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Five carry most of the weight. The Landlord and Tenant Act, 765 ILCS 705, holds scattered lease duties. The Security Deposit Return Act, 765 ILCS 710, governs itemization and return. The Security Deposit Interest Act, 765 ILCS 715, governs interest. The Landlord Retaliation Act, 765 ILCS 721, effective January 1, 2025, replaced the repealed Retaliatory Eviction Act. Notices and eviction procedure sit in Article IX of the Code of Civil Procedure, 735 ILCS 5/9-101 and following. Chicago and Cook County ordinances then add duties on top for covered units.

Match the notice to the reason and to the tenancy, because Illinois puts them in different sections. Unpaid rent uses the demand in 735 ILCS 5/9-209, with a period of not less than 5 days. A default in other lease terms uses the 10-day notice to quit in 735 ILCS 5/9-210. Week-to-week takes 7 days and a term of less than one year takes 30 days, both under 735 ILCS 5/9-207. Year-to-year takes 60 days under 735 ILCS 5/9-205, and year-to-year farmland is carved out and needs not less than 4 months under 735 ILCS 5/9-206.

No, and mixing them up is expensive. The Security Deposit Return Act, 765 ILCS 710, has no unit threshold; 765 ILCS 710/1 reaches any lessor of residential real property who has received a security deposit, wording that comes from Public Act 103-224 effective January 1, 2024. It sets a 30-day deadline to furnish an itemized statement with paid receipts, a 45-day deadline to return the deposit in full if no compliant statement is furnished, and exposure to twice the deposit plus costs and fees. The Security Deposit Interest Act, 765 ILCS 715, is the one limited to 25 or more units.

Verify each against its own Act rather than a checklist. Radon disclosure to tenants is live at 420 ILCS 46/26 for leases entered on or after January 1, 2024, and it prescribes a specific form plus the state pamphlet; the older leasing section at 420 ILCS 46/25 was repealed. Flood disclosure is required by 765 ILCS 705/25, with an extra duty for garden, basement or first-floor units. Rent concessions must be marked on the lease itself under 765 ILCS 730/3. Lead-based paint disclosure for pre-1978 housing is federal, not Illinois, law.

If the unit is covered by them, yes, and you need them in addition to state law rather than instead of it. The Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance sits at Chicago Municipal Code chapter 5-12, and suburban Cook County has its own Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance whose coverage depends on the municipality. They impose duties Illinois statutes do not, particularly around deposits, notices and required attachments. The safe rule is the one this library is built on: never state a Chicago rule as Illinois law or the reverse, and check which regime the address falls under first.

Not yet statewide, but a change is already on the books. 765 ILCS 705/35, added by Public Act 104-479 with an effective date of January 1, 2027, will cap application fees including background checks at 50 dollars, with a narrow exception where a third-party check genuinely costs more and the landlord fronts the cost and bills with receipts within 14 days. The same section will require non-optional fees to appear on the first page of the lease and will exempt owner-occupied premises of 6 units or fewer. Until that date it is not the operative rule.

765 ILCS 705/30 does not force you to accept one, but it does control the fee. If a prospective tenant supplies a reusable tenant screening report meeting the section’s criteria, prepared within the previous 30 days by a consumer credit reporting agency at the applicant’s request and expense, available to you at no cost, and covering the criteria you consistently use, you may not charge that applicant a fee to access it or an application screening fee. You may still require a statement that nothing material has changed, and you may run your own additional check at your own cost.

No. The Rent Control Preemption Act settles it. Under 50 ILCS 825/5 a unit of local government may not enact, maintain or enforce an ordinance or resolution having the effect of controlling the amount of rent charged for leasing private residential or commercial property, and 50 ILCS 825/10 extends that denial to home rule units as a limitation on home rule power. So rent-control cautions written for New York or California do not transfer here. Local ordinances still regulate deposits, notice periods, disclosures and non-renewal, which is a different thing entirely.