Chicago Landlord Tenant Ordinance: Deposits, Heat, and Entry

The Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) is the city law that governs most residential rentals inside Chicago, setting the rules for security deposits, repairs, heat, landlord entry, late fees, retaliation, and lockouts. It gives tenants specific remedies when a landlord breaks those rules, and the penalties have real financial weight: a landlord who mishandles a deposit or illegally locks a tenant out can owe double damages plus the tenant’s attorney fees.

Which Rentals the Ordinance Covers

The RLTO applies to virtually every residential rental unit in the City of Chicago, no matter where the lease was signed.¹ The main exception is owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units. If your landlord lives in the building and it has six units or fewer, most of the ordinance does not apply to you — but the anti-retaliation and anti-lockout rules still do.²

Hotels, motels, and similar short-term lodging are also excluded, but only until an occupant has stayed 32 or more consecutive days and pays monthly rent; after that point, the ordinance applies.³ Hospitals, nursing homes, treatment programs, and shelters are exempt as well.

Security Deposit Rules

Chicago’s deposit rules are among the strictest in the country, and they are the single most litigated part of the ordinance. A landlord must place your deposit in a federally insured, interest-bearing account at an Illinois financial institution. The money stays yours, cannot be mixed with the landlord’s funds, and is not exposed to the landlord’s creditors.⁴

If the landlord holds the deposit longer than six months, interest is owed at the rate the city comptroller sets each year. For 2026, that rate is 0.01%.⁵ The interest must be paid within 30 days after the end of each 12-month rental period, either in cash or as a credit toward rent.⁴

When you move out, the landlord has 45 days to return the deposit and any accrued interest. If any amount is withheld for damage beyond normal wear and tear, or for unpaid rent, an itemized statement with estimated or actual costs must be mailed or delivered to your last known address within 30 days. Paid receipts for completed repairs must be attached, and if only estimates were provided, the landlord has another 30 days to supply the actual cost documentation.⁴

Miss any of those requirements — wrong type of account, no interest paid, late return, no itemization — and the tenant can recover two times the deposit plus interest, on top of the deposit itself.⁴

Heat and Maintenance Standards

Landlords must comply with every provision of the municipal code that affects tenant health and safety. That means working electrical, plumbing, heating, and sanitary systems; clean and safe common areas; pest control where needed; and adequate garbage receptacles.⁶

The heat rules are the ones most tenants need to know. From September 15 through June 1, indoor temperatures must reach at least 68°F between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 p.m., and at least 66°F between 10:30 p.m. and 8:30 a.m.⁷ A landlord whose building drops below those temperatures is in violation, whatever the reason.

When the Landlord Can Enter Your Unit

You have to allow reasonable access for inspections, repairs, and showings. But the landlord cannot just walk in. At least two days’ notice is required for any non-emergency entry, by phone, mail, written note, or any method reasonably designed to reach you.⁸

Entry has to happen between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. unless you agree to another time. In a true emergency, like a burst pipe or a gas leak, the landlord can enter without notice, but must then tell you within two days that the entry happened.⁸ A landlord who misuses access rights or uses entry to harass a tenant is violating the ordinance.

Late Fees and Rent Increases

Late fees are capped. The maximum is $10 per month on rent up to $500, plus 5% per month on any portion above $500.⁹ A lease clause demanding more than that is not enforceable. On $1,500 rent, the ceiling is $60: $10 on the first $500, and 5% of the remaining $1,000.

Illinois has no rent control, so the amount of a rent increase is not capped. The timing is. Under Chicago’s Fair Notice Ordinance, written notice must come 30 days ahead for leases shorter than six months, 60 days ahead for leases between six months and three years, and 120 days ahead for leases longer than three years. An increase that takes effect without that notice is not enforceable for the period the landlord skipped.

What You Can Do If the Landlord Violates the Ordinance

When a landlord fails to maintain the property or breaks the lease, the RLTO gives you three graduated remedies. All three start with written notice to the landlord and a 14-day period for the landlord to fix the problem.

Repair and Deduct

For smaller problems where the fix costs no more than $500 or half a month’s rent (whichever is greater), you can hire someone to do the work and deduct the cost from rent. The total deduction cannot exceed one month’s rent. You must give the landlord written notice first and wait 14 days; if the landlord does nothing, you can have the work done properly and submit the paid bill as the basis for your deduction.¹⁰

Rent Withholding

If the landlord’s failure to maintain the property reduces the value of the unit, you can withhold a portion of rent that reflects the reduction. The same 14-day written notice applies. The withheld amount has to be proportional to how badly the problem affects your ability to live there, not a reason to skip rent altogether. If a broken heater makes two rooms of a four-room apartment unusable, withholding about half the rent could be reasonable.¹⁰

