Illinois Tenant Rights Explained | Learn About Law

Kevin O'Flaherty explains tenant rights for renters in Illinois. Most apartment tenants have a horror story or two: busted pipes, leaks, mold, infestation, horrible neighbors, etc.–and many of these apartment tenants probably did nothing about these horror stories, believing that their only remedy was moving out. Historically this was the case, but today tenants have a variety of rights to ensure that they live in peace and comfort.

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[DJBLACK]

If a tenant is on a pay and stay program. Meaning the tenant is behind in rent but the property management is giving you a way to stay on the premises. Can the property management tell you how to pay the rent as long as it’s paid on time? Also if the rent is paid on time, can you get evicted by not following the way they want you to pay rent? Even if it’s not stated in the lease or program?

[dionfrutos]

Im buying a house if I give my landlord 30 day notice and say 30 days go by and I need another 30 days will it be granted under law .

[aquaearthnfirequ_pinsnsavi]

My apartment manager are as we speak entering my apartment with my 16 year old son in it to move my things back to my original apt because of forced Renovations! Do I have any rights? They gave me a 24 notice to pack up my things, wait around for them to move my things back! No choice?

[BIGBrand]

Thank you for the legal brief. It is nice to k ow that I have rights as a tenant.

[XBSGaming]

I have a question about harassment. There's these people who come walking by my unit. They usually like to prowl and spread slander about me by acting out an obnoxious skit. I'd like to video capture this with my smartphone, but how does one capture the audio without violating 2-part consent????

I find this part very confusing about Illinois law and it makes it harder to take action against them.

[nayeliperez]

Hi there are raccoons in the attic they made a hole in the roof and my landlord is demanding I paid for it ? Is it my responsibility or the landlords?

[danielc.]

About security deposits, does the landlord required to send me a notice within 45 days of the money he kept for repairs ? This landlord owns over 10 houses that he rents out on a permanent basis, when the law says if the landlord owns 5 or more UNITS, for this requirement to be fulfilled, does UNITS mean houses or a single building that is devided into many appartments ?? Like to know because my landlord kept all my security after i left it spotless and never sent me any list of repairs or how much, he just kept it all and i like to sue for double if i can

[alexit]

Ok so my question is my land lord is trying to say we need to pay 180 a month on top of rent for bills but no where in our lease does it have in writing about this 180 a month charge nor have we been given a invoice or bill saying our usage just want to point out our apartment is one of a two unit house with only one meter he also has not shown us a breakdown of his budget "where he is getting this number from" all it says in our lease is tenant is responsible for utilities and in writing is the one utility he pays for witch is waste do we have to pay that and can he evict us for non payment bc right now he gave us a five day for November's rent he would not accept our rent payment when we tried to pay unless we paid the past and current bills

[jasonfoor]

I need some advice, or some direction on what my family (MY DAUGHTER AND SON IN LAW AND MY 6 MONTH OLD GRANDSON) should do about our landlord. We rented a house in Shelbyville, IL on an oral agreement and we have been here around a year. The house we rent is for sale and we were aware of that going in that when the house sells we would move out. We have not been late on rent, we are current on all bills (rent, utilities) we have made all of our own repairs and paid for them, kept the yard mowed and grounds cleaned, and we went without heat for 1 month and without a/c for a month because the landlord couldn't afford or want to fix them im not exactly sure. He has come over unannounced and screamed at my daughter while my son in law and i were at work several times, and he has a realtor that comes in here while we are not home to show the house. last week he showed up and told my daughter that we had to be moved out of the house by September 1st because we didnt answer the phone for the realtor to show the house, he was fed up with trying to sell the house with us living in it. Can he do this to us or not, we have a baby living here and Sept 5th i go for heart surgery, i have congestive heart failure. We have absolutely no way to save the money to move and dont think he has the right to just boot us out HELP us find the legal way to stay or what we should do.

[norawynn]

We are in a rental right now. We have found mold all over the house. I told the landlord and he said he was going to have someone come inspect it and wanted to "make things right". the mold guy came and said the whole house(floors, ceiling and walls) need to be gutted. I relayed the message to my landlord. He said he didn't have the money to fix it and said all maintenance is on us. I told him that if it wasn't fixed we would have to move due to the house being uninhabitable. He took that as me threatening him. My fiance from then on out has been the only one communicating with him. He told us we have to be out on October 1st 2019(our lease isn't over till March 2021) need help on knowing the correct way of going about this. Want to make sure we are taking care of our half in case this has to go to court....help!

[sincere]

How long can a tenant legally stay after the lease expires? I’ve heard by several people on how it’s law to be able to stay 3 months after the lease is up while your currently searching for a home but I’m not quite sure 🤔