House & Apartment

Finding housing

Searching for housing can take time. 

Illinois doesn’t have an official statewide rental registry. People find available units by:

• Talking with friends, family, and coworkers,
• Checking out neighborhoods they find interesting and looking for signs identifying available units,
• Following up on ads in area newspapers and on local bulletin boards,
• Asking social service agencies for help,
• Working with apartment search companies or brokers, and
• Searching online.

Reporting housing discrimination

Illinois law requires landlords to list and show units to prospective tenants without discriminating based on protected characteristics. Landlords can’t discriminate against a potential tenant based on any lawful source of income for paying rent, such as tenant holding a Housing Choice Voucher (HCV).

Anyone who encounters discriminatory practices can file a charge of discrimination with the Illinois Department of Human Rights. Learn more in Housing discrimination basics.

Scams and safety

Common rental scams include:

• Using fake or stolen photos and descriptions to list a unit that belongs to somebody else or doesn’t exist at all, then requiring:
  • An application fee before viewing,
  • Money to hold the unit,
  • Extra payments to prove serious interest in the unit due to other offers coming in,
• Requests to pay application fees using hard-to-trace or irreversible methods like cash, crypto, or wire transfers, and
• Requirements to use newly registered or unusual websites for background checks or other application materials.

To find more information about listings:

• Check with the county recorder of deeds to find out the most recent property owner in their records,
• Call the main office of any management company or brokerage that the person listing the rental works for to confirm:
  • The contact person is an authorized representative, and
  • The number and email address they’ve been using are connected to the business,
• Contact the city government to find out if the property is in compliance with any rental permit requirements and building codes, and
• Look online for reviews.

When responding to rental ads, schedule an in-person viewing. Ask whether the unit being shown is the same unit that’s available to rent.

Application requirements

Landlords may ask people to fill out a rental application form and pay an application fee when applying for an apartment. The form must be the same for everyone interested in the unit.

In the initial screening, landlords may ask about the applicant’s:

• Credit history,
• Rental background,
• Employment, and
• Criminal convictions, unless the property is in Cook County.

Illinois has many legal protections for housing applicants, including:

• People with disabilities are entitled to request reasonable modifications and reasonable accommodations,
• People with a Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) can apply to any private housing, and
• Landlords can’t deny housing based on:
• Juvenile criminal records,
• Expunged or sealed records, or
• Arrests that didn’t lead to a conviction.

In Cook County, landlords can’t ask questions about criminal history during the first stage of the application process. The only exception is convictions for sex offenses that require registration. Champaign also has restrictions on the use of criminal history to deny housing applications.

Learn more about these and other protections in Housing discrimination basics.

Sublets

Subleasing, or subletting, is when a tenant rents their unit to a new occupant. 

The new occupant, called a subtenant or subletter, pays rent to the tenant. The agreement between the tenant and the subtenant is known as a sublease.

Tenants with a Housing Choice Voucher can’t sublet. In most of Illinois, leases can prohibit subletting. Failure to comply with a lease term that prohibits subletting can lead to eviction.

Local laws that require landlords to allow tenants to sublease in specific situations include:

• In Chicago, landlords must approve a reasonable sublease unless the tenant lives in an owner-occupied property with 6 or fewer units,
• In DeKalb, landlords can only reject a sublease for legitimate business reasons or standard screening criteria,
• In Oak Park, landlords must accept a reasonable sublease, and
• In Urbana, landlords can’t use lease terms to prohibit subleasing.

Relets

Reletting, or re-leasing, means the new occupant applies to the landlord for a lease.

If approved, the former tenant’s lease ends, and the new occupant’s lease starts. The landlord and the new occupant agree on the new lease terms, including the rent amount and lease length.

Leases

Reviewing the lease

Once an applicant is approved, the next step is reviewing the lease.

A lease is an agreement allowing a tenant to use the landlord’s property. Leases can be spoken (oral) or written. If a tenant holds a Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) or lives in public housing, the lease must be written.

Types of leases

Some leases have start and end dates. These may be called “rental agreements.” A rental agreement may:

• End on the specified date without renewing,
• Change to a week-to-week or month-to-month tenancy after a specific date, or
• Renew for another specific period with start and end dates.

The first lease term for a tenant who holds a HCV must be at least one year unless the local Public Housing Agency (PHA) approves a shorter term.

Other leases create a weekly or monthly “tenancy” until the landlord or tenant gives notice. These types of leases are often spoken (oral). When there isn’t a rental agreement with start and end dates:

• If the tenant pays weekly, the tenancy is week-to-week, and
• If the tenant pays monthly, the tenancy is month-to-month

Creating a lease

To create a lease, the landlord and tenant must agree on:

1. The property the tenant can use (the “premises”),
2. How long the tenant can use the property (the “term” or “rental period”),
3. What happens at the end of the lease (whether it will end on a specific date or renew), and
4. Payment details.

The premises might be an entire building or a single room. Some leases specify times a tenant can use certain areas, like shared laundry facilities.

Leases without monetary rent

Some landlords let tenants use the landlord’s property without paying rent money. This could look like:

• The landlord wants the unit occupied for safety reasons, like keeping a remote property from attracting wild animals,
• The landlord accepts goods or services instead of money for rent, or
• The landlord lets the tenant stay in the property as a personal favor.

Be very careful with living arrangements that don’t require paying rent. To protect everyone, these agreements should be written down and signed. For human trafficking concerns, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline or local law enforcement for help.

Lease restrictions

Leases can include reasonable restrictions on how the tenant uses the landlord’s property. For example, some leases prohibit keeping pets, smoking and vaping, or making holes in the walls.

Think carefully before agreeing to lease restrictions. If a tenant doesnt follow the rules in the lease, the landlord can:

• Serve a written eviction notice explaining the lease violation, and
• If the problem isn’t fixed by the new deadline, file an eviction case.

Learn more in Eviction basics.

Leases can’t:

• Protect the landlord from legal liability for their own actions,
• Waive the implied warranty of habitability,
• Discriminate against people based on protected characteristics, or
• Violate local laws.

Rental verification letters

Tenants may be requested to provide copies of written leases to prove where they live when enrolling children in school or purchasing insurance. If a lease isn’t written down, the landlord may need to provide a verification letter or sign a form attesting that a tenant lives at the property.