Lease Termination

If the problem is severe enough that the unit is no longer reasonably fit to live in, you can end the lease. The written notice must identify the failure and set a termination date at least 14 days out. If the landlord cures the problem within that window, the lease continues. If not, the lease ends and you have 30 days to move; the landlord must return all prepaid rent and the full deposit with interest.¹⁰

For essential services like heat, water, or electricity, the clock is much faster. If the service is still out more than 72 hours after you notify the landlord, you can terminate, unless the outage is the utility provider’s fault rather than the landlord’s.¹⁰

Attorney Fees

In any lawsuit arising from the rental agreement or the RLTO, other than an eviction case, the prevailing plaintiff recovers all court costs and reasonable attorney fees.¹¹ This changes the economics of enforcement. A landlord who wrongfully withholds a $1,500 deposit does not just owe $3,000 in double damages; the landlord also pays the tenant’s lawyer.

Retaliation Is Illegal

A Chicago landlord cannot terminate your lease, raise your rent, cut services, or threaten eviction because you exercised a right under the ordinance. Protected activities include complaining to a government agency, contacting the media or a community group, requesting repairs, joining a tenant union, or testifying in a proceeding about the unit’s condition.¹²

If you can show protected activity within the year before the landlord’s action, the law presumes the action was retaliatory and puts the burden on the landlord to prove otherwise. A tenant who wins can recover possession (or terminate the lease) and collect damages of two months’ rent or twice the actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney fees.¹²

Lockouts and Utility Shutoffs

Self-help evictions are illegal in Chicago. A landlord cannot change the locks, block the entrance, shut off utilities, remove doors or windows, take your belongings, or do anything else that makes the unit inaccessible or uninhabitable to force you out. The only lawful way to remove a tenant is through the court eviction process, carried out by the Cook County Sheriff.¹³

A landlord who does any of this faces city fines of $200 to $500 per day the violation continues. You can also sue for possession and recover damages of two months’ rent or twice the actual damages, whichever is greater. The civil case is available whether or not the city has fined the landlord.¹³ If your landlord locks you out, call the police; the Chicago Police Department is required to investigate.

Disclosures You Should Have Received

A copy of the official RLTO summary must be attached to every written lease, new or renewed, and handed to the tenant directly for oral agreements. If the landlord fails to provide it, you can terminate with 30 days’ written notice and recover $100 in a civil proceeding.¹⁴

A city-published bed bug educational brochure must also be given before you sign, and current tenants can request a copy any time.¹⁵ If you pay your own heating bills, the lease must include a projected annual and average monthly heating cost based on the previous 12 months of usage.¹⁶ For buildings built before 1978, federal law requires a lead-based paint disclosure, any available testing records, and the EPA pamphlet “Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home.”¹⁷ Illinois law requires disclosure of any radon test results at or above 4.0 pCi/L along with the “Radon Guide for Tenants” pamphlet.¹⁸

Fair Housing and Source of Income

Federal law prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability in advertising, lease terms, and eviction.¹⁹ Chicago’s human rights ordinance adds sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income, marital status, parental status, military status, age (over 40), and ancestry.²⁰ The source-of-income rule matters especially for voucher holders: a Chicago landlord cannot refuse to rent to you simply because you intend to pay with a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) or another form of public assistance.

Assistance animals, including emotional support animals, must be allowed even in no-pet buildings. They are not pets, and a landlord cannot charge a pet deposit or pet fee for one. If the disability or the need for the animal is not obvious, the landlord can ask for reliable supporting documentation. Denial is permitted only in narrow situations, such as when the specific animal poses a direct threat that cannot be reduced by other means.²¹

1
Municipal Code of Chicago. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-010 – Title, Purpose and Scope
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City of Chicago. Chicago Municipal Code Section 5-12-020 – Exclusions
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Municipal Code of Chicago. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-020 – Exclusions
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Municipal Code of Chicago. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-080 – Security Deposits
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City of Chicago. Security Deposit Interest Rates
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American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-070 – Landlord’s Responsibility to Maintain
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City of Chicago. Chicago Heat Ordinance
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American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-050 – Landlord’s Right of Access
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City of Chicago. Chicago Rents Right – RLTO Summary
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Municipal Code of Chicago. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-110 – Tenant Remedies
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American Legal Publishing Corporation. Residential Landlords and Tenants – Attorney’s Fees
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Municipal Code of Chicago. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-150 – Prohibition on Retaliatory Conduct by Landlord
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Municipal Code of Chicago. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-160 – Prohibition on Interruption of Tenant Occupancy by Landlord
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Municipal Code of Chicago. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-170 – Summary of Ordinance Attached to Rental Agreement
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American Legal Publishing. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-101 – Bed Bugs Education
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City of Chicago. Heating Cost Disclosure Rules
17
US EPA. Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards
18
Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security. Disclosure of Information on Radon Hazards
19
eCFR. Discriminatory Conduct Under the Fair Housing Act
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City of Chicago. Ordinances and Protected Classes
21
HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals