Free Chicago RLTO Summary Disclosure

This Chicago RLTO Summary disclosure documents compliance with Chicago Municipal Code Chapter 5-12, Section 5-12-170, which requires a landlord to attach a copy of the current city-published Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) Summary to every written rental agreement and every renewal, and to disclose the annual security-deposit interest rate the City Comptroller sets each year. It also flags which dwellings are covered or exempt under Section 5-12-020. A covered tenant who proves noncompliance may recover one hundred dollars in damages. Pair this with our tenant screening laws by state hub and how to screen tenants guide to keep every Chicago tenancy documented from the first day.

Complete the fields below to generate a Chicago RLTO Summary attachment and acknowledgment-of-receipt form. Attach the current city-published Summary (and, where a deposit is paid, the deposit interest-rate Summary) to the lease, have the tenant sign this acknowledgment, and keep a dated copy on file. The form records the parties, the covered-or-exempt status under Section 5-12-020, the deposit interest rate disclosed, and the tenant’s acknowledgment.

Watch: the Chicago RLTO Summary attachment requirement explained

▶ Watch overview

The Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, codified at Chapter 5-12 of the Chicago Municipal Code, is one of the most protective landlord-tenant laws in the country, and its Summary-attachment rule is the piece landlords most often overlook. Under Section 5-12-170, the City of Chicago Department of Housing prepares and publishes a written Summary of the ordinance describing the rights, obligations, and remedies of landlords and tenants. A landlord must attach a copy of that Summary to every written rental agreement at the time the agreement is first offered to a tenant or prospective tenant, and that duty applies to a renewal exactly as it applies to a brand-new lease. Where the rental arrangement is oral, the landlord must give the tenant a copy of the Summary directly. The Summary is not a document the landlord drafts – it is the city-published version, and using anything else does not satisfy the ordinance.

The Summary requirement is tightly linked to Chicago’s security-deposit rules, which is why deposit disclosure sits inside the same section. Under Section 5-12-170, once the City Comptroller has announced the deposit interest rate on the first business day of the year, the Commissioner prepares a separate Summary describing the rights, obligations, and remedies for security deposits, including the new interest rate along with the rate for each of the prior two years. If a landlord holds a security deposit, that separate deposit-interest Summary must be attached too. The interest rate itself is set under Section 5-12-081: the City Comptroller reviews the rates on savings accounts, insured money-market accounts, and six-month certificates of deposit at the city’s largest commercial bank each December and announces the average of those three figures as the deposit interest rate for the coming year. Because that number moves every year, a Summary printed from a prior year carries a stale rate and no longer complies – the current City of Chicago version is the only one that satisfies the rule. If you are unsure of this year’s figure, verify the current City of Chicago RLTO Summary and deposit interest rate before you attach it.

Not every Chicago rental is covered. Section 5-12-020 lists the exclusions, and the one landlords rely on most is the owner-occupied exemption: a building is generally outside most of the ordinance when the landlord lives in the building AND the building has six or fewer total dwelling units. Both conditions must be true. A landlord who owns a large multi-unit building but does not live there is covered, and so is an owner who lives on-site but in a building with seven or more units. The unit count is the total number of dwelling units in the building, not the number currently rented – a seven-unit building with only six units occupied is still covered. Other Section 5-12-020 exclusions include a hotel or rooming unit occupied for fewer than thirty-two consecutive days where the guest pays weekly or daily, a unit in a hospital, shelter, or dormitory, a unit occupied by an owner of a cooperative, and a dwelling occupied by a purchaser under a contract of sale. If your unit is covered – which the large majority of Chicago rentals are – the Summary attachment duty applies, and this acknowledgment form gives you the paper trail. Review our tenant screening laws by state resource to see how Chicago’s local rules layer on top of Illinois state law.

The consequence of skipping the Summary is concrete. Under Section 5-12-170, if the landlord acts in violation of the section, the tenant may terminate the rental agreement by written notice specifying a termination date no more than thirty days from the notice – a right that lets a tenant walk away from the lease on a month’s notice. And if the tenant establishes the violation in a civil legal proceeding against the landlord, the tenant is entitled to recover one hundred dollars in damages. That figure is modest on its own, but RLTO cases frequently combine several technical violations, and Chicago courts award attorney’s fees to a prevailing tenant under the ordinance, so a stack of one-hundred-dollar violations plus fees turns a paperwork lapse into a real exposure. The signed acknowledgment is the landlord’s defense: an owner who can produce a dated form showing the current Summary was attached has documented compliance, while an owner with no record has little to show even if the Summary was in fact handed over.

