirm the applicable announcement and agreement year; a prior year's state rate notice does not establish the current city rate (Chicago Code § 5-12-080(c); Chicago Code § 5-12-081).

None of the Illinois acts read for this page requires a move-in inspection or a move-in condition report (765 ILCS 705; 765 ILCS 710).

• For leases signed after January 1, 2027, you may not charge a fee for an in-person walk-through of the unit at move-in or move-out, unless the unit is in an owner-occupied building of 6 or fewer units (765 ILCS 705/35(c)(11); 765 ILCS 705/35(e)).
• A written record of the unit's condition helps when you later itemize deposit deductions for damage, and any cleaning or repair cost your lease specifies must be for damage beyond normal wear and tear (765 ILCS 710/1(a)).

Illinois does not yet cap application fees, but you may not charge an application screening fee to an applicant who gives you a qualifying reusable tenant screening report. For leases signed after January 1, 2027, an application fee, including background checks, is capped at $50 (765 ILCS 705/30; 765 ILCS 705/35(c)(1)).

• A reusable report qualifies if a consumer reporting agency prepared it in the last 30 days at the applicant's request and expense, it states the date its information is current through and includes the applicant's name, contact information, income verification, last known address and eviction history check, it reaches you directly or through a qualifying third-party website at no cost, and it covers all the criteria you consistently use to screen applicants (765 ILCS 705/30(b)(1); 765 ILCS 705/30(a)).
• You may ask the applicant to state that nothing in the reusable report has materially changed, and you may still process an application as long as you charge no screening fee (765 ILCS 705/30(b)(2); 765 ILCS 705/30(d)).
• A local rule that gives applicants more protection than the reusable report rule applies instead (765 ILCS 705/30(c)).
• From 2027, you may charge more than $50 only for a third-party background check that actually costs more, that you paid for up front, and that you bill to the applicant with receipts within 14 days; otherwise the charge is waived. It can never be the basis for an eviction in the first year of the lease (765 ILCS 705/35(c)(1)).
• From 2027, you also may not charge an extra fee at application that duplicates screening costs or covers costs unrelated to screening (765 ILCS 705/35(c)(2)).
• The 2027 limits do not apply to owner-occupied buildings of 6 or fewer units (765 ILCS 705/35(e)).