Tenant & Renter Rights in Chicago, IL

Chicago's Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance governs essentially every rental agreement for a dwelling unit inside the city — but not dwelling units in owner-occupied premises containing six units or fewer. Even in those excluded buildings, the Fair Notice rule and the ban on interrupting your occupancy still apply.

Exceptions, scope, and the exact source: MCC 5-12-020 also excludes: hotel, motel, inn, bed-and-breakfast, rooming-house and boarding-house units until occupied 32 or more continuous days at a monthly rent; hospital, convent, monastery, extended-care, asylum, not-for-profit home for the aged, shelter and school/university dormitory housing, and student housing under a contract with an institution of higher learning; units occupied under a real-estate purchase contract; units occupied by an employee whose right to occupy is conditional on employment; and cooperative units held by a proprietary lessee. The exclusions do not apply 'unless the rental agreement thereof is created to avoid the application of this chapter'.

If Chicago's RLTO covers your unit, the landlord must hold your security deposit in a separate federally insured, interest-bearing account at an Illinois financial institution, return it within 45 days after you move out, and deliver or mail an itemized statement of claimed damages with paid receipts within 30 days.

Exceptions, scope, and the exact source: None of this reaches a unit excluded by MCC 5-12-020 — most importantly owner-occupied premises of six units or fewer. Where the tenant terminated under § 5-12-110(g), the return deadline is seven days rather than 45. The annual interest rate is set each year by the City Comptroller under §§ 5-12-081 and 5-12-082 and must be looked up for the year the rental agreement was entered into.

Chicago's Fair Notice rule requires written notice before a landlord raises the rent, ends a month-to-month tenancy, or declines to renew a fixed-term lease: at least 30 days if you have lived there under six months, at least 60 days for six months to three years, and at least 120 days once you have been there more than three years.

Exceptions, scope, and the exact source: The duty is conditioned on the landlord not having terminated the tenancy under MCC 5-12-130(a), (b) or (d) and on the unit not having been abandoned under subsection (e). Related subsection (i) bars requiring a renewal decision more than 90 days before the termination date.

Under Chicago's RLTO, if a repair is a minor defect and the reasonable cost of compliance does not exceed the greater of $500 or one-half of the monthly rent, you may notify the landlord in writing of your intention to correct it at the landlord's expense — and act if the landlord has not fixed it within 14 days.

Exceptions, scope, and the exact source: The subsection is expressly inapplicable where the reasonable cost of compliance exceeds one month's rent. Excluded units under MCC 5-12-020 — including owner-occupied premises of six units or fewer — get none of this. Separate, shorter clocks apply to essential services under § 5-12-110(f): 24 hours before withholding and 72 hours before termination.

Chicago requires heat from September 15 to June 1 in units heated by a plant shared with other units: with all windows and exterior doors closed, at least 68°F from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m., and at least 66°F from 10:30 p.m. until 8:30 a.m., in all habitable spaces, toilet rooms and bathrooms.

Exceptions, scope, and the exact source: The code provides an exception for combined heating and cooling systems: 64°F at all hours between September 15 and October 15 before the first night below 45°F, and between May 1 and June 1 on or after the first day above 75°F.