A final point of confusion worth clearing up: the RLTO Summary is not the same as the city’s bed-bug informational brochure. Chicago separately requires a landlord to give the tenant the bed-bug prevention and treatment brochure prepared by the Department of Public Health under Section 7-28-860, and that obligation lives in a different part of the code. Both documents are commonly handed over with the lease, but attaching the RLTO Summary does not satisfy the bed-bug brochure duty and vice versa – provide each document that applies to your building. Treating the Summary attachment as a fixed step in your lease-signing checklist, alongside thorough tenant screening, keeps each Chicago tenancy compliant and documented from day one.

Section 5-12-170 – Summary attached to the rental agreement

• The Department of Housing prepares and publishes a written Summary of the RLTO describing the rights, obligations, and remedies of landlords and tenants.
• The landlord must attach the Summary to each written rental agreement when it is initially offered – for a new rental or a renewal. For an oral agreement, the landlord gives the tenant a copy of the Summary.
• After the City Comptroller announces the deposit interest rate on the first business day of the year, the Commissioner prepares a separate deposit-interest Summary (current rate plus the prior two years); the landlord attaches it whenever a deposit is paid.
• On noncompliance the tenant may terminate the agreement on written notice of no more than thirty days, and recover one hundred dollars in damages if the violation is established in a civil proceeding.

Section 5-12-020 – Exclusions (who is covered)

• Owner-occupied, six or fewer units: excluded from most of the ordinance when the landlord lives in the building AND the building has six or fewer total dwelling units. Both conditions must hold.
• Total unit count is the building’s dwelling units, not the number currently rented – a seven-unit building with six occupied is still covered.
• Other exclusions: short-stay hotel or rooming units (under thirty-two days, weekly/daily pay), hospital, shelter, dormitory units, cooperative owner-occupants, and a purchaser in possession under a contract of sale.

Section 5-12-081 – Deposit interest rate

• The City Comptroller reviews the rates on savings accounts, insured money-market accounts, and six-month certificates of deposit at the city’s largest commercial bank each December.
• The Comptroller announces the average of those three rates on the first business day of the year as the deposit interest rate for that year.
• Because the rate changes annually, the RLTO Summary and the deposit-interest Summary must reflect the current year’s figure.

• Terminate the lease: a covered tenant may terminate the rental agreement by written notice specifying a termination date no more than thirty days out (Section 5-12-170).
• Recover damages: a tenant who proves the violation in a civil legal proceeding recovers one hundred dollars in damages (Section 5-12-170).
• Attorney’s fees: the RLTO generally allows a prevailing tenant to recover reasonable attorney’s fees, which can dwarf the underlying damages when violations stack.
• The landlord’s defense is documentation: a dated, signed acknowledgment showing the current Summary was attached is the cleanest proof of compliance.

• Attaching the Summary at the first lease but skipping it at renewal – the duty applies to every renewal.
• Using a saved copy from a prior year with a stale deposit interest rate instead of the current City of Chicago version.
• Forgetting the separate deposit interest-rate Summary when a deposit is held.
• Assuming the owner-occupied exemption applies when the building has seven or more units, or when the landlord does not actually live there.
• Confusing the RLTO Summary with the bed-bug brochure – they are separate Chicago requirements.
• Keeping no signed acknowledgment, leaving no proof the Summary was delivered.

• Make the Summary attachment a fixed line on your lease-signing checklist, for new leases and renewals alike.
• Re-download the current Summary from the City of Chicago each year so the deposit-interest figures are current.
• Where you hold a deposit, attach the deposit interest-rate Summary and record the disclosed rate on this form.
• Verify your building’s coverage status under Section 5-12-020 before relying on any exemption.
• Keep the signed acknowledgment for the life of the tenancy as your compliance record.

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check

Established 2004 · 20+ Years · All U.S. States & Territories · Statute-Based · Attorney-Reviewed

A Private Eye Reports™ service trusted by landlords, property managers, and attorneys.