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Free Illinois Month-to-Month Rental Agreement

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Illinois Month-to-Month Rental Agreement — a periodic tenancy that ends on 30 days’ written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-207. Chicago adds a tiered Fair Notice rule.

IL Month-to-Month 735 ILCS 5/9-207 Illinois Free PDF

An Illinois month-to-month rental agreement creates a periodic tenancy that renews each month and continues until either party ends it with proper written notice. Under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, a tenancy of less than one year that is not week-to-week ends on 30 days’ written notice, and in practice that notice runs both ways. The agreement should state the monthly rent, due date, late fee, security deposit, utilities, occupancy limits, pet policy, and the termination-notice procedure. Illinois’s deposit and disclosure rules — and the extra layers in Chicago and suburban Cook County — sit on top of that framework and can change the outcome, so a compliant agreement has to name the local rules that apply to the unit.

Complete the fields below to generate an Illinois month-to-month rental agreement. The generator fills a clean, statute-referenced document you can print and sign; deliver any later termination or rent-increase notice in a way you can prove, and retain proof of delivery.

An Illinois month-to-month rental agreement creates a periodic tenancy that renews each month and continues until either party ends it with proper written notice. It is governed by the Illinois Compiled Statutes — chiefly the notice and eviction provisions in 735 ILCS 5, Article IX, and the deposit provisions in Chapter 765. Unlike a state such as Colorado, Illinois does not pack most of its landlord-tenant rules into one code chapter; instead, the statewide floor is modest and the strongest tenant protections come from local ordinances, above all the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO). The generator above builds an Illinois-aligned agreement; the guide below explains what the state law requires and where a Chicago or Cook County unit picks up extra duties.

A month-to-month tenancy has no fixed end date — it simply renews until terminated. Under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, a tenancy of less than one year that is not week-to-week ends on at least 30 days’ written notice; a week-to-week tenancy needs only 7 days. The statute is written from the landlord’s side, but Illinois practice and the courts treat the notice requirement as running both ways: a tenant leaving a month-to-month tenancy should give the landlord the same 30 days. The notice must be in writing and fix the date the tenancy ends, and for a monthly tenancy that date generally falls at the end of a rental period.

Within that structure the parties have wide freedom to set the commercial terms — rent, deposit, fees, utilities, occupancy — but the deposit-return, disclosure, and local-ordinance rules override any conflicting clause. A good agreement states the deal clearly and restates those duties so the two do not collide. It should also name the landlord’s agent and address for notices, so the 30-day termination notice, any rent-increase notice, and any repair request all have a clear place to land — a small detail that often decides whether a later notice is valid. Where the unit sits in Chicago or in suburban Cook County, the agreement should say so, because that single fact changes the notice period, the deposit-interest duty, and the disclosures that apply.

Whether the tenancy is in Chicago or downstate, a defensible Illinois month-to-month agreement covers the same core terms. Missing any of them is what turns an ordinary disagreement into a dispute a court has to referee.

• Parties and premises — every adult tenant, the landlord or authorized agent, and the exact unit address.
• Month-to-month term and the 30-day notice — that the tenancy renews monthly and how either party ends it (735 ILCS 5/9-207), plus the longer Chicago Fair Notice periods where they apply.
• Rent and payment — the amount, the due date, accepted methods, and any late fee (Chicago and Cook County cap late fees; state law does not).
• Rent-increase terms — an acknowledgment that a rent change on a month-to-month tenancy takes the same written notice as a termination.
• Security deposit — the amount, where it is held, and the return and itemization timeline that applies to the building.
• Habitability, utilities, occupancy, pets, and access — who pays what, the duty to keep the unit habitable, and reasonable landlord access.
• Required disclosures and signatures — the landlord/agent name and address, the pre-1978 lead-based paint disclosure, any local disclosures (the Chicago RLTO summary, radon, bed-bug information), and a dated signature block.

Termination notice (735 ILCS 5/9-207 and the Chicago Fair Notice Ordinance)

Statewide, a month-to-month (or other periodic tenancy of less than a year) ends on 30 days’ written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, and a week-to-week tenancy on 7 days. The notice must be in writing and state the termination date. In the City of Chicago, the Fair Notice Ordinance (part of the RLTO) requires a landlord ending a tenancy without cause to give 30 days if the tenant has lived in the unit less than six months, 60 days for six months to three years, and 120 days for three years or more. Suburban Cook County’s ordinance imposts its own notice rules. These local rules do not apply when the eviction is for nonpayment or another lease violation, which follow the separate demand-and-eviction track.

Rent and rent increases

Illinois has no statewide rent-control statute and no statewide cap on the amount of a rent increase; in fact, state law preempts local rent control. For a month-to-month tenancy, a landlord raises the rent by giving the same written notice required to terminate — 30 days statewide, or the longer Chicago Fair Notice period — because a rent change effectively ends the old tenancy and offers a new one. Late fees are unregulated statewide, but Chicago’s RLTO caps late fees (generally ten dollars per month on the first five hundred dollars of rent, plus five percent of any amount above that), and suburban Cook County applies a similar cap. State the rent, due date, and any late fee inside whatever local limit applies.

Security deposit — return and itemization (765 ILCS 710)

Illinois sets no statewide cap on the security deposit amount, but the Security Deposit Return Act (765 ILCS 710) controls its return for buildings with five or more units. A covered landlord who intends to keep any part of the deposit must furnish an itemized statement of damages with paid receipts within 30 days of the tenant vacating; if that statement is not delivered on time, the landlord must return the full deposit within 45 days. Refusing to supply the statement, or supplying it in bad faith and failing to return what is due, exposes the landlord to twice the amount of the deposit plus court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. Buildings with fewer than five units fall outside this Act statewide but may still be covered by a local ordinance.

Security deposit interest (765 ILCS 715)

The Security Deposit Interest Act (765 ILCS 715) requires a landlord of a building with 25 or more units to pay interest on a deposit held more than six months, at a rate tied to a large Illinois bank’s passbook rate, and to pay any accrued interest of five dollars or more within 30 days after each 12-month rental period. Chicago’s RLTO imposes its own deposit-interest duty on covered units at a rate the city publishes each year, so a Chicago landlord can owe interest even on a small building.

Habitability

Illinois recognizes an implied warranty of habitability through case law — the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in Jack Spring, Inc. v. Little — rather than a single statewide statute, and local building codes reinforce it everywhere. In practice the landlord must keep the unit fit to live in, and after the tenant gives notice of a serious defect the landlord must repair it within a reasonable time. Chicago’s RLTO codifies habitability, repair, and tenant self-help remedies in detail for covered units, so a Chicago tenant has clearer statutory tools than a downstate tenant relying on the common-law warranty and the local code. Either way, a tenant should give written notice of a defect and keep a dated copy of every repair request.

Required disclosures

Every Illinois agreement should give the name and address of the landlord or authorized agent for notices. For housing built before 1978, federal law requires the lead-based paint disclosure and the EPA pamphlet. A Chicago unit must include the RLTO summary and, where applicable, the deposit-interest-rate and bed-bug disclosures the ordinance requires; Illinois also has a Radon Awareness Act disclosure that applies in many rentals. Getting these disclosures into the signed agreement — rather than promising them verbally — is what makes them provable later.

• Deposit penalties (765 ILCS 710). In a covered five-plus-unit building, failing to deliver the itemized statement on time, or acting in bad faith and not returning what is due, exposes the landlord to twice the deposit plus costs and attorney’s fees.
• Deposit interest (765 ILCS 715 and the Chicago RLTO). A landlord who owes interest and does not pay it can be liable for the interest and, under the Chicago ordinance, additional damages.
• Habitability breach. Under the implied warranty and (in Chicago) the RLTO, a tenant may pursue repair-and-deduct, a rent reduction reflecting the diminished value of the unit, or termination for a serious, uncured condition.
• Defective notice. A no-cause termination or an eviction built on a short or miscounted notice — or one that ignores the longer Chicago Fair Notice period — is subject to dismissal, and Illinois bars self-help lockouts.

