Illinois Tenants’ Rights When a Landlord Sells Property

In Illinois, your tenants’ rights when a landlord sells the property are largely protected by a single principle: the lease travels with the building. The buyer steps into the seller’s shoes and inherits every term of your written agreement, including rent, duration, and security deposit obligations. What changes after that depends on whether you have a fixed-term lease or a month-to-month arrangement, whether the sale is voluntary or a foreclosure, and whether you rent in Chicago.

Keep a copy of your signed lease somewhere outside the unit. If a new owner claims not to know about a rent amount, a promised repair, or a rule the old landlord agreed to, your copy is what settles it.

The Lease Transfers With the Building

A lease in Illinois is treated as an interest in the land itself, not just a personal contract with one landlord. When the deed transfers, the lease obligations transfer with it. That means the new owner cannot raise your rent mid-lease, impose new fees, eliminate amenities, or change rules your written agreement established. Eight months left at $1,200 means eight more months at $1,200, under the same conditions. The sale itself gives the buyer no leverage to renegotiate.

What Happens to Your Security Deposit

Illinois gives tenants unusually strong protection here. Under the Security Deposit Return Act, the new owner becomes liable for your full deposit, including any required interest, the moment they take title. The former landlord does not get off the hook either. Both the old and new owner remain jointly and severally liable for returning your deposit and any prepaid rent.¹

That joint liability is the point. Even if the seller pockets your deposit and never transfers it at closing, you can pursue either party, or both. You don’t need to reconstruct what happened at closing to get your money back.

For buildings with 25 or more units, the Security Deposit Interest Act requires the landlord to pay interest on deposits held longer than six months, at a rate tied to a specified commercial bank benchmark set annually.² The obligation follows the deposit to the new owner.

Landlord Access and Showings While the Property Is on the Market

Illinois has no statewide statute setting a specific notice period before a landlord can enter your unit, despite what many online summaries claim. The general standard is reasonable notice at reasonable times. If your lease specifies a period, typically 24 or 48 hours, that clause governs. If it’s silent, you’re relying on the common-law right to quiet enjoyment, which protects against unreasonable intrusions without drawing bright lines.

You are not required to leave during a showing, and you can reasonably object to showings at odd hours or excessive frequency. Keep a written log of every entry request and every showing in case a dispute develops. A landlord who uses the sales process as a pretext for harassment, or who enters without any notice at all, can be liable for breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment.

Photography is a separate issue. A landlord generally has the right to photograph the property for listing purposes, but your personal belongings carry a reasonable expectation of privacy. Asking the landlord to avoid photographing personal items, or to rely on common-area shots, is a reasonable request.

Can the New Owner End Your Tenancy

What the new owner can do about your tenancy depends entirely on what kind of arrangement you have.

Fixed-Term Leases

If you have a lease with a specific end date, the new owner cannot terminate it early just because they bought the building. You have the right to stay through the full remaining term under the same conditions. The one exception is a sale clause, sometimes called an early-termination-upon-transfer provision, that explicitly allows the landlord or a successor to end the lease if the property sells. These are uncommon in standard residential leases but do appear. Read your lease before assuming you’re protected through the full term.

If no such clause exists and the new owner wants you out sooner, they have to negotiate. Lease buyouts, where the owner pays a lump sum for early departure, are common. Any buyout should be in writing and should cover the move-out date, the payment amount, and the return of your security deposit.

Month-to-Month Tenancies

A new owner can end a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days’ written notice.³ The 30-day clock typically runs from the next rent-due date, not from the day you receive the notice. If rent is due on the first and you receive notice on March 15, you generally have until May 1 to leave, not April 14.

Week-to-Week Tenancies

For week-to-week arrangements, the required notice is seven days in writing.³ That short window makes week-to-week tenants significantly more exposed in a sale.

How a Termination Notice Must Be Delivered

A termination notice that is not properly served has no legal effect. New owners, sometimes unfamiliar with landlord-tenant procedure, get this wrong. Illinois recognizes four valid methods of service:

Personal delivery of the written notice to you.
Substitute service by leaving a copy with any person age 13 or older who resides at or is in possession of the unit.
Certified or registered mail with a return receipt requested from the addressee.
Posting the notice on the premises, but only when no one is in actual possession.

All four are set out in the statute governing service of demands and notices in landlord-tenant cases.⁴ A text message, email, or voicemail does not satisfy the requirement. A notice to vacate delivered only by text is not valid service.

If the Property Is Sold Through Foreclosure

A foreclosure sale is not the same as a voluntary sale, and federal law adds a layer of protection. The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, a permanent federal law, applies to every residential foreclosure in the country. Under the PTFA, whoever acquires the property must give you at least 90 days’ written notice before you can be required to vacate.⁵

If you have a bona fide lease with time remaining, the new owner must honor it through the end of the term. The narrow exception: a buyer who intends to occupy the unit as a primary residence can terminate the lease, but only after providing the 90-day notice.⁵

To qualify, your tenancy must be bona fide. You cannot be the former owner’s spouse, child, or parent; the lease must be the product of an arm’s-length transaction; and your rent must be at or near fair market value unless reduced by a government subsidy. Section 8 tenants get additional protection: the new owner must assume the existing housing assistance payment contract, and the foreclosure itself is not grounds to terminate a Section 8 lease. State or local laws that are more protective still apply on top of the 90-day floor.

Retaliation After a New Owner Takes Over

A change in ownership often surfaces a backlog of repair complaints. Illinois law makes it illegal for a landlord to terminate a lease, raise rent, reduce services, or threaten a lawsuit because a tenant has:

Reported code violations to a government agency or elected official.
Complained to the landlord about needed repairs required by building codes or the lease.
Joined a tenants’ union or similar organization.
Testified in a court or administrative proceeding about the condition of the property.
Exercised any legal right available under Illinois law.

Retaliation is a defense in any eviction proceeding. You can also bring a civil action for damages up to two months’ rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney’s fees. The landlord may also be required to return your full security deposit with interest and all prepaid rent.⁶ A rent hike or non-renewal that lands right after you file a code complaint is exactly the pattern this law targets.

Extra Protections If You Rent in Chicago

Chicago tenants have rights beyond state law under the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. Two provisions matter most when a building sells.

Two Days’ Notice Before Entry

Chicago requires at least two days’ notice before a landlord enters your unit, except in emergencies. The notice can be delivered by phone, mail, written note, or any other method reasonably designed to reach you, and entry must occur at reasonable times.⁷ A landlord cannot abuse the right of access or use it to harass you, and repeated uncoordinated showings during a sale can cross that line.

Written Notice From the New Owner

When a Chicago rental property changes hands, the new owner must give you written notice of their name, address, and telephone number, along with contact information for any authorized agent. The notice must also confirm the status of your security deposit and any prepaid rent. Until the new owner delivers this written notice, the prior owner remains liable for all deposits and prepaid rent.⁸

If the new owner fails to provide the notice, you can recover one month’s rent or your actual damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney’s fees.⁸ The ordinance sets no fixed deadline. Instead, the prior owner’s liability continues until proper written notice is actually delivered, and the longer the new owner waits, the stronger any damages claim becomes.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 710 – Security Deposit Return Act
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 715 – Security Deposit Interest Act
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5/9-207 – Notice to Terminate Tenancy for Less Than a Year
4
FindLaw. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5/9-211
5
GovInfo. Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009
6
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 721 – Landlord Retaliation Act
7
American Legal Publishing Corporation. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-050 – Landlord’s Right of Access
8
Chicago Municipal Code. Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-130 – Landlord Remedies