Free Illinois Radon Disclosure

No, and this is a verified negative rather than a gap in the law. 420 ILCS 46/26(d) states that nothing in the section is intended to or shall be construed to imply an obligation of a lessor or tenant to conduct any radon testing activity or perform any radon mitigation activity. What the Radon Awareness Act requires is disclosure of what you already hold. An Illinois landlord who has never tested is not in breach for that alone, but is squarely in breach if the three documents named in 420 ILCS 46/26(a) never reach the tenant.

Three items, under 420 ILCS 46/26(a): the Illinois Emergency Management Agency pamphlet entitled “Radon Guide for Tenants” or an equivalent pamphlet approved by IEMA; copies of any records or reports pertaining to radon concentrations within the dwelling unit that indicate a radon hazard to the tenant; and the Disclosure of Information on Radon Hazards to Tenants form set out in full at 420 ILCS 46/26(f). The timing is generous but the trigger is early: at the time of a prospective tenant’s application to lease, before a lease is entered into, or at any time during the leasing period on request.

420 ILCS 46/26. Section 25 was repealed by Public Act 103-298 effective January 1, 2024, and its codified text now reads only “Sec. 25. (Repealed).” A great deal of Illinois landlord guidance still cites the repealed section, so check any source that names it. The separate sale-side disclosure that people confuse with the rental duty sits at 420 ILCS 46/10 and runs from seller to buyer, not lessor to tenant. Under 420 ILCS 46/26(g) the tenant-disclosure section applies to leases entered into on or after that same effective date.

In defined circumstances, yes. Under 420 ILCS 46/26(b) the tenant has 90 days from the commencement of the agreed leasing period to conduct their own radon test, and must give the lessor copies of the results, including any records or reports of radon concentrations, within 10 days after receiving them. If the tenant’s result exceeds the IEMA recommended Radon Action Level and the lessor has elected not to mitigate, the tenant may terminate the lease. After the 90-day window the tenant may still test, but 420 ILCS 46/26(b)(1) removes the right to terminate under that section.

Yes. 420 ILCS 46/26(c) allows the lessor to hire a radon contractor to perform an additional radon test within 30 days after the tenant notifies the lessor of their result, and that measurement may be used to disprove the presence of a radon hazard. Test results are valid for a period of 2 years after the date of testing unless renovations, additions or modifications are made to the building containing the dwelling unit. A radon contractor is defined at 420 ILCS 46/5 as a person licensed under the Radon Industry Licensing Act to perform radon mitigation or measurement.

The tenant’s 90-day clock stops being a clock. Under 420 ILCS 46/26(e), where the lessor failed to provide the documents required by subsection (a), the tenant may elect to have a radon test conducted at any point during the term of the lease. If it shows a radon hazard the tenant supplies the results within 10 days, the lessor may elect at the lessor’s own expense to hire a radon contractor to test within 30 days, and if the lessor neither disputes the result nor mitigates, the tenant may within 60 days either mitigate at the tenant’s own expense with the lessor’s express consent, or terminate the lease.

Generally no. 420 ILCS 46/30(c) bars a lessor of a dwelling unit vacated by a tenant under 420 ILCS 46/26(e) from withholding any part of the security deposit as compensation for radon testing or mitigation activities. The one carve-out is where the tenant had a mitigation system installed without the lessor’s consent and it was not properly installed by a radon contractor, and even then an itemized statement must be provided to the tenant. Separately, 420 ILCS 46/30(b) lets a tenant who obtained the lessor’s express consent deduct the installation cost from rent in equal parts across the remainder of the leasing period.

The radon disclosure itself is statewide. 420 ILCS 46/26 binds a lessor of a dwelling unit anywhere in Illinois, Chicago included, and there is no city carve-out in the section. What Chicago adds is an entirely separate landlord-tenant regime, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, governing deposits, notices, essential services and what must be attached to a lease; unincorporated and suburban Cook County has its own ordinance. The correct sequence is to satisfy 420 ILCS 46/26 first, then check the ordinance for that address for any additional attachment or summary requirement. Never treat a Chicago rule as Illinois law, or the reverse.