• Using 30 days on a long-term Chicago tenant. A Chicago no-cause termination needs 60 or 120 days once the tenant passes six months or three years; a 30-day notice there is defective.
• Treating a rent increase as informal. A month-to-month rent change takes the same written notice as a termination; a verbal or short-notice increase is unenforceable.
• Missing the deposit deadline or statement. Thirty days for the itemized statement, forty-five to return the full deposit in a covered building — miss it and the penalty is double the deposit.
• Forgetting deposit interest. Large buildings statewide, and Chicago units, owe interest on deposits held more than six months.
• Omitting required disclosures. The owner/agent details, the pre-1978 lead-paint packet, and the Chicago RLTO summary are all mandatory where they apply.
• Ignoring the local ordinance entirely. The single biggest Illinois error is assuming state law is the whole story when the unit sits in Chicago or suburban Cook County.

• Name the local jurisdiction on the agreement — Chicago, suburban Cook County, or other Illinois — so the right notice, deposit, and disclosure rules are obvious.
• State the 30-day termination rule and, for a Chicago unit, the longer Fair Notice period, along with the exact rent, due date, and any late fee inside the local cap.
• Put the rent-increase mechanics in writing — same notice as a termination — so both sides know how a change happens.
• Track the deposit clock and always deliver a written, itemized statement of deductions on time in a covered building.
• Attach the required disclosures — the pre-1978 lead-paint packet, and in Chicago the RLTO summary and any bed-bug or interest-rate notice.
• Do a documented move-in inspection with dated photos so the deposit accounting is defensible.
• Screen the tenant before you sign — verify credit, rental history, evictions, and income first.
• Have counsel review anything unusual, subsidized, or high-value, especially in a regulated jurisdiction.

An Illinois month-to-month tenancy usually turns on whether a notice was delivered correctly, so the mechanics matter as much as the timing. Put the 30-day termination notice (or the longer Chicago Fair Notice period) or any rent-increase notice in writing, name the tenant and the property, and state the exact effective date. Count the days carefully — the period runs from the day after service — and set the termination date at the end of a rental period. When in doubt, add a day or two of cushion rather than risk a short notice a court will reject.

Deliver the notice in a way you can prove: personal delivery to the tenant, leaving it with a person of suitable age at the unit, or, where allowed, posting and mailing a copy. Keep a dated copy and a record of how and when it was served — that proof of service is what a landlord attaches to an eviction filing if the tenant does not comply, and what a tenant relies on to show a non-renewal was late. Because Illinois prohibits self-help lockouts and utility shutoffs, a landlord who wants possession after a proper notice must still use the court’s eviction process under Article IX rather than changing the locks.

Illinois recognizes electronic signatures under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, so an agreement signed through a reputable e-signature service is as binding as ink when both parties agreed to sign electronically. However it is executed, each party should receive a fully signed copy, and the landlord should keep the signed original, the disclosures, and any addenda together for the life of the tenancy plus the limitations period for a deposit or habitability claim.

Do a documented move-in inspection: walk the unit with the tenant, note every existing defect on a condition form, and take dated photographs. Because a covered Illinois building must deliver a written, itemized statement of any deductions, that record is what makes the deposit accounting defensible when the tenancy ends. Confirm smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors are working before the tenant takes possession, as Illinois law requires both.

To end the tenancy, either party delivers a written 30-day notice (or the longer Chicago period) fixing the termination date, and the landlord handles the deposit on the applicable 30-day/45-day schedule. If the tenant does not leave after a proper notice, the landlord’s remedy is the court eviction process under Article IX — not a lockout, which Illinois prohibits. Planning the end of the tenancy inside the agreement, and calendaring the notice and deposit deadlines, avoids the most common month-to-month disputes.

Statewide law is the floor, not the ceiling, and in Illinois the local layer is unusually strong. Within the City of Chicago, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) governs most rentals and adds the Fair Notice periods, capped late fees, mandatory deposit interest, detailed habitability and repair rules, and specific disclosures — and it applies only inside the city limits, with limited exemptions such as owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer. Suburban Cook County has its own Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance covering most of the county outside Chicago and a few home-rule cities. Other municipalities (for example, Evanston and Mount Prospect) have their own ordinances as well. Subsidized tenancies (Section 8 and similar programs) carry their own good-cause and notice rules that can override a simple 30-day no-cause termination, and mobile-home-park tenancies are governed by a separate statute. Confirm the ordinance that covers the specific unit before relying on the general month-to-month rules on this page